Saturday, January 4, 2014

Sakshi Gopal

The Sakshi Gopal Temple


I spent the New Year 2014 in Odisha visiting places like Konark, Puri and Bubhaneshwar. I also happened to visit the Sakshi Gopal Temple in the village subsequently named Sakshi Gopal. This is a temple of Krishna as Venugopal. The story related as the explanation for the origin of this temple is fascinating as it epitomizes the power of belief and faith.

Mahindra a village youth wants to marry Vasanthi, the daughter of Raghav. Vasanthi too wants to marry him. But Raghave is bent on marrying her to an older but wealthy man, Sukhdev. Mahindra sets off for Puri to earn his living and after sometime Raghav joins Sukhdev and his party on a pilgrimage to Puri. Suddenly Raghav contracts small pox and is left to his own devices in the outskirts of the town by Sukhdev and his cronies. But, Mahindra who happens to hear about Raghav’s situation rushes to his aid and nurses him night and day till he recovers his health. Raghav is touched and understanding Mahindra’s good nature vows before the sanctum of the Puri Jagannath Mandir to give his daughter Vasanthi in marriage to him.

They return back to their native village. Induced by Sukhdev’s costly gifts and false promises, Raghv changes his mind and once again refuses to give Vasanthi to  Mahindra. Mahindra complains to the Village Head. The Village elders conduct an inquiry when Raghav stoutly denies his promise. Mahindra has no witness to substantiate his version, except of course the Lord of Puri Himself. Mahindra calls the Lord as his witness. But the Villagers laugh and ask him to bring the Lord to give witness or Sakshi. Mahindra vows to do so and goes to Puri where he prays incessantly to the Lord. The Lord finally appears and agrees and promises to follow Mahindra and give witness upon condtion that Mahindra should never turn back on his way home.

Throughout the journey back Mahindra keeps hearing the sound of the Lord’s anklets. But as they approached the sandy area near his village, the sound of the anklets were muffled and he couldn’t hear them. So, like Orpheus in the Greek myth, he turned back and there beheld the image of Lord Venugopal. He weeps at the feet of the Lord but to no avail. Luckily the villagers are overjoyed that the Lord had come thus far to stand witrness for his devotee. They ensure that Mahindra is married to Vasanthi and he is also made the first Pujari of the Temple.

It is also pertinent to note that there is a shrine for Sakshi Gopal within the precincts of the Puri Jagannath Mandir.

The first time I read about Sakshi Gopal was the Amar Chitra Katha story which is very neutral on locale and community. The ISKCON version places Mahindra’s village in South India and makes him a Brahmin. Actually visiting the temple was an experiential thing that I enjoyed.

While this delightful story adds charm to a visit to this quaint Krishna Templeat Sakshi Gopal in coastal Odisha between Puri and Bubaneshwar, it cannot be denied that the Pandas or pujaris who occupy the temple currently are a set of rogues and thieves. They create much nuisance for the unwary traveller. They force you to make an entry in a register as “evidence” (Sakshi – Got it?) of your visit. Once the entry is made they demand huge sums of money as dakshina and pester you throughout your visit thereby taking away the serene and divine ambience that is needed for devotion to the Lord of the Universe.

Another matter to be noted is that in all Odisha temple you will find some Shikaras are stone but others are plastered. This is because during Mughal period all the Temple statuary was hidden by plaster to protet them from vandals. Subsequently the Archeological Department has slowly removed the plaster and restored the stone and statuary as far as possible to their original splendor. But still the damage is tremendous and the general air of decay and dilapidation is saddening, especially at National Heritage spots like Konark and Lingharaj temple.

Decay and Dilapidation


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