Jalpesh Temple, Jalpaiguri

01Jalpesh of the Kalika Purana country

The linga of Jalpesh sits in a pit kept filled with water, and pilgrims look down to it from the floor of the sanctum. The kshetra is spoken of in the sacred texts of Kamarupa, and the Koch kings of Cooch Behar, who ruled this country, treated the temple as their own. The present building, with its squat dome over a square hall, is held to be the work of the Koch king Pran Narayan in the 17th century, and the shrine has been repaired many times since.

02Shravani Mela

In Shravan kanwariyas carry water from the Teesta and walk to Jalpesh, and the Shravani Mela lasts the month. At Mahashivaratri a large fair spreads along the Jarda river, and traders and pilgrims come from the hills of Bhutan as they have for generations. The fair once served as a market for the hill people, who came down with oranges, blankets and ponies to trade for cloth and salt, and stalls of that kind still line the river bank.

The life of this place