There is an old shrine named Sri Sri Baba
Bhaironathji Dham in the village Polkeri, Block- Chankiyari, District-Bokaro,
Jharkhand. Recently the district administration had arranged one yearly
festival on 26.03.15 to 28.03.15 centering this old temple. This festival was
inaugurated by Chief Minister of Jharkhand on 26.03.15.
The structure of the temple enclave are
recent. One temple is for Bhairobaba, another is form Durgama. Barring that ,
there are some small temples with other Hindu Idols.
The temple premises has one Kund, cool water
source by the blessing of nature, flowing throughout the year and much above
the water level of the river Ijri flowing beside the temple. Some fishes are
also in the Kund. As per the prevailing folk-lore, fishes are forbidden to be
touched. It is believed the kund water can heel many diseases both for adults
and especially for the infants. The place of worship is treated as a medication
centre for the very long period in the nearby locality. The surrounding of the
temple becomes a picnic spot in winter for nearby population.
The folk-lore indicates Arjuna, during his
exile, in search of drinking water, created this everlasting water source with
his arrow. This myth connects with Mahabharata.
The striking fact about this holy place is
some of the Idols of Bhairosthan. A few of the Idols of this place indicate a
much earlier time than the surrounding structures. The Bhiro Baba’s heavenly
Idol is curved out from a black stone, which indicates the enrich mind of an
artist who had equally indicate skill to represents his imagination into
reality.
Local folk-lore also suggest the Idol brought
from outside. The story remains like this, many generations back one Brahmin of
the village used bathe on the black rock in a jhora (water source) outside the
village. He had received instruction of Bhirobaba (in his dream), turned the
rock and brought the Idol in the village. While brining the rock all
bullock-carts of their village got damaged due to shear weight of Bhairo Baba
and ultimately the Brahmin, with the blessing of Baba was able to brought Baba
on his head. At that time there was a huge tree in place of today’s temple,
Baba was placed there. Today that holy tree is no more but the trees of the
surrounding area are a bit typically in comparison to the other prevailing
trees of nearby area. Only botanist can scientifically explain the typically of
the surrounding trees.
Telkupi, a village of the modern West Bengal
(distance from Polkeri to Telkupi is around 20km) on the bank of
Damodor was known as Bahiravsthan from time immortal.
Telkupi’s Archaeological Cluster of temples (20 Nos) was first photographed by J.D.Beglar of Archaeological Survey of India in 1872-73. Next photographic
evidences of the decadent cluster were recorded in 1903 by Bloch of the Bengal
Archaeological Survey, afterwards photographic records of the archive of
Archaeological Survey of India dates back to 1929.
In independent India, these ancient structures
were subjected to the extrme negligence of the administration. From the INTAC
report in 2006-07 under heading Heritage at Risk by Bulu Imam, we quote “During
the mid-1950s the fate of the twenty odd temples at a place ancestrally known
as Bhairavstan was sealed during the submergence of a large area along the
banks of river Damodar on the border of Jharkhand and Bengal through the
construction of Punchet Dam across the river”.- It was implementation of DVC
Project- a dream of newly independent
democracy.
The same report report suggests “More than 20
temples from the 8th to 12th centures (Pala period) were
submerged between 1956 and 1962 by the waters of Damodar River. In the
meantime, the remains of these ruined temples are becoming visible again in the
silted-up reservoir”. The last reference of the fates of some Idols worshiped
in those temples was recorded by Debala Mitra (ASI) in 1959-60. Debala Mitra
was unsuccessful to bring back the submerged Idols as the local boatmen dared
to touch those idols. As per this INTAC report- “ Telkupi is about a hundred
and thirty kilomitres south east of the jain temple center of Parashnath Hill,
and thirty kilometres south of Dhanbad town today. Half the waters of the
Panchet Dum are in Jharkhand and half in West Bengal. Some images of the
temples are in Jharkhand at Katapatthar
in Dhanbad District. And some in local temples or private houses in West Bengal
side of the border in Purulia district.
Referred INTAC report also indicates
“According to W.W. Hunter in his Statistical
Account of Bengal (List of ancient Monuments of Bengal, 1896) the image
from Telkupi of Bhairav from which Bhairavasthan gets its name, was of Lord
Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankra of the jains. In the opinion of
F.B.Bradley-Birt the statuary was Jaina ( Chota-Nagpore: A little Known
Province of the Empire 1903/1910,p.181). In the INTACH survey of Jaina
monuments of South Jharkhand ( Purulia, Sereikela,2006) the Jaina statuary was
invariably found in the sites with similar temple architecture as the
Bhairavasthan temples of Telkupi. Therefore, every reason to assume Telkupi was
a jaina temple clauster.”. In the same INTAC report photographs of some of
these idols are also displayed. The structural similarity between the idols of
Telkupi and Polkeri is quite evident ; the dissimilarity is only in the red
cloth.
Hence, can we draw a rich lineage in between
Telkupi & Polkeri ? Is the idol carved out of black-stone before & during
Pal Period is still worshipped daily ?
May be the original structure earmarked to
house the idol had its natural death or destroyed during the development
programme of the young country, against the huge time scale the region of the
locality changed from one form to another , but the God’s idol remain live by the
believers. It had remained a solace to the villagers ; it will continue its
peaceful influence on the anxious minds in future. Religion, society and time
may change but the idol remains as an assimilation of Indian heritage and legacy forever, and continued to be emblem for all hopes and good deeds and
a symbol of destroyer of all evils.
Source : http://www.icomos.org/risk/worldreport/2006-2007/pdf/H@R
2006-2007 21 National report India .pdf
Photo-
1. Jain idols from Telkupi (from the above report).
2. Other photographs- Taken by the author.
Research & Picture Courtesy - Abhijnan Basu.
Research & Picture Courtesy - Abhijnan Basu.
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