Vedvyas, a sought-after place for funeral rites

Rourkela: Vedvyas, located on the confluence of the rivers Shankh, Koel and Saraswati, is turning out to be a huge tourist draw with people from various parts of the state making a beeline for organizing funeral rites as they consider the place as a holy one.

Set against a picture-postcard natural beauty, Vedvyas is being linked to religious sanctity as the place is fabled in The Mahabharata. The popular belief is that it was the place where great sage Vyas Dev wrote the great epic.

Surrounded by dense forest, the place is also thronged by people preferring marriage celebrations, thread ceremonies and other rituals. Every year, the full moon day of ‘Ashadh’ sees thousands of devotees worshipping Vyas Dev.

A fortnight-long ‘Shivaratri’ is also specially observed here. “Those taking part in the ‘Jagar Yatra’ can only realize the importance of the place,” said Kailash, a priest. Near the river bank is a mandap where round-the-clock sankirtan has been going on for the last 22 years, he added.

The Vedvyas Trust Board (VTB) is managing the affairs of the place. Apart from a Mukti Dham, Vedvyas has an improvised crematorium and garden. For cremation of each body, VTB charges Rs. 51.

Legend has it that the hermitage of sage ‘Parasara’ was once situated near the confluence and he used to go across the river to worship Lord Shiva every day. One day, bewitched by a boatman’s daughter, the sage took her as his wife. His son named ‘Krishna Dwaipayana’ was later known as Vyas Dev.

Ajit Das, a priest working here, asserted that the cave once used by Vyas still survives the ravages of time on the river bank. It was the cave inside which Vyas Dev was wrote eighteen other epics, apart from The Mahabharata. However, due to soil erosion, the cave remains inaccessible.

Interestingly, a popular belief is that an under-ground tunnel lies linking the river and cave through which the sage used to go other side of the river to worship Lord Shiva.

According to the head priest Kailash Dehury, the Vedvyas area is sprawling over 48 acres. This patch of land was handed over to late priest Gadadhar Dehury by the then Kuanrmunda Raja Jamidar Balmiki Mohapatra. A part of this area is allocated to Gurukula Ashram and Goushala.

Situated 13 km from Rourkela Railway Station, the place is dotted with nine temples- Sri Chandrasekhar Mandir, Sri Raghunath Mandir, Sri Durga Mandir, Sri Hanuman Mandir, Sri Jagannath Mandir, Sri Balunkeshwara Mandir, Sri Biswanath Mandir and Sri Saraswati Mandir.