Super cyclone survivor's family worship Jar God

Kendrapada,Oct 29 (UNI) God is worshipped in different forms but paying obeisance to a 'jar' is unbeleivable.

But this what exactly happened in Ramnagar village where a boatman's family has been worshipping a ''jar'' treating it like a god for over the last nine years.

The family members put vermillion and flowers on the plastic jar as a daily ritual.

The reason behind such worship has been attributed to the unforgettable super cyclone that battered coastal Orissa in 1999 killing thousands but saved the life of a boatman.

The 'Jar' played the role of survivor for the family head who managed to save his life by holding the jar in his hand for a couple of days in the Bay of Bengal.

Sources said the 47-year-old boatmaker Sujit Bepari, a resident of Ramnagar village under Mahakalapada block of Kendrapara district, survived without food and water for several days while remaining afloat in the Bay of Bengal with the help of the plastic jar.

Recounting the unforgettable memories, Sujit said a fellow boatman of his village asked him on October 28,1999, to repair his trawler stranded in the Mahanadi river mouth near Paradeep jetty.

Sujit went with the boatman to repair the trawler at a makeshift camp near the jetty when the gale accompanied with windspeed of about 300 km battered the camp. Sujit and four others were washed away in the strong current of sea water.

While three were swept away in the gale, Sujit somehow managed to float on the water holding a plastic jar and reach the seashore after two days without any food.

Sujit's wife Subarna said all the family members considered the ''Jar'' as god and survivor of our family head. The plastic jar had been kept near the citadel (Tulashi chaunra) of the house for daily worshipping.

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