Jackals worshipped at Lord Dattaray temple near Rann of Kutchray atop Kaladungar

Feast time: Jackals savour the daily offeringAnimals have a special place in Hinduism. The cow is worshipped and the mouse is venerated as the vehicle of Lord Ganesh as are the peacock, the swan and a myriad other creatures.But the jackal so often reviled for its cunning in folktales? The gregarious cousin of the dog is the object of adoration on the periphery of the desolate flats of the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat.For hundreds of years now, devotees at the temple of Lord Dattaray a top Kaladungar or the Black Hill offer prasad to jackals. Every day rice mixed with jaggery is kept at a specific spot near the temple for the pack of jackals that emerge ands idle up to the spot. Strangely the carrion eaters seem to relish the vegetarian offering.Locals believe that when Lord Dattaray was on a pilgrimage from the holy hill of Girnar near Junagadh to the temple of Goddess Hinglaj, now in Baluchistan province of Pakistan, he stopped at Kaladungar to rest. When he saw a jackal yearning for food he cut off his hand and offered it to the animal. To his surprise the jackal refused to eat it. An impressed Lord Dattaray blessed it, saying, "On this hill the jackal will henceforth be my symbol and be worshiped by my devotees. They must offer prasad to the jackal on fulfillment of their wishes".Says Valjibhai Kakkad, caretaker of the government guesthouse at Khavda, the biggest village in the area: "For us our spirituality revolves around the temple atop Kaladungar." Kakkad belongs to the Lohana caste, which worships Lord Dattaray and keeps the tradition of feeding the jackals alive. At the temple, the four member staff, led by priest Jagdish Bharatiji, starts the day by cooking the meal for the jackals. Only then do they have food themselves. The cooked fare is offered as bhog to Lord Dattaray and at 1 p.m. a part of it is kept at a spot near the temple. This is repeated at sunset.The temple was damaged in the 2001 earthquake but BJP leader Mukesh Jhaveri constructed a new one. Today the forlorn place is an attractive religious spot that lures more devotees-and more jackals.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Jun 28, 2004 00:00 IST--- ENDS ---

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Jackals worshipped at Lord Dattaray temple near Rann of Kutchray atop Kaladungar

The way to God is through the jackal's stomach at a temple on the periphery of the Rann of Kutch.

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