Ranchi a pitstop for Rourkela kanwariyas

Ranchi: Kamaldeep Khullar, a businessman based in Kansbahal near Rourkela in Odisha, has been travelling to Deoghar to offer his prayers to the Baidyanath dham temple for two decades now. Like many devotees hailing from the neighbouring state of Odisha, Ranchi serves as a transit point for him to reach his destination every year.

Accompanied by 106 devotees divided into 10 teams with a leader each, Khullar was among the several thousand devotees thronging the Ranchi railway station on Tuesday, waiting to board trains to Sultanganj in Bihar, from where they will begin their 100-km walk to the main temple in Deoghar.

He said, “We don’t have a direct train from Rourkela to Deoghar or Sultanjganj. For connectivity issues, we have made Ranchi our transit point for many years now — as our annual visit to Babadham is a ritual for many devotees like me. This year, we have a team comprising 106 members and all of us will be covering the distance between Sultanganj and Babadham temple on foot after collecting the holy water from Ganga in Sultanganj.”

From Odisha capital Bhubaneshwar, there are trains to Jasidih near Deoghar but Khullar said the distance from Rourkela to Ranchi is shorter than going to Bhubaneshwar. The

The 106 Kanwariyas from Odisha, charging the atmosphere in the railway station with chants of ‘Bol Bam’ reverberating through the air make their stop in Ranchi every year. Travelling together, they spend their journey to Baidyanathdham in 10 different groups with a team leader for better coordination.

Khullar said, “We have had women kanwariyas travelling with us on earlier occasions. This year, several college students are travelling with us. We begin the planning a few months ago and after the teams are formed, we travel together on train to Ranchi and take another connecting one to Sultanganj,” said Munku Sahu, another kanwariya of the group, who has been travelling to the temple in Shravan for over 15 years now.