VISITING PRIVATE PLACE OF WORSHIP IN MY NATIVE VILLAGE IN CHAMBA, HIMACHAL PRADESH, AFTER 66 YEARS

In 1956 when I was about 10 years old, I visited this quaint looking private place of worship in my ancestral village named Gungias in Tehsil Churah of Chamba district in Himachal Pradesh. My father's elder brothers Mahant Ram and Kesru Ram were the custodians of this little private family shrine located in the darkest corner of a ground-floor cowshed and performed pujas there on special occasions. I have very faint memories of my last visit there 66 years ago, so when I visited it this year on June 6, 2022, I was deeply excited.

When I entered the old cowshed, I noticed a cow and her calf tethered to wooden stakes near the entrance.They were clearly visible in the light coming in through the open door, but beyond them, it was pitch-dark in the windowless basement. I tried to locate the position of the little shrine in the gloomy corner, but to no avail. I even tried using the in-built torch in my mobile, but it was too dim to show anything. My nephew Madho asked to wait a moment and then returned from his house holding in his hand a powerful flashlight. He immediately shone it into the dark corner to reveal what I have captured here with a DSLR camera, using its in-built flashlight. It is not all that bright, but shows enough details which I have labelled for the convenience of my readers.

If my memory can be trusted, I recall being awfully scared whenever I visited this 'shrine' in company with my Tayaji (uncle). While performing puja, he would ignite resinous thin splinters of pinewood on an iron stand for light, burn raw dhoop (natural incense) in an earthen bowl, chant some incomprehensible prayer in local dialect, blow on a conch shell and conclude the ceremony by ringing the metallic bell repeatedly. 

Having seen those objects of puja after such a long time, it took me some time to identify and label them. As a student and teacher of languages, I now realize there was something pagan about this method of worship which scared me.