Kalahandi and Balangir districts are often in news for wrong reasons. In 1985, poverty forced Fans Punji to sell her sister–in-law Banita for Rs40 only which had exposed the stark poverty of the region and attracted the attention of national and international media.
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi along with his wife had visited the place and met Fans. On October 2 last, on the birth day of Mahatma Gandhi, when the world observed the day as day of non-violence, around 20,000 animals and birds were slaughtered on the occasion of Chhatar yatra of Goddess Manikeswari at Bhawaniptna. The road of Bhawanipatna was flooded with blood. A few days back, in the last week of September, one Bankee Behera of a village near Bangomunda block killed an innocent seven- year-old boy to propitiate a goddess for his good health.
But Kalahandi and Balangir districts have a rich heritage and a glorious past that goes unnoticed in the midst of poverty, superstition and black magic. Ranipur-Jharial where one finds ancient monuments and reminiscence of Saivism, Vaishnvism, Tantra and Buddhism, is a testimony to the richness of the past, which speaks of affluence of the region in earlier times.
Ranipur-Jharial is in Bangomunda block, around 110 km from Balangir.
On the day of Vijaya Dasami, October 4 last, when we reached Ranipur in the afternoon, Jagmohan Tripathy, the priest of Someswar temple was inside the temple worshipping for a few devotees. He was informed of our visit earlier by a common friend. On seeing us, he came out to act as our guide handing over his charge to his young assistant.
The Someswar temple is situated beside Someswar sagar. The place is known as Somatirtha, which finds mention in the puranas of 3rd- 4th century AD. It is said one Saiva Acharya, Gagan Shiva had built the temple, whose name has been mentioned in an inscription found on the lintel of the temple. The inscription also mentions the place as Somatirtha.
Tripathy showed us an image engraved on the inner side of the wall to be of a Shaiva saint that might be of Gagan Shiva. On a rock surface of around two square km, there are 51 temples of varied shapes and sizes standing in dilapidated condition. In 1874-75, archeologist JD Beglar had visited the place and counted 57 temples, and noted there might be around 120 temples in earlier times. The temples were built during Somavansi rule in 8th century AD. Historian KN Mohapatra assigns the period of the structures to 650-950 AD.
Chausasthi (64) yogini of Ranipur-Jharial is one of the four remaining of the famous temples of the kind. The others are at Hirapur near Bhubaneswar, Khajuraho and at Bheraghat near Jabalpur. It is a circular roofless temple and joginis are installed in the niches of the inner side of the wall. In the middle of the temple, stands an image of six handed Shiva. The jogini temple smacks of occult practices. Historians are of the view that the jogini temples are built when Brahminical tantricism gained popularity during 6th-7th century AD.
Hundred metres away from the jogini temple stands Indralath brick temple. The sikhara of the temple is 60 ft high standing on a high sand stone platform. Historians say that it was a Vaishnava temple, but later it was converted to a Shaiva temple. This is the tallest surviving brick temple in Odisha.
Near Someswar temple one finds footprint emblems. The priest Tripathy and the locals believe those foot prints were of Sita Devi and Ramachandra of Ramayan who had visited the place during their fourteen year forest exile. But historians attribute the foot prints to its association of early Buddhist worship. The existence of Buddhism is also corroborated by discovery of a Buddha statue in the village Ranipur.
Belief defies law and logic. Despite law against cruelty and killing of animals, slaughter of animals continues in Manikeswari of Bhawaniptna, Pateneswari of Patnagarh or in the Sulia yatra. In Sulia yatra of Khairagad village of Tusura police station of Balangir district, people defied the order of the High Court of Odisha and imposition of 144 of Cr PC by administration and killed thousands of buffaloes, goats, sheep and hens. While chatting with Sanyasi Bhoi, a resident of the village Ranipur, he said, in the early seventies of the last century, AN Tiwari, bureaucrat and a lover of culture had visited the place.
He was appalled to find animals were sacrificed before the statue of Buddha, the epitome of non-violence. Sanyasi said Buddha was worshipped under a silk-cotton tree in the Ranipur village as Bhima Debta and animals were killed before it to propitiate the Debta (God) for good rainfall. Tiwari stopped the practice of sacrificing animals before the Buddha statue and brought the statue from the silk-cotton tree and kept it in the Indralath temple. The statue is kept in one corner of the Indralath temple. Mrutyunjaya Pardhi, a former headmaster of a school of a nearby village, Sindhekela said if a child or a woman gets fever, people of the locality believe evil spirit has entered the body of the child or the woman. The exorcist is called, and he performs puja in the precinct of the Chausathi yogini temple late in the night. Rooster is sacrificed to satiate the Goddess and to ward off the spirit from the body. Poverty and lack of education make the people superstitious and believe in black magic. The site is neglected by the tourism department. There is a guest house which remains always closed. There is no restaurant, nor any publicity to attract tourists and visitors.
Although Someswar sagar (lake) has been developed and boating arrangements have been made, care is not taken for its cleanliness. We found plastic cups and plates were heaped in a corner of the lake, that gives a bad look.
The Government should take steps both to eradicate poverty and educate the local people, and at the same time preserve the rich heritage. The visitors, tourists and picnickers need to be conscious to keep the place clean.
