Page2

Religion

In the district of Lakhpat is situated the temple of Koteshwar which is a holy place of pilgrimage in Kutch. There is an ancient story attached with it. They say that King Ravana wanted to be immortal and did tapasya of God Shiva. Lord Shiva gifted him with Ling which he could worship and become immortal. But in arrogance he dropped the ling, which on touching the ground turned into a thousand Lings. King Ravana could not recognize the original ling, and so the boon was lost. There were a thousand lings at that place so the Gods of heaven decided to build this temple and name it Koteshwar.

Hindus also believe in Goddesses who they call Mataji and so they have built many temples of different avtars of Mataji. Among them, one is Shaktipith Mata's Math in which Mata Ashapura's statue dwells.

She is the Kuldevi of Jadejas. Ma Ravechi who protects Kutch, has her temple in the desert of Vadhad, Kutch. Kadva Patidars' Kuldevi is Umiya Mataji. Her temple is in the village Desalpur called Vandhay Tirth, a known religious and cultural center.

Sahajanad Swami came to Kutch in the middle Ages and started the sector of Swaminarayan, which is a part of Hinduism. Kutch's labourers, Leva Patel and farmers are the believers of Swaminarayan sector. Sahajanad Swami told people to live pure lives. On Vasant Panchami, the devotee pray from the book written by Sahajanad Swami. They recite religious songs and women take colorful vessels on their heads and go to the temple. There is a Swaminarayan Temple in Bhuj.

Eventually as the mogul emperors came to India and ruled many parts of India, Muslim religion also came into existence. The Muslim religion call their God "Khuda" or "Allah" and worship in mosques. The Muslims are ardent worshippers of their "Allah" five times a day. The people who spent their life in the service of their Muslim religions and its founder, are called the "Pirs".

Once such Pir was the Hajipir. Hajipir's dargah is situated in very quiet desert of Kutch. People hold fairs here on holy days. Another dedicated person was Mekandada who served people in the time famine. His stayed in Dhranga.

A temple has been built in his name over his tomb , this shows the brotherhood with which both Hindus and Muslims lived together in those times. Even today, inspite of the differences in the religion many Hindus have belief in Hajipir and many Muslims like Jamadar Fatehmahommad believe in Ma Ashapura.
The above mentioned are the main religions existing in Kutch, but that still does not divide this community into different sections or religions. The whole community lives like one family respecting every each others believes and thoughts.

Back | 1 | 2