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The tree-lined avenue leading to the IRMA hostel mess is pleasantly interrupted by an antique temple nestling against the shadow of a willowy neem tree. Old timers at IRMA love to relate an interesting story about the ancient neem tree guarding this place of worship: Being axed for landscaping it oozed blood even as two snakes – king cobras – slithered protectively towards the temple, which was about to be shifted to a new venue. Since then, apparently, both the landmark temple and its faithful mascot have been left undisturbed.

The temple dedicated to three deities – Chandani or Chandi Mata, Khodiyar Mata, and Bhathi dada – stands tall shaded by trees and unscathed by the ravages of time – more than 100 years in this case. According to the Puranas: “The gods always play where groves are next to water, mountains, and springs... and they have healing and purifying powers...”

 Walking beside this pristine house of worship and seeing walkers going past it – some stopping by to pay their respects – I would wonder if the above assertion were indeed true. Reason being the absence of springs and mountains in the vicinity. A cursory exploration threw up startling revelations. I learnt, for instance, that the warring Darbara clan owned the land housing the deities in the days gone by.

Was there a pond or body of water that no one knows about? “Yes, there was,” asserts 110-year-old Gangaben Gohil, who claims to have owned the land once. “The pond was crystal clear,” she beams, her voice crackling at the recollection, “you could throw a pebble and it would still be visible.” The pond would serve the entire community at Mahadev Para. “Yes!” she affirms, “that is what the area was called well before it turned into, what is now known as, the IRMA campus and the Sheth MC College of Dairy Science!”

The pond was filled with concrete and sand but the temple still stands as a testimony to that grand old time.

Gangaben, wrinkled and bent with age, lives in a ramshackle old house almost cheek-by-jowl with IRMA. “I have seen six generations go by,” she chuckles, “and what changes have taken place!”

She rues the day the British usurped the land from her family. “They took away the land perforce,” says her great great grandson Bhika Bhai, his brows knitting darkly. “And they paid only Rs. 100 per Bigha, which was far lower than the market price of the time.” Once land was taken away, the denizens of Mahadev Para shifted to other places in Anand including Lotia Bhagol and Mangalpura. Some stayed back, like Gangaben and her family, to occupy small bits of the tattered land.

Today, Gangaben and her entourage continue to pay obeisance to the main deity of the temple, Chandani Mata. But she is not the only one. Most IRMA residents pay regular visits to the temple. And, come examination time, the sight of anxious students flocking to the little shrine and beseeching the goddess at all times of the day, is not an unfamiliar one.

Fateh Singh, who has been on IRMA’s payrolls since the institute’s inception and a great believer of Chandani Mata, loves to narrate the story of a female student who’d been denied placement on the first day of IRMA’s placement week. Sitting depressed by the sacrosanct temple she was spotted by the old carpenter who advised the student to place all her problems on “Her shoulders”, pointing towards the deity. The advice appears to have worked because on the following day she landed a job with a leading development sector. Offering pedhas as oblations to the deity, she gave one to a beaming Fateh Singh. Faith can do wonders.

By: Pooja (Malashri) Mannari E-mail: pooja@irma.ac.in