Then a period of misfortune befell Sumari. First small pox
took toll of a quarter of its population and then landslides, floods …… The
cycle of destruction was relentless, seemingly having a purpose. The immediately
reflex response of village folks was ire of Gods! But what incensed Gods, a scapegoat
was to be searched, a fall guy was to be found. Various theories were put
forward, a fault in Puja procedure, vitiated
material used in Puja, the priest was
drunk on one occasion, gambling in temple.. blah blah. The linear thinking of
villagers had no room for more mundane reasons responsible for the mayhem
wrought on Sumari……
So a learned elder eventually proposed appeasing Ma Kali
with grand Puja and sacrifice of buffalo. Accordingly a grand Puja was
organized after seven days of reciting holy mantras the robust buffalo was
sacrificed. As luck would have it, rains were already over, a milder season in
offing; things began to settle down in Sumari. The relative calm was attributed to successful
appeasement of Gods. The temple supposed to give solace to strung souls, provide
spiritual calm instead became a place to be feared. Villagers took extra care
to light the ‘diya’ with clockwork regularity, the purest material used for
puja etc. The settled calm in Sumari lasted but only six months next summer was
as bad as the last. Another Puja and a sacrifice of buffalo made no
impact. Villagers suffered through the summer and the rain and again calm
restored in the month of Kartik. Next year was no exception in fact village
suffered a more intense violence of nature. A young man, who lost his entire
family when his house submerged in mudslide, unable to control his frustration
went to the temple in a state of frenzy and beat the idol with his chappal. He
was quickly over powered ……..
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