KENDRAPARA: Celebrated Sanskrit poet Kalidas may not be a popular figure among the GenNext, but in nondescript Babakapur village, 15 km from here, locals have been worshipping the poet in temple for past two hundred years. Interestingly, in this temple, priest Surendra Mishra (58) recites the Sanskrit poems and dramas written by Kalidas, instead of slokas from religious texts, during rituals.
The stone image of poet Kalidas is being worshipped since 1802, said Prahallada Jena, an octogenarian of the village. Jena further said the late zamindar Balaram Bhamarbar Ray of the village was a Sanskrit scholar and he constructed the temple in 1802. Since the consecration of the temple, the villagers have been worshipping the poet. But after the death of the zamindar in 1832, some villagers installed a deity near the pedestal of Kalidas and since then the villagers have been worshiping poet Kalidas along with the village deity, said Jena.
The priests of the Kalidas temple are all well versed with the literature of the great poet. The reading and reciting of the poems and plays of Kalidas are mandatory for all the five priests of the temple.
Verses from Kalidas’ works like Ritusamharam, Meghadutam, Kumarsambhavam, Malavikagnimitram and Abhijnasakuntalam are recited in the temple daily, said priest Mishra.
In the past, the zamindars used to patronise the priests but after the abolition of the Zamindari system by the State Government in 1952, the temple authorities faced trouble in managing the temple affairs. In spite of the odds, the villagers have been keeping the age-old tradition alive by donating money to appoint Sanskrit scholars as priests of the Kalidas temple, said Narayan Parida, one of the managing committee members of the temple trust board. Many Sanskrit scholars make it a point to pay a visit to the temple, added Narayan.