Hellooooooo fellow hivers🌸
I visited Uttarakhand for Diwali and tried to connect to its people and its culture while celebrating the festival. The state is divided can be into 2 - Garhwal (Upper) and Kumaon (Lower). The topography, economy, lifestyle and culture are quite different from each other but what’s common, I felt, is the sense of oneness or a feeling of being from Uttaranchal !
During my trip, I visited a small temple dedicated to Golu Devta which also happens to be the house of a man - an ascetic / hermit named Kamal Dhanak Singh a.k.a Bhagat ji who runs the place. I found his story to be quite intriguing and hence thought of writing this post for him.
After a brief interaction with him, I found out Bhagat ji was pursuing masters in Agriculture when he started feeling a different connection with the spiritual realm. With time, this connection aggravated and affected him mentally and physically. Coming from a strict household with his father being a professor and grandfather being in the army, he was asked to either continue his studies or leave! He got married and finally decided to live on his own terms and stop living in denial, that is, acknowledge that there was something different with him.
So, he moved and started his life in Rudrapur. He grows his own food, is his own doctor / house help / cook / caretaker / etc etc . He has naturally matted hair and seems to have a knack around animals. He has about 15 cows, 4 dogs, 7 chickens, 1 monkey called Rekha, 3 goats, a visiting fox and the list keeps getting updated with time.
What was different about the temple though was its God. Unlike the conventional temples around us in India, this one had an idol made of stone and was of a deity named Golu Devta. Golu Devta is believed to be a wandering warrior who brings “immediate” justice to his people. He goes around in his horse and is considered to be quite powerful. This deity is quite popular in the surrounding areas and localites religiously follow his principles.
I’m not sure if any of this is true but the devotion with which the locals admire Bhagat ji and his temple is pure. Looking at a community and its practises as an outsider made me ponder about how we are all so different yet share so many things in common!
Until another story, Cheers!♥️