A visit to Kali Jai Mandir and Island in the Chilika lake. It is as rural as it gets. Had it not been for Sai I would have never known about this place and the legend behind it.
So Jai was a bride to be to whom this mandir is dedicated. It’s in the middle of Bharat’s biggest lagoon between the shores of Barkul and Parikuda. Amazing location as an island should be. Yet it’s the journey that made it enjoyable.
We chatted up with the poojari and asked him to narrate to us the legend about the temple or as we say sthaan mahatmya. As mentioned above Jaai a bride was on the way to meet her husband to be was on the boat along with her father and the boatman. There was a storm and the boat overturned causing the death of Jai while her father and the boatman survived. Later the king of this island had a dream where Jai appeared and told him to give her a place as she was the form of Kali. So the king built this temple on the island close to where Jai had lost life. This is the name of the temple as well as the island KaliJai. The tribals have a yearly fest at the temple.
There isn’t much to see except this mandir. There are a few shops that sell sweets and eatables. We enjoyed some fresh jhal mudi scrambled up in front of us. I was tempted by the simplicity of the rustic sweets and respect for that sweet maker. There were coconut ladoos, colorful khaja, khasta gaja etc. Sai bought me some khasta gaja. Those are the brown ones.
Later after returning to Barkul jetty we had a simple meal of prawn curry and rice with some mixed vegetables at the OTDC restaurant.
No comments:
Post a Comment