Jhankad Sarala & Gorakhnath Visit

It was an auspicious day a sunny Friday. I was resting at my house when my brother came and said we have to go to some tourist place which was almost 100 km from Bhubaneswar. I wasn’t interested at the first because I was tired from the last night. I was busy on writing my project reports last night for which I had a late night sleep. Also my bro had phoned me from two days earlier that we had to go some place which had always been a surprise to me but still then we had to go there not only for my brothers wish also we had to go there  for some work which had  been a surprise to me always.

  We got ready, it was morning 7 am and we had to go Jagatsinghpur( it is an Orissa district) it almost 100 km from Bhubaneswar( capital of Orissa). I was in a dozy state but when my brother said have bath as we are going to visit a shrine and a temple. That made me very happy as I loved to visit temples. We had planned to go the “Jhankad Sarala” and “Goraknath”. These two are famous tourist place that endeavours Jagatsinghpur earn some attraction. I immediately backpacked and started ours journey. We opted to go on a bike as it would be very fast and also to go on a shortest route. We had taken a route through a village instead of the as usual tourist route.  The route was through Phulnakhara-Ali Pingali- Jagatsingpur town.

The Architecture Of Sarala Temple

   The climate was good and the cloud-sun were playing hide and seek. Some moments it was cool breeze and some it was scorching heat. We were speeding at ours bike, I was riding and my bro was at the pillion. There were many local people also with us. All were riding fast as if it was a F1. The route through the village was very charming. Kids were playing outside, farmers ploughing the fields, women were drying out cow dung cakes, goat & sheep’s were moving in groups at the side of the roads, and the local hotels were smoking up there chulhas for preparing food. Everything was summing up to the pleasant atmosphere. It was almost noon and we were nearing ours destination. After some distance it started raining but we were hell-bent to reach – Jhankad Sarala first as the temple would be closed for two hours for the afternoon as per the custom. But the nature’s fury didn’t allow us to reach there before time. We had to wait for some time for the rain, immediately it stopped and we headed very quickly. But still we reached there late. The temple was closed. We washed ourselves at the holy pond near the temple and headed to feed ours stomach. The Prasad (food) was very savour and it had the smell of the elegant ghee. After the food I went alone to feel the temple surrounding, the architecture which was marvellous, the pandits and the puja shops (shops that sell items needed for worship of Gods). I was mostly fascinated by the delicate architecture.

History: The Jhankand Sarala is situated at village Kanakpur of Jagatsingpur district. It is said that the tongue of Goddess Sati had fell at “Jhankad Sarala”. Known as “Vak Devi”. And it is also a shakti peeth. The God residing there is virtue of wisdom and music. As the Goddess has a veena in her right hand. It also said that the a person named Sidheswar Parida who has written Oriya Mahabharata completed it after the blessings from the Goddess, and hence he was named as Sarala Das. The Jhankad Sarala is indeed a very ancient temple.

       We waited at temple verandah and after two hours the main door to deity opened. Aww it was such a nice feeling, the fragrance of the aarti and the glowness in Goddess face left us enchanted. We worshipped with the help of ours village pandit. I wished before the God to bless me to go ahead in life. It was very awesome feeling when we were about leave the Mandir.

Next we headed towards “Gorakhnath” its another famous holy place that lives within the faith and hope of the people of Jagatsinghpur. It is just about 9 km from Jhankad Sarala. The en route was through the ancient village surrounding the Jhankad sarala. Now I was at the pillion and my brother was riding. The reason behind it was, I wanted to admire the ancient place, wrecked houses, and some shrines. I was just taking photographs of the people, houses, childrens coming from school. In between I used to stop at the mid way and used to ask people about the culture, history associated with that place. It’s hard to believe that there were mosques also amounting to 1600^th year. Also I saw a house which was very beautiful but no one was leaving there so it was inhabited by the nature.

Lone House

It was a very pleasant feeling when you reach a spot seeing its realistic views. And there it is we reached the place. The place “Gorakhnath” is situated somewhat in between the crop fields. The shrine is surrounded by huge banyan trees and one thing peculiarity you will find when you visit this place is the banyan trees, the  branches of one banayan tree were connected with another banyan tree, you will be confused to find out which one is the mother tree. 

Besides the beautiful temple this inter-branching of the trees is the main attraction here. 

Interlinked Branches

We took some puja items from the local shop and worshipped at the shrine. A lot of questions were creeping in my mind how this place came into existence, who is this God, why is this place located at away from the village.. etc. On asking to  a local Pandit he said, earlier there was a Baba who used to help people, cure them help from diseases, give them holy advice and the place his shrine used to be his worship place, where he worshipped lord Shiva. But when the Baba died the local people buried him there and named him as Goraknath Baba. It was a ferocious place earlier as it was densely located and to reach there people had to go through crossing the crop fields and also there was fear of being bitten by snake as it was also home for lots of King Cobra snakes. And as we know where Lord Shiva resides, snake is associated there. The shrine was indeed the Samadhi of the Baba. Whenever there was a snake bite or a person gets ill, the people would put the concerned person near the Samadhi area and worship to Baba Gorakhnath and magically the person would be cured.

Baba Gorakhnath Samadhi

 This place really matters with the belief of people on God. Earlier it was just a simple hut, but later on the Government officials decided to build a beautiful temple there, which would create tourist attraction and it add to the respect of the people towards the shrine. Believe me anyone who goes there would surely wish to stay there for a long time adoring the area and solving out lots of questions creeping in the mind. I myself was transfixed upon the place for some time. Also it is a famous picnic spot. The temple authority people have taken all the care for the smooth conduction of pujas, marriages, birthday, etc there itself. 

The Temple Of Gorakhnath

There is a Jagnya Mandir in front of the shrine which is extremely elegant. I was very happy at-least to see such a pious place. I wasn’t wishing to return to home but as dusk was nearing we had to return, because ours route was through a village and if it would be night then it would be difficult for us to go through. We reached home after two & half hours. We had had ours meal at the local dhaba. Reaching home i was just wondering about the two places and I really wished to go there again.

How to reach there:

Roadways: It’s nearly about 100 km from Bhubaneswar. You can opt for a private taxi or a bus to reach Jagatsinghpur town and book a cab from there to Jhankad Sarala and Gorakhnath. Also it is well connected from Paradip, Cuttack.

Rail: It’s connected to the small passenger halt at “Sarala Road”. It is accessible from Bhubaneswar and Cuttack also.

Airways: Oops there is no nearby airport there. And the only airport is at Bhubaneswar.