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COCHIN, India (AP) - A religious leader known as the "hugging saint" escaped an attack by an unidentified man during a prayer meeting in southern India when three of her followers overpowered the assailant, a state official said.
Mata Amritanandamayi, who uses hugs as a gesture of blessing, watched on Sunday as the followers suffered minor knife injuries during a scuffle with the attacker about 15 feet from where she was sitting in her headquarters in Quilon, a town 55 miles northwest of Trivandrum, the capital of southern Kerala state, district collector B. Srinivas said.