WHEN OCTOBER 2 comes, the whole country remembers the father of nation. But there is a village where every day Mahatma Gandhi is worshiped as a god. Hundreds of people from various religions, communities and castes worship Mahatma Gandhi in a unique way in this tiny village. They worship his idol in a temple everyday by offering flowers to his idol in Bhatra village located some 300 kilometres away in Sambalpur district of Orissa.
The village truly realises the dream of Gandhiji's dream 'Ramarajya' with people from different faith gather to offer prayers to him. Hindus, Christians and Muslims regularly visit this temple without any problem. They not just pray to Gandhiji but they also read the teachings of Bapu after arati in the morning and evening. And the chief priest of this temple is a Dalit by cast.
Apart from a 3.5 feet-high bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi , the temple has Ashoka Stambha, the national emblem, on its front. Besides that, religious symbols from various religion finds a place on the walls of the temple. Leaders like Swami Vivekananda, Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Subash Chandra Bose and B.R. Ambedkar are also worshiped here as side gods.
“Ever morning and evening, people from different faiths gather to worship Gandhiji. And they offer arati, flowers and coconuts etc. Generally the worshiping style is traditional in nature” said Kalia Bag, the chief priest of Bhatra Gandhi temple.
“We are having a special puja on Gandhi Jayanti, and every year organise a multi religious conference”. said Pramod Ranjan Kumar, president of Gandhi Mandir Development Committee.
Abhimanyu Kumar, the former MLA of Redhakhol, played an important role in building a Gandhi temple. It was the speech of Mahatma Gandhi on untouchables, which inspired Abhimanyu to build this temple. In 1934 Gandhiji came to Sambalpur to attend a public meeting. And there he gave his revered speech.
“What Gandhiji did for our nation and for our people, nobody did that. Still I believe that he was an incarnation of God” said Abhimanyu Kumar, the builder of the temple.
The construction of Gandhi temple started in 1971 and was wrapped up by 1974. The temple was inaugurated by the then Chief Minister of Orissa, Nandini Satpathy.
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