Keonjhar: There is a village named Baitarani in the Bansapal block of Keonjhar district from where the Ganga of Odisha – river Baitarani originates.
The villagers never make it a point to find whether their village gets its name from the river or the river derives its name from the village. But one thing they are sure of is that their village is not as blessed with prosperity as the villages and towns along the river do.
The river’s actual place of origin is Gonasika. It is a combination of two words – Go and Nasika. ‘Go’ means cow and ‘Nasika’ means nose.
According to a legend, the name is so because the stream, as thin as a thread at its origin, would flow out as if from one of the nostrils of a cow. From the other one, a stream of fine sand would flow. Even today, the stream is flowing out of the nostril, but the cow head is made of cement. The Salandi is its tributary.
After travelling 18 km on NH-49 from district headquarters, one reaches a square called Bayapandadhar Square. From there, one has to travel 12 km on a road with jungles and hills on both sides to reach the village.
The village is 3 km from Gonasika panchayat and 35 km from Bansapal block headquarters.
As many spiritual and mythological legends have given publicity to this place as ‘Gupta Ganga’, tourists visit the place to see the river’s origin and worship Lord Shiva.
Researchers say ‘Gupta Ganga’ is a part of the Sumeru Mountain, which is a part of the Western Ghats.
The village is divided into two parts – Tala Sahi and Upara Sahi. The village with a population of 3,000 or so has 73 families. They belong to the Juanga tribe and the ‘Gopal’ community.
The villagers survive on agriculture. But they do not have irrigation facility. They primarily depend on rainwater, rivulets and creeks to raise crops. They take their agricultural produce to the nearby Kanjipani market. They also rear cattle and goats.
The village has a single tube-well which most of the time fails to meet requirements.
As a sign of development, they have just an anganwadi centre attended by 22 children.
Over the years only electricity utility poles have come up in the village, but the service is poor.
Desh Juanga, a ward member, said the village is neglected on the education front too. As there is no school in the village, the children have to go to a school in nearby Kadalibadi village.
There is a dispensary at Gonasika. But to get good treatment, they depend on Kanjipani Hospital and the Keonjhar District Headquarters Hospital.
As all families are poor they survive on the rice they get through ration cards and pensions.
Elderly villagers said if their village was developed as a tourist spot, as it is the place of the Baitarani river’s origin, it will go a long way in improving their lives.
PNN
