[Prev][Next][Index]
Story of Sakshi-Gopal
The Story of Sakshi-Gopal
The deity of Sakshi Gopal is in a temple in Orissa. The story
surrounding the coming of the deity is interesting, so here goes....
--Beginning of story
Long ago in a small village, there lived a couple named Raghav
and Radhabai. They had a daughter, Vasanti who was sweet with whom
other children of the village loved to play. Mahidra, an orphan boy
was of the same age as Vasanti and they both were good friends.
Vasanti soon grew up to be a beautiful young woman. The people
of the village suggested to the mother Radhabai that Vasanti and
Mahindra would make a handsome couple. But Vasanti's father Raghav
had different plans for Vasanti. He wanted her to marry Sukhvir who
was a rich widower. Meanwhile, Mahindra met Vasanti one evening and
told her that he was leaving for the Gopalji-temple town to make a
living. Vasanti got sad and speechless and Mahindra separated from
Vasanti. A few days later, Raghav joined Sukhvir and his party of
pilgrims to go on pilgrimage. Their tours led to the Gopalji-temple
town. During their stay, Raghav caught the small-pox disease and
Sukhvir immediately isolated him. So there he was in a strange
place with no one to look after him suffering from the disease.
>From one of the members of Sukhvir's party, Mahindra came to know
that Raghav was in town and he had the small-pox. He went
