Haribhanga Kaliya Gosai Mandir: a holy place for love, belief and worship

TIHU, Feb 12 - Haribhanga is an agricultural village situated in Nalbari district of Tihu subdivision under Nambarbhag mouza. Eighty per cent of the population of this village depends on agriculture for their livelihood. For the development of economic, social, political, art and culture of the greater Haribhanga area, the Haribhanga Gaon Unnayan Sammittee was formed in. 1945. The most renowned, historical and religious holy place of Haribhanga is the Kaliya Gosai Mandir. Every year people from far and wide come to this place to visit this famous temple. There are many interesting stories associated with the formation of this temple.

It is believed that the formation of this temple was at Hokakhowa jaan. Towards the east of the jaan, there lived an old lady who got a very unusual visitor one day. The dark-complexioned visitor told the lady to light an earthen lamp at the place where he stayed during the night and disappeared. The following morning the lady did as she was told and astonishingly the earthen lamp she lit burnt continuously for seven days and nights. People heard about the tale and concluded that the visitor was none but Lord Krishna himself. The people decided that towards the west side of the house at a particular distance, they would construct a hut and a place for the idol of Lord Kaliya Gosai with the earthen lamp still burning. They also planted three bakul trees there. It was an auspicious day and people chanted hymns and prayers. Every year, prayers were organised along with the yearly festival and the place thereafter came to be known as Kaliya Gosai thaan and the hut came to known as Kaliya Gosai Ghar. Time passed by. During the reign of the Ahom king Shiva Singha, it was decided that a religious procession would be carried out with the �Manikut� which was constructed with sal wood. Thereafter, the decision was taken to construct the idol of Kaliya Gosai and Kaliya Gosai Ghar came to be known as Kaliya Gosai Mandir. The temple is considered to be very auspicious as people who come here with true beliefs got their wishes fulfilled.

In 1972, on January 15, a new Kaliya Gosai Mandir opened its door for the people and devotees and thus the happiness of the people of Haribhanga know no bounds. Since then the first Magh of the Assamese Calendar is observed as dharma sabha (Magh Utsav) every year. Due to the donations of religious people, the efforts of the Mandir Parichalana committee and also the immense love of the people, the temple was beautifully constructed and the hope of constructing a new �Manikut� was also fulfilled where Haridas Kalita, a retired Product Manager, Guwahati Refinery, Sankar Birla and Nilamani Sen Deka donated one lakh rupees each. Due to the inspiration and encouragement received from those persons and also the able leadership of Ganesh Kalita, secretary of the Parichalana committee, people from other parts of Assam also donated for the uplift of the Mandir.

A 544-foot tall wall along with 72 foot high �Manikut� was constructed successfully. Again, Madan Barman, president of the committee donated Rs 80,000 for the brass urn to be placed on the top of the �Manikut�. The efforts, the beliefs and the love of the people to Lord Kaliya Gosai finally bore fruit.

It needs to be mentioned here that every year thousand of devotees from far and wide come and also offer puja the whole year, particularly on Magh 1 and the importance of this temple is increasing day by day due to the love, affection, trust and beliefs, the Kaliya Gosai (Lord Krishna) listens to their prayer and blesses them for their peace and happiness. Those beliefs and trust of the devotees will surely change this holy place into a tourist hub one day.