 Vacharadada |
In the Indian state of Gujarat there’s a village called Satrava, approx 30km from the city of Porbandar. In 1700 a baby boy was born in the Solanki family and his parents named him Vasraj. He was son of a village leader, a warrior cast. When he was born the bells in the Lord Shiva’s temple (Mandir) started to ring.
When Vasraj was 4-years old he went to school and there was a snake in the school grounds. As he was a servant of Lord Shiva, he wasn’t scared of the snake.
When he reached the age of 21, Vasraj’s parents decided to arrange his marriage to Dudhata. On wedding day, Vasraj arrived with “Jaan” and soon the wedding ceremony started accordance with Hindu wedding ceremony. Half way through the ceremony, a priest came to tell Vasraj that some Muslim bandits have come and took the village cows. Hearing this Vasraj got up at once and asked the priest to stop the wedding ceremony. He told his wife to be that he has to go and protect the village cows, since it was his duty for being leader of the village. Dudhata bravely put “tilak” mark on his forehead and prayed for his safe return.
Vasraj got on his horse and tracked down the bandits. He asked the bandits politely to return his village herd; however bandits refused and challenged him to fight. Being a warrior, Vasraj pulled his sword out and started slaying bandits. After few hours of fighting single handidly, Vasraj got tired and got out numbered by Muslim bandits. One bandit swung his sword and brave Vasraj’s head was separated from his body but his body kept on fighting the bandits. Seeing this miracle, rest of surviving bandits fled in shock and fear. By that time villagers arrived and saw the miracle, seeing that bandits had fled and his village herd is safe once again, Vasraj’s body collapsed and died. Hearing this news Dudhata, decided to become “Sati” and asked the villagers to prepare for final ceremony, in which Dudhata sat on funeral fire holding Vasraj’s head in her hands. Villagers of Satrava realised that this was no ordinary man and proclaimed him as a divine demi god. Satrava there’s a temple dedicated to Vacharadada.
Article written by Ravi Odedra (age 7)