Incredible Bharat Guest Entry: Our Miraculous Culture 

THE LEGEND OF TIWARI BABA OF KHADHARA, Distt. BANKA, BIHAR, INDIA

Khadhara is a village on Bhagalpur – Dumka main highway.

Once Mughal Emperor Jahangir was on visit to Jaithorenath area and while staying happened to be angling in lake. Nearby, a pandit also happened to be roaming. Emperor Jahangir jokingly asked the Pandit, what is going to be hooked in the line of fishing rod? Pandit said a quail is going to be caught in the hook of the line. The Emperor got quite annoyed & said that if no quail is going to be caught in the hook, you will be hanged.

When the Emperor pulled the line, a quail sitting in nearby Banyan tree got caught in it.

Emperor Jahangir was very pleased and donated a large plot of forested land  having 56 plots & some ruins to Pandit and made him the zameendar of the property. Panditji’s name was Lakshmi Narayan Jha and his younger brother was Pandit Vaidyanath Jha. After getting the jameendaree, Panditji started getting addressed as Lakshmi Narayan Chaudhary. His family successors live in the village even today.

With habitat established by Pandit Lakshmi Narayan, the place started getting populated. One night, one Sri  Bhookhan Pathak living in Khadhara had a dream that in such & such place in the jungle, there is a large “mud structure/mud body” (mud pind) and Its name is Tiwari Baba and He is the Presiding Deity of the village and His worship should be started by constructing a temple at the same place. Bhookhan Pathak in his dream also saw Tiwari Baba’s image surrounded by snakes. He was also conveyed in his dream that if  the water used in worshipping the “Mud Body” is fed to a person bitten by a snake, the effect of poison shall go away and the person shall be fully cured from the effect of the poison.

As in dream, the place was excavated and really a “Mud Pind” was founded there and along with It, a stone sculptor of Lord Buddha, Goddess Mahalkshami & Bajrangbali Sri Hanuman was also found. After proper puja, archana these were installed. Since then, anyone bitten by a snake is given the water offered to Tiwari Baba and the person gets cured of the bite.

Later on, the villagers after collecting donations created an Open Temple. The villagers had proposed to construct a roof on the temple, but one of the offsprings of Bhookhan Pathak had a dream, where he was advised that Tiwari Baba should be kept in open only. That’s why the temple is in an Open Manner only.

People bitten by snakes from surrounding areas visit Tiwari Baba’s temple and go back after getting cured of the snake bite.

There are many who after being bitten by poisonous snakes like kobra, krait. saankhad etc are living today due to benevolence of Tiwari Baba. The process of cure also requires full faith of affected the person on Tiwari Baba.

Every year, in the month of “Ashaad”, the whole village conducts big Puja of Tiwari Baba with great devotion and pomp & show after collecting donations.

(As Narrated by Sri Raghbendra Jha of Khadhara.

Sri Raghbendra is Administrative Officer with Arissan Power Limited, Banka and interestingly was himself bitten very recently bya kriait snake and was fully cured due to great benevolence of Tiwari Baba. Sri Raghbendra has now himself become a part of the Legend of Great Tiwari Baba of Khadhara).