God save India.

But which God?

We have the Sun God, Monkey God, Elephant God, Snake God and now it seems India has a Visa God too, going by a story in today’s Wall Street Journal.

The Chilkur Balaji temple near the South Indian city of Hyderabad has established a reputation among believers of Lord Balaji that their application for a Visa to the U.S. and other western countries will be successful if they pray at this temple.

As Vauhini Vara writes in the WSJ (subscription required) piece:

Mohanty Dolagobinda is one of the Visa God’s believers. Three years ago, a U.S. consulting company applied for a visa on his behalf. It was rejected. When the company tried again the following year, Mr. Dolagobinda’s friends told him to visit the Chilkur Balaji temple ahead of his interview at the U.S. consulate. Weeks later, he sailed through the interview. “I’ve never heard of anyone who’s gone to the temple whose visa got rejected,” says Mr. Dolagobinda.

Strange though it may seem, the Visa God is not the most unusual god in India.

Some years back, we read of a temple being built for a Tamil film actress called Khushboo. By the yardstick of Khushboo Godess, Visa God does seem quite normal.

We wonder what the U.S. immigration authorities will make of the Indian Visa God at the 500-year-old Chilkur Balaji temple.

Om Visaya Namaha.