Journey Of Faith - Part 4: A Temple With Bombs

Published April 7, 2017
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Yes, it seems like it's straight out of fiction but it isn't!

I never even imagined that I would see armed forces trucks inside a temple. But, we did, in Tanot. A place that wasn't on our agenda at all. Tucked away near the border, about 120 odd kms from Jaisalmer, the town wears a deserted look. The temple, though, looks grand and has quite an interesting story to tell.

Among the simple structures of the worship place, the gigantic 10-wheeled monsters look out of place. But there's good reason why they're there. And no, it's not entirely because of security reasons. During the 1965 war, Pakistan attempted to bomb the place in a bid to take control of the area. There are various versions of the story floating around, so I headed to the main idol to seek blessings first and get some prasad. That's also the first time someone from the BSF has served me prasad. His name was Bakh Navaz and he seemed to be in his late forties. He's travelled the breadth of the country, and as I later find out, is a great story teller!

"Kaafi shelling aur bombing hui thi..." (There was quite a lot of firing and bombing) his voice changed from being soft to slightly stern. "Ek bhi nahi phata, ek bhi nahi," he said almost immediately - beaming with pride and sneaking in a quick namaskar to the goddess that sat right behind his left shoulder, smiling. The temple is home to a lot of Pakistani bombs that never exploded inside the temple complex. The number I've heard varies from 300 to 3000. But the fact of the matter doesn't change that Pakistani bombs meant to cause havoc and destruction lay harmless inside the temple complex.

This instance put the forces' faith in the Tanot Mata so much, that they requested to take charge of the administration and the upkeep of the temple. It's common to see our brothers from the Indian Army inside the temple seeking blessings before they head to their respective postings.

Speaking of postings, our next stop was Longewala. 38 kms from the temple, the road is straight for as far as the eye can see. But, it's full of crests and dips, that give you the little knot in your stomach you get on a roller coaster. Here, we expected the Tucson to bottom out on one of the bigger dips for two reasons. Few blind hills meant the severity of the drop couldn't always be gauged beforehand. Second, the car was loaded with four people and camera equipment. Surprisingly, it didn't. The ground clearance and the healthy suspension travel were just enough to keep heartburn at bay.

Only when I got down from the car near a milestone that read "Longewala 0km", did the magnitude of what had unfolded there hit me.