Visual Ethnography of Chitai Golu Temple
Tarun Kumar M. Des. (Visual Communication) 126250011 Guide Prof. Nina Sabnani
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CONTENTS
Abstract
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Almora
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Golu Devata
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History
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The Temple
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Structures & Design
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Temple of Golu Devta
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Temple of Bhairav
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Goddess Durga
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Dhuni of Goraknath
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Dharamshala
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Speciality - Bells and Letter
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Transcription of letters
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Rituals
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Activities of a day in temple
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Morning
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Afternoon
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Evening
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People
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Devotees
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Conclusion
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Abstract Aim of the project is
to create a visual ethnography of Chitai Golu temple which is famous for its letters of wishes and bells. The temple is dedicated to local God of Kumaun region of Uttarakhand (India). It is a study of the religious and social culture of the temple and its thousand of devotes. From morning to till evening activities in the temple has been documented with pictures and words in this project.
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Almora
is 357 km. from Delhi where can be reached by train first till Kathgodam and then by taxi or bus till Almora which is 3.5 hour journey. Almora is a district and a small town which is known as main Almora. The place is full of hotels and restaurants. Chitai is about 8.6km from Almora main town and can be reached with scheduled sharing jeeps and bus. One can hire personal convenience to go there. The journey is only half an hour from Panualnaula on the back side of the Almora mall road.
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http://worldhindunews.com/
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8.6 KM
https://www.google.co.in/maps
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Golu Devata is the local
God of Uttarakhands kumaun region who use to be a king about 1000 BC ago. Known to be God of justice because of his juridical nature and eventually known as the Lord of Justice and worshipped. Golu devta has many temple in Kumaun region and many people consider him their kul devta (Family lord). He announced that he will give justice to people coming from all four directions here and that’s why this temple also called “Chugana� (Place situated among 4 directions) also. Golu Devta also consider as reincrination of Bhirva devta and Bajrang bali. According to people and scriptures Golu devta was able to recall events which happened before his birth and he proved the injustice happened with him and his mother by his fathers other wives.
http://en.wikipedia.org
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History Origin of temple in Chitai
Chitai is the place facing northern Himalayas “Nandadevi peak” surrounded by the shops and small restaurants about 10 km from Almora main city. The temple name after the village called “Chitai Pant” and temple maintained by family of Pants. The story of origin of temple in this place is very interesting as about 800 years ago one old fellow from Pant family saw a dream that Golu Devta telling him to built a temple at Chitai. Next day after consulting with his other brother and family members a small temple has been built. Eventually people start coming here and getting their wishes complete and offered many kind of helps to build the temple. In 16th century temple given the shape of big courtyard. Even today many construction and renovation done by devotees from all around the corners of the region and many other cities of the country. 13
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The Temple
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Chitai Golu Temple has been build within the area around of 2500 square yard with a main temple of Golu devta in the centre, one temple of Devi, Dhuni, small temple of Bhoot, 2 small temples of other local devtas, one shelter right in front of the temple, one store room and one Dhramshals. Temple has very big courtyards which is sufficient for almost thousand people at a time.
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Structures & Design
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Temple of Golu Devta The main temple of Golu Devta is facing north which has one octagon dome which has been formed in 6 flat pieces. The temples roof is supported by 6 round pillars which form a open gallery around the temple. And in the centre there is a small room which has idol of Main God ( Golu Devta). Inside the temple there is a old wall which is oldest piece of rock since the temple built and the idol of Golu Devta in white marble.
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Temple of Bhairav At the entrench of Main temple there is small temple of Bhairav Devta or some people call it temple of Bhoot (Ghost). He is known as the concierge (Dwarpal) of Golu devta. There are many stones are kept as idols. They were basically “Gana� or discipline of Golu devta.
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Temple of Goddess Durga On the left side of the temple there is Temple of Devi which is on the little higher ground. The temple has one idol of Devi Durga. It is very compulsory to build temple of Devi wherever the temple of Golu devta exists. It is a small temple that at one go only two-three persons get inside.
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Dhuni of Goraknath Right outside of the main temple there is one “Dhuni” which is a kind of holy fire place in which they burn woods to create ash and dedicated to “Goraknath” who is considered as teacher of Golu Devta.
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Dhramshala In temple courtyard there is one Dharamshala ( guest house) where people stays on occasions of marriage and other ceremony. Usually many devotes use this space for serving food to children and people when their wish comes true.
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Speciality - Bells and Letter
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Temple of Golu devta is famous of its very unique wish making tradition. In which people write their wishes in letters and hung them on the walls of courtyard. And when the wish comes true devotes offer bells in the temple. The whole temple is full of bells and letters. Some people offers red flag in the temple. Temple has bells of many sizes and all are made of copper. From tiny bells to huge bells chanting creates a rhythmic mood. The bells are a kind of evidence that how many people have got their wishes come true and offered bells.
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How this tradition started There is no compulsion of writing a letter for wish making. This tradition was started long ago because of difficult geographical circumstances. Uttarakhand is a hilly region which is part of northern Himalayas. Its geographical condition is very complex and in the pristine time there was no roads and vehicles. Reaching here was very difficult which takes many days. So person who was going to this temple people make their wishes in a letters so that he deliver the message to Golu Devta. Eventually many people send their letters there and other people those who visit temple started following this tradition. According to priests in temple there is no compulsion of writing letter. One can make wish
in his heart and offering bell is also depends upon the financial condition of a person. If someone cannot afford bell he can offer coconut or red flag here. But the most important thing is one should not forget what he proposed when asking for a wish and should complete in time. There are many stories told by people around and priest that people those who show there disrespects and did not obey what they proposed. They have faced many problems. And they had to apologized to get out of the trouble and which show a another kind part of him as he forgives people. Some of devotes helps in the construction of temple and time-to-time some structure or renovation works happens
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Transcription of letters Hindi भगवान हम आपके दरबार म़ें जून- जुलाई तक ज�र आएंगे. आप हमारी िजंदगी में खुशहाली देना. िजससे हम ख़ुशी-ख़ुशी आएंगे. जय गाेलू देवता
English Lord we will come to your temple by the month of June or July. Bless us prosperity and wealth so that we could visit happily here. Jai Golu Devta
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Hindi जय गाेलू देवता डाेंली को एक संतान अव�य दे. उसका पिरवार पूरा करे.
English Om golu devta Bless Dolly with a baby. Complete her family.
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Tradition and Rituals Golu devta is a God of every person of the region and did not expect expensive offerings. The basic offering are given in a plate which can be taken from the many shops outside the temple which includes:Coconut Pouch of rice Pouch of mustered oil Bangles Sindur Bindi Flag Agarbatti And sweet prasad After entering the temple one should proceed further bare footed and wash their hands and feet at water tank near
the shoe rake. Women usually cover their head with scarf of handkerchief. One should first visit the main temple of Golu devta which is in the centre of the courtyard. Inside the temple there is a priest sitting chant “mantras” and will take Coconut and Prasad from the plate and give another coconut and Prasad in return. Inside the temple there is one donation box in which you can put money or directly offer to the priest. The special worship can be also request to priest inside the temple which is called “Paath”. You can pay for special “Paath” according to your convince but it is a must pay as without it the “Paath” does not considered complete. After visiting the main temple there in another door to way out from where you can come again near the first door where there is a small temple of Bharav or bhoot where remaining mustered oil and rice should be offer. Then people takes 3 round of the temple which is called “Parikarama”. After this people visits temple of Duraga
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mata which is right side of the main temple where they offer bangles, sindoor and bindi. There also you can offer money. After visiting the Mata temple there is one fire place which is called Dhuni in local language. Where you can lit agarbatti and lamp. People offer money there also but money is never asked by any priest inside the temple. People takes burned wood ash to their home and also put on their forehead as it considered holy. There are many other priest you will find around the temple who do “Paath�. In the temple there is a tambour player who has been assigned to perform for Jagrata which is a ritual for calling souls in the body of someone.
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Sacrifice of Animals Earlier people used to sacrifice animals like goat and roster in the temple but now it has been banned by temple so people perform this ritual in the forest behind the temple.
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Activities of A day in temple Temple has a very secluded activates accept some special events like Navaratra and some famous festivals. All members of the temple comes early in the morning and reach there by 6am and 7am in both summer of winter time. Some of the people stay far from temple but they reach by time as they leave for the temple in early morning by covering distance walking or by local jeep.
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Morning- 6am to 12pm In summer temple opens at 6am in the morning. People assigned to the temple are clean and wash the temple courtyard and priest assigned to respective temples clean their spaces. People and assigned priest also helps in cleaning the temple. They sweep and wash the temple properly with water. People start coming from 6am. The most crowd visit in the morning time and Tuesday and Sunday are most crowed. They get fresh flowers from the trees nearby and use a special local tree leaves called “paya-baya” in local language. They clean all the utensils to be used in the worship and collect and clean the flowers. Among the People comes in the early morning there are large number of school children some time and families come for “Paath”.
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Afternoon- 12 pm to 3pm There is no lunch break or closing in the afternoon it is just that priest changes in the afternoon by the time other had lunch. Schools children visit more in the afternoon as they get free from the school. In between other people keep cleaning the temple all the day as rice particles scattered by the people and monkeys. In between they Keep the fireplace burning and people keep coming and taking holy ash from there. Sometime many newly-wed couples comes there. Many priest around the temple study the scriptures after lunch as they are less busy as most crowd comes in the morning time. Other people take rest in the afternoon while smoking in the temple which is little unexpected. Meanwhile in the afternoon monkeys from the forest around starts coming to eat the rice and fruits from temple. They don’t harm anyone but try to snatch the plate of devotes. 93
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Evening- 3pm to 6pm In evening there is less crowd of devotes but it depends. Sometime there is sudden group of people come and sometimes people are come very few in counting. It’s usually time for tea. They stay in the temple until 6pm in the winter while in summer until 7pm. The weather plays a very important role for a number of visitors as it is a hilly region. Travelling and transport in not much frequent. Many times foreigners also visits the place as they passing by. After 4pm they start washing and cleaning the temple but if someone comes they did not denied to let him come and pay equal homage to everyone.
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People Priests
Workers
In the temple there are many priests. The temple is regulated by a priest family of Pant cast which the 9th generation. They are native of Maharashtra from the place called Konkarastre. The care and all the offering divided among 6 brothers of the current “pant� generation. Each brother has been given 3 days each and all the offering goes to respective person. All brother have assigned different priests to work in the temple and they get paid some part of the offering. Some of them working for 35 years there.
In the temple there are many people like Sweepers and watchman’s etc. They get monthly salary. Some of them are working here for a long time while some of them are new.
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Main priest
Santosh kumar pant 117
Priest
Harish Dalakoti 118
Priest
Kailash Dalakoti
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Guard
Bhuwan singh
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Priest
Papu Binwal 121
Sweeper
Pardeep 122
Devotees In the temple people comes around the India. It is very popular temple in the kumaon region but people comes from Garwal region also. There are many visitors from Uttar Pradesh those are coming here for a long time. Many tourists visit temple after they told by local people and guides. For some people it is a point of unique attraction because of thousand bells and letters hanging. Foreigners also visit this place sometimes. As Golu devta is very famous local God of the region newly-wed couples visit after marriage. Some devotes visit the temple each year as they committed to come. Each day there is someone comes with a bell to offer here after his/her wish fulfilment while many other writes letters. Many of devotes just make pray as they think it is not compulsory to write letters while some of says if we write it will be kept reminding about their wishes.
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Conclusion Chitai Golu temple has a very strong place in the heart of people as he is a local God and been remembered first among many Gods. In their day-to-day activity and happening people consider him as a great protectors. I been there for a month and observed that people pay their visit on regular basis there. From Birth to death he has been remembered among them. I see it as a larger perspective as the evolution of this faith is not a immediate process. It took years to people have faith in him. I can connect it very easily to Lord Rama who also used to be a king. Because of Ramas good deeds and kindness he eventually got a position of God same thing happen with Golu Devta. One more important reason which I observed, Golu Devta is part of social culture of people of kumaun because of which he made his impression over the mind of people from their childhood. People come here with a hope of justice at the end when
they do not get it from court. Apart from that it also a source of justice for people who cannot afford to go court and have no trust in the government laws. The most important good thing I observed among the people and priest of the temple they don’t sell his(Golu Devta) faith. There was no necessity of paying expensive things in the temple. The notion of the believe in inherent in the roots and raising in the people as they worshipped him in the very important ritual called Jagger or Jagrata. The believe of writing letters are among people are very from persons-to-person. The much I have seen people writing letters are youngster’s while elders believe you can prey in your heart only. People of Kumaun are hard-working and I see the faith in the Golu devta does not make them depended on luck which is a very good part of it. The hope and faith made them positive enough in their life.
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