Sarojini Nuabou

Sarojini Nuabou whose love and devotion to Bada Bhai is unflinching and unparalleled. It was her care that made Bada Bhai to settle down at Chandura even before his retirement. She has also rtired as a teacher from Govt. Girls' High School, Jagatsinghpur and now manages the house-hold at Chandura including supervising the care the teavher-hermit needs.
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The presiding deity in Nana's house- Lord Krishna. Nana was very keen to have a photograph of her Lord.
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Sama with vermilion on her head from Sarala Temple and Nana's third daughter.
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Sudhir and Nana in their house.
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Nana's my sister's eldest daughter. We were contemporaries and she was a year senior to me in school and college. Works as a teacher in Snara Girls' High School after doing her garduation and B.Ed. Her husband Sudhir was also a teacher in a nearby school and has retired. This all-smiles woman is Sudhir's mother and Nana's Mom-in-law. She has a special fascination for me and I've always been treated with a lot of love from this frail but smiling woman whenever I have visited her place in Salampur.
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These are people who make my life enriched at Jagatsinghpur.These are the people around who my life revolves around. Nana's eldest daughter and the later;s cousin at Nana's house.
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He's my deity as to many more like me. This teacher-hermit is a living legend to many like myself in Jagatsinghpur.
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Yangnya Temple- this's the place whre the Yangnya is performed for 7 days every year and the story goes that during those days many King Cobras are seen on the branches of the banyan tree.
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Mukhasala of Gaorakhnath Temple.
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Sudhir, self and Nana at Gorakhnath.
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Photo taken by Sama.
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Sudhir, Sama and Nana resting by the edge of the main shrine at Goarakhnath.
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The roots themselves form a house.
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A view of the main temple.
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Allowing the roots of banyan tree to enter the ground
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Gorekhnath Peeth, Jagatsinghpur

Banyan trees galore at Gorakhnath.
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Gorakhnath Peeth, Jagatsinghpur

Gorakhnath Temple- view from behind.
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The Presiding Deity in Gorakhnath

The sanctum-sanctorium at Gorekhnath.
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Gorakhnath- picturesque location

The main shrine at Gorekhnath is surrounded by huge banyan trees- a distant view.
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Gorakhnath Shrine- Jagatsinghpur

Gorekhnath is the second most popular shrine of Jagatsinghpur now.It  has rather become too popular with the masses during the last one and half decade only. As small children we had heard of Gorekhnath temple but it was not very approachable/accessible as people had to cross paddy fields to arrive at the small shrine which was reputed to be infested with King Cobras and we were not very keen to visit the place for fear of the snakes. But off late, on certain days of the year, it has even surpassed Jhankada Sarala temple in drawing visitors and devotees.Elders comment that it has become too commercial and the temple management doesn't allow the roots of the banyan trees which are the main-stay of Gorekhnath shrine to enter the ground as the whole place has been covered with concrete. The management must be finding it difficult to keep the place clean and hence the decision but provision for patches to break in to allow the roots to get down to earth in search of nourishment and also tide over the typical cyclonic storm  of Jagatsinghpur may be kept in mind and really sincerely acted on.
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Sarala Temple-Front View

Sarala Temple- Front Gate View
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Front View of Sarala Temple, Jhankada

Sarala Temple- a distant view.
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The Modern Feet Washing System

Another new addition in the process of modernisation at Sarala Temple. The leg-washing place not maintained well. There's no water when we visited on 10th March. What's probably required is not to copy provisions at other temples but to study the foot-wear preference of majority of devotees at Sarala Temple in a year and taking action to build a washing place that provides the same ambience as the floor material of the ancient temple where the devotees are likely to head after washing their feet and providing continuous flow of water by recycling a fixed amount of water by removing dirt in a process of recycling. I wish there are some devotees of Godess Sarala who will take up and implement this small project particularly keeping in mind the monsoon moths when the mud-content in washed water is likely to be very high.
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Tonsering Hall- Sarala Temple

The Mundan place(Place of tonsering) on the banks of Sarala temple. During our child hood days there used to be no such place and on auspicious occasions like Pana Snkranti when there used to be a lot of devotees who needed tonsering heaps of such tonsered hair used to be seen on the bank of the pond.Now it has a place and there is water supply to the centre and above all it protects children who usually undergo tonering from getting drizzled in sudden rain which is common from end_may onwards.
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Traditional Feet-Washing System- The Ghat

The ghat where devotees usually wash their feet before entering the temple.
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The Pond at Sarala Temple

The pond in the premises of Sarala Temple where the Godess is taken in a boat during summer days. It was a great attraction to visit this boat jouney(Chapa Jatra) as the event fell in May/June when it was summer vacation during school days and when I could use the cycle particularly in high school days.
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Murali Nana and Sama

Murali Nana with my daughter after blessing her and taking her to Godess Sarala in sanctum sanctorium.
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Murali Nana with his son who is taking up his father's profession. On my insistence, Murali Nana was summoned from home, otherwise his son was already there in temple premises when we (self and Sama) arrived on 10th March 2006.
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Murali Nana

Every time you reach the temple, the bhopas (priests)ask you a question- one by one- almost every bhopa -the priests of Godess Sarala "Kouthu aasile"(Where have you come from?) or "Kou gaon?'(Which village are you from?) And the process goes on till you find the bhopa of your own village. Like in Puri, they maintain a ledger where a particular village is under a priest. I know our priest from my child-hood days. As a small child I knew his father but later Murali Nana when he visited our village used to stay over-night in our house and I was made to sleep with him because of shortage of beds. I remember him as a handsome black bare-bodied young man with no pot belly and when he used to perform ghanta-patua in the village wearing the Godess's saree and putting up Godess's Chalanti Protima (symbolic Godess) on his head it was a wonderful site. Today Murali Nana has aged, so have I. His son is taking up his job and my children hardly find time to come from their study centres to visit home or visit this great shrine.But that day I really got frustrated telling so many bhopas the name of my village(Chandura) that the last man I answered was "Murali Nana"I wish the modern day bhopas find a different way to track their clients
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Sarala Temple, Jhankada

Ever since my childhood, this has been the place we have the highest reverence to. The holy shrine Sarala Temple in Jhankada has been a place we have been taught to visit even when we go home for a couple of days. During school days I remember going to Sarala Temple with a lot of devotion to seek the blessings of Godess Sarala(Godess Saraswati) to excel in studies. As a small child most of the time my mother used to send me with somebody senior who had a cycle and I sat on the front horizontal bar in front of the cyclist. It was no doubt painful but the excitement of visiting Godess Sarala overpowered the pain to back-ground and it was evident only towrds the end of the return journey and it happened so very often on every occasion. The reason was simple. I was fat as a small child and none of my seniors like Ekana Bhai, Sura Bhai, Nira Bhai or Gopa Nana ever wnated to carry my weight on the back seat of their cycles.I also have visited the Godess with my father many times and I still remember that when I was not able to walk in the sun( my father knew no cycling) he lifted me up and put me up on his shoulders and walked the rest of the way in the fields till we reached the main road. I also remeber once walking from the hostel in Srikrishna Academy with my class-mate Narayn Mishra in 1968. It was the year of appearing at the board exam and we both decided to visit Godess Sarala. Started very early in morning without breakfast, went walking and came back walking. Had decided not to talk but only to think and pray Her in mind during the journey.It was a superb feeling. I have never ever experienced so much love and devotion for Godess Sarala and experienced Her blessings in life.
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