Does India exist in the twenty first century or the sixteenth???? I for one; have been seeking the answer to this question for the last 46 years and am still to receive a convincing answer to my query.........
One has heard the dictum about every dog having it's day; but a temple being raised in the memory of a bitch is a completely new one even for jaded old me; yes one such temple not only exists but flourishes.........
This first of a kind temple rules the roost in Jhansi's Revan Kakwara village and is easily identifiable from a distance because of the black statue of a dead canine occupying pride of place within it's seemingly hallowed precincts.........
According to village folklore; a black bitch (female dog) died of hunger and starvation in the very same village a decade or so ago as the village was struck by a raging famine that led to wide spread immigration from the village.......
A few empathetic villagers who used to throw the dog in question a few stray morsels now and then got together and decided to raise some kind of memorial in order to assuage their guilt pangs and sense of forlornness..........
According to one of the initiators; "we thought of undertaking such a venture as we felt that we had contributed in some manner or the other to the dog's untimely demise and hence decided to build a small temple in memory of the deceased dog; lo and behold people from this and adjoining villages soon transformed this into some kind of pilgrimage centre and started performing poojas and other rituals here on a daily basis"...........
"A belief about this "temple" possessing some kind of super natural powers to ward of all evils and unpleasant events soon spread far and wide and people now organise a series of rituals to ward of any ill omens and mishaps just before they begin to sow their crops as the bitch died of hunger pangs and no villager wants to succumb to the same"...........
As if this were not enough; the remorseful villagers also organise an annual feast a week or so before the festival of lights (Deepavali) in which around 1,500 or so famished souls are fed; in addition to this a similar spread is also offered to the stray canines who frequent the village as the "holy dog" breathed it's last during the period just before Diwali.........
To top it all; the villagers have even stopped shooing away dogs and started worshipping and venerating them as a belief about dogs being the harbinger of all things good and the dispellers of darkness rules the roost in this village.........
Good to know that there is one such place where every dog has it's day; week; month and year at the same time..........
One has heard the dictum about every dog having it's day; but a temple being raised in the memory of a bitch is a completely new one even for jaded old me; yes one such temple not only exists but flourishes.........
This first of a kind temple rules the roost in Jhansi's Revan Kakwara village and is easily identifiable from a distance because of the black statue of a dead canine occupying pride of place within it's seemingly hallowed precincts.........
According to village folklore; a black bitch (female dog) died of hunger and starvation in the very same village a decade or so ago as the village was struck by a raging famine that led to wide spread immigration from the village.......
A few empathetic villagers who used to throw the dog in question a few stray morsels now and then got together and decided to raise some kind of memorial in order to assuage their guilt pangs and sense of forlornness..........
According to one of the initiators; "we thought of undertaking such a venture as we felt that we had contributed in some manner or the other to the dog's untimely demise and hence decided to build a small temple in memory of the deceased dog; lo and behold people from this and adjoining villages soon transformed this into some kind of pilgrimage centre and started performing poojas and other rituals here on a daily basis"...........
"A belief about this "temple" possessing some kind of super natural powers to ward of all evils and unpleasant events soon spread far and wide and people now organise a series of rituals to ward of any ill omens and mishaps just before they begin to sow their crops as the bitch died of hunger pangs and no villager wants to succumb to the same"...........
As if this were not enough; the remorseful villagers also organise an annual feast a week or so before the festival of lights (Deepavali) in which around 1,500 or so famished souls are fed; in addition to this a similar spread is also offered to the stray canines who frequent the village as the "holy dog" breathed it's last during the period just before Diwali.........
To top it all; the villagers have even stopped shooing away dogs and started worshipping and venerating them as a belief about dogs being the harbinger of all things good and the dispellers of darkness rules the roost in this village.........
Good to know that there is one such place where every dog has it's day; week; month and year at the same time..........
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