On May 8, 2020, the
Sikkim state cabinet meeting sanctioned different funds through different
government departments, and among these sanctioned lists was the approval and
sanction of Rs.6383.00 lakhs (Rupees sixty-three crores and eighty-three lakhs
only) for the construction of the Pilgrimage Centre with 54 feet high statue of
Nishani Kali Devi at Central Pandam, East Sikkim under Civil and Tourism
Department.
Definitely, this project
will help the region grow for a better prospect in tourism. Visitors who
look for new destinations will appreciate the natural beauty around the mandir.
Rightly, the panoramic beauty of hills across will capture the exquisiteness of nature.
I have visited this
place four times and this mandir falls on the way to the historic Pandam Garhi
ruins. We had always talked about Garhi ruins but stories related to Kali
Mandir or the Pandam Garhi Mandir had been limited to oral rendition and
followed from one generation to another. These stories are events and a collection of anecdotes that made this Mandir grow stronger from one corner
of the state to another and even beyond that. These stories are amazing and
shelter self-belief to those who follow Devi and her auspicious presence.
Old folks of Pandam
say they had heard from their elders, that Devi used to visit their hills most
often and those happenings were much earlier than the stories of Damodar
Parrhey’s legend. Those folks do remember the people who had seen Devi or had
felt her presence of. Those villagers had been worshipping Devi Kali for
ages and the presence of the temple above the village of Karmithang is as old as
its first human settlement around that region. Not only have the locals, but the worshipers in neighbouring states also have a firm belief in the charisma of the Kali.
I have heard different accounts
related to Devi and her surroundings from RP Bhandari, a man in his eight
decades of life. Some of the stories had lived up for ages and a few stories were
recent ones. In one such incident – a group of men was moving in the forest
near the mandir when they came across a small girl. One of them had mistakenly
made fun of the girl. Thereafter he got ill and had blood vomiting. Upon
knowing that they had annoyed Devi; he and his family went to the mandir that
same evening and asked for forgiveness. He recovered from his illness after
that.
|
Kali Devi Mandir - 2005 |
Another story says,
once there was a forest fire. The fire was big and when it was about to
approach the mandir premises, all of a sudden there was a rainfall around on
the bright sunny day and the fire was put off. Surprisingly, the rain too
stopped, added the old man. There are various incidents of people visiting this
mandir from far places when their child had a speech disorder and getting it
recovered. Incidents, where people had informed of coming across a tiger at the mandir, make the place more mysterious.
RP Bhandari said, he
had been visiting the mandir with his grandfather since his childhood and they
used to worship the tree out there. Upon asking why he was worshipping the tree,
his grandfather would say, we had been doing this for ages, and worshipping
this tree would bring fortune to our area and no ill effect would occur,
remembers Bhandari. Devi was worshipped in the form of a tree and the idol of
Kali was kept later, I believe.
|
Add caption |
Religious rituals and
festivals are regularly performed at the Kali Mandir. Just below the mandir is
a small water source that comes out from the muddy walls. The most famous oral
narrative among the villagers says a popular warrior from Nepal, Damodar Pahrey with
his more popular name Damodar Pande after having a war with Sikkim had reached
this place of Pandam. He was a worshipper of Devi Kali. The land then
was very dry and he had mysteriously pushed his finger into the wall and water
flowed from it from nowhere. Even to this day, the water still flows and has
not dried up.
It is said he had washed his sword in that water. The story seems
hard to believe in this 21st century but these are legends and
people talk about it to this day. Damodar Pahrey was a mysterious person, I
have read in one of the books he was carried on a conch (sankha) from Kuerseong
to Nepal. This was just to relate to his mystery. We shall talk about that various flying conch some other day. The chronology of Sikkim history mentions
the presence of the Nepal army along with Damodar Parhey in 1788-89.
An interesting anecdote
shared by Arun Bhandari, son of RP Bhandari, he told me they never had any
problem with water whenever they organized Maha Puran at the Devi Mandir. For all
those seven to nine days, they never had to carry water. But when there were
construction works inside the mandir, the source of water would be much less
than they had to be carried from nearby sources.
The historic Pandam
Garhi ruin is some 10-15 minutes walk from the Kali Devi mandir. We have
various accounts claiming to have built the Garhi but nothing is correctly
found. My small mind shifts to the discoveries that happened in 2009. During
the repairing of the walls and the construction of walking stairs, the workers underneath
the shifted rock boulders and muddy debris found cannonballs like round river stones,
pottery pieces, a ‘jhatoa’ used for
grinding grains, stone tablets written in Ranjana lipi, burned blackened
charcoal pieces and others. This finding was simply amazing but in the last
eleven years, nothing has been done about it. The carbon dating of pottery
pieces and those burned charcoal could re-write the story of this Garhi. What
were the stone tablets doing there? Many questions arise.
There are tales about
the war between the armies of Pandam Garhi and the Namthang Garhi. They used to
throw cannonballs like stones across each other and it is believed that a few
busted walls found to this day are said to be by the strength of those stones
thrown from Namthang Garhi. Though hard to believe since the distance between
the two Garhi is far and wide, even more thought-provoking is to imagine the
subject of the weapon technology of a couple of hundred years back.
|
2009 |
I do not know how others
feel about the origin of the name “Pandam” but what I learned about the
naming of this place is related to one of the most hostile episodes in Sikkim’s
royal history. Pende Ongmu, the half-sister of Chogyal Chakdor Namgyal, the
third Chogyal of Sikkim had successfully deliberated the murder of the Chogyal
at Rabdanste and had gone hiding.
She is believed to have been found at the
fort of Pandam along with the physician who was her partner in crime; as such
the name of the place was called Pendem after Pende Ongmu who was later taken
to Namchi where she was put to death. The more popular name Pandam of today
could be the angelized name of Pendem. The villagers do agree, raja-rani was
found hiding at Garhi and they were caught!
Published in Sikkim Express - 17.05.2020