This River, like all other rivers; is a witness to everything – wars, births, and deaths; every piece of history of its land and with time appears to be a symbol of beauty, love and hope. Personification of rivers into women is a popular device in the world of Indian poetics as rivers are well-conceived in the psyche of the Indian populace as vital, feminine energy, symbolizing fertility, nourishment, regeneration and life. Lawrence Buell in his most influential work on Eco criticism, “The Environmental Imagination”, outlines certain broad criteria to assess the eco critical value of a text: “The nonhuman environment is present not merely as a framing device but as a presence that begins to suggest that human history is implicated in natural history” and the ‘sense of the environment as a process rather than as a constant or a given’. The idea of environment as a dynamic process where dimensions interplay is supported by religious doctrines which dispense with a sharp demarcation between the spiritual and material realms. Mircea Eliade noted, how for the homo religious, everything in nature could be the subject of a religious experience. The religious man knows from experience that the world has a sacred centre and lives in the reality of this ‘cosmic sacrality”. According to the Vayu Purana, Champavati was the capital of nine kings of Puri Naga Dynasty. In the valley of Champawat are the seven ancient temples: Baleshwar, Kranteshwar, Tadkeshwar, Rishneshwar, Dikteshwar, Mallareshwar and Maneshwar. According to a local epic titled
Gurupaduka, Champavati, the sister of the Nagas, did penance near the Baleshwar temple of Champawat. In her memory, the temple of Champavati was built inside the Baleshwar temple complex. Built in the 12th century by the Chand rulers, Baleshwar temple dedicated to Shiva is an excellent monument having magnificent architectural designs in stone. Shiva is the magnificent water sculptor as the rivers Saraswati, Ganga, Yamuna, Sarayu and the seven rivers Sapt-Sindhu figure prominently in the Vedic hymns. Symbolically, Ganga descending from Heaven represents liberating consciousness or divine consciousness that flows from the head of a spiritual leader (Shiva) and purifies everyone who comes into contact with it. The rivers are symbolic of human soul which strives to attain the Absolute; while the inhabitants of Egypt consider the absoluteness of corpulent body as their ultimate goal. The Baleshwar temple signifies that Asceticism and energy has a strong role to play in the assertion of myths. What is important is to realise that the temple like the present-day museums, in addition to reconstructing the past for present reasons (religious, political or otherwise) – is an act of nostalgia. The ancient Indian temples are narratives that seek origins. The relics, images, art, artefacts, architecture are suggestive of the past community’s values. “The concept of “darshan” associated with images calls to see for sacredness associated with the image that is a prevalent form of worship in his land. Darshan is not a look of verification, but ‘one that demonstrates its faith by seeing the divinity where only its image exists’. The darshan embodies a relation where the object invites itself to be seen, and thus confers a privileged status on the spectator. The darshan has a specifically religious connotation, where the devotee receives the darshan given by the God on display. History states that the district was named after the princess Champavati, the daughter of King Arjun Deo whose power over the region expanded rapidly; he reunited the whole of Kumaon under one rule and the name Kumaon gradually came to denote the entire region extending from the snow ranges in the north to the tarai in the south. Myth is an embodiment of understanding of a people, an understanding often intuitive and dependent on the miraculous and the divine. But despite these differences Myth and History flow into each- other especially in India where Myth finds continuity in history while history constantly intervenes with the myth. The great epics like the Mahabharata are referred to as Itihasa literally meaning history. Mukund Lath in his essay on Iravati Krve’s Yuganta, “Understanding the Mahabharata,” Indian Literature commenting upon this, points out that
epics are history in an ancient sense and not a modern one. It is cosmic history of an age when men mingled with gods. But situations which are accepted as real, influence the cultures of a people. History in a modern sense also is a recording of events which illustrate an ideological stance, opposition or conflict. Thus, history feeds into myth and contemporary interpretations of myth. The folklores describe the significant presence of the region during Mahabharata period. Barahi temple of Devidhura, Sapteshwar temple of Sipti, Hidimba-Ghatotkach temple and Tadkeshwar temple of Champawat town are believed to date back to Mahabharata era. A very unusual fair, which attracts people from Kumaon, Nepal, and even other places, is held every year on the full moon day in the courtyard of Barahi Devi temple in Devidhura. Ecocritics have traced the language of landscape as female, as mother and as goddess through many readings
of literature across cultures. This imagery harkens to the archetypal underpinnings of earth as female. Annette Kolodny writes that such imagery, invoking mother and goddess and even as exotic female, gives the landscape a primal power and explains its ability to incite such religious fervor. Reading the landscapes of the district and the myths and rituals as practiced, it is ascertained that the female deity is the saviour of their land in their belief-system. As the land was terror-struck in some ancient age, the Goddess resurrected and protected it and in order to appease the mighty Goddess a human was sacrificed on this day. Gradually, the form of ritual underwent change and a battle of stones is held which continues till the amount of blood as in a human body is spilled on ground. The participation of each community in the ritual is made assured through customary-binding. The Mahars and Fawarls come in the vicinity of the temple with great gusto carrying dhols, Kangargal umbrella, nagadas known as Chhantoli., the Phularas arrange for flowers in Kot Phulara temple, the Brahmins of Mantande and Dholigaon perform the Puja and the Garhwali Rajputs of Bhainsirgaon used to perform the buffalo-sacrifice.