Ajay Pal Devta
It is Feb 17 2019 and Devindra and I head up to the ridge. After getting out of the car at the corner, we stop and enjoy the view looking south down the valley. Wafting through the chilly air, the very light sound of a bell ringing, ringing, coming closer reaches our ears. As I turn around I see a group of men (about 10-15) coming around the bend. One man is carrying a small basket with a 10 rupee note garland on it while holding two small bells. They are walking slowly and the sound of the bell ringing conveys a charming space. At the bend in the road they put a small carpet down and lay the basket down on the mat. The smell of dhoop burning and the chatter of the men is quite well suited to the snow capped peaks from the fresh snowfall the night before. I ask one man (he turned out to be the kardhar) which Devta is this? Ajay Pal he says.
One of the men ask us where we are going. I mention that we are going to Dhara to the Jogni mandir and then to Darpoin to the Jamlu mandir, but we decide to follow our new friends and will continue on after their puja at their small temple. We remain on the main path (which is now being made into a road) and they turn off onto a smaller path. We follow them and about 200 meters ahead arrive at a small clearing with a small temple.
A fire is lit and chai is put on the fire. Before Puja we all must have chai and prasaad, then we will eat food (all made on the fire). Chatting with the men I find out that Ajay Pal had 3 forms. One is from Bagan, another is from Peej, and this place that we are at is called Sheliby (this devta is in a tokari, basket). Present here today are the Kardhar, the Pujari, the Gur, Bandari, and about 10-15 more men form the Haar.
They begin their preliminaries and then ask that we do not use our cameras when the gur lets his hair down.
All the men sit around the Devta with the Gur and Kardar , on the ground at the front of the temple. There is a brass tali filled with rice grain in front of the Gur. He removes his cap and begins his role as Oracle. The Kardar is asking questions and the Guru is taking some ash from the darach (a ladle like instrument in which the dhoop etc. is burnt) and counting rice grains. An odd number is a yes and an even number is a no. After many trys the Kardhar seems to get the answer he is hoping for and he takes some gober (manure) out of a sac. He takes the rice grains, some marigold petals and some green grass strands and wraps them up in a ball of dung(this ball of gober is called Maloee). There is a pitcher of water placed near the Devta with dhoop burning beside it. He circles the ball of dung around the gur and then drops it in the water. If it floats the answer is yes, and if it sinks to the bottom the answer is no. The ball rises to the top and the kardhar takes the ball out and schmooshes it. In this way about eight balls were made. Three of them sunk to the bottom and five rose to the top. One of the questions asked was about making a new darach out of which material. Ashtadahtu (an alloy of eight metals) was confirmed by the gur and the ball of dung. I couldn’t decipher what the other questions were.
After about 25 minutes the puja was over, and Dev and I decided it was time for us to go our own way. "As we stayed for the puja, we must partake of some food" they told us. So we obliged and ate some well cooked rice with a vegetable made of potato, onion tomato and Nutri nuggets.
The atmosphere was so inviting there at the small ground in front of the temple. They laid out a cushion for us to sit on, and engaged in speaking with us.
Our Return to Sheliby in early May 2019
Since we were last here, they have made some new pujaware for the Devta. Two new bells, larger in size, a new darach, and a silver handle around the woven basket grip. There was also some restoration work done on a mohra. All were welcoming and we were happy to meet those whom we had met earlier. Some new faces were there as well. A 93 year old man, kind of the grandfather to all in the haar, somehow made it up the coarse foot path which leads to the temple.
We sat and had some prasaad in the form of puris with some jaggery and a fine cup of sweet chai. There is something about a cup of sweet milky tea that really hits the spot. Food was on the fire and many more people were expected to arrive shortly.
A previous engagement back in Kullu, led us to leave early, though they insisted that we stay for food. I asked that we all join in front of the temple for a photo. In good spirits and smiling most everyone came. CLICK