01Kalidasa and the lamp
Mithila tells this katha of the young Kalidasa, then a simple, unlettered man. Sent one stormy night across the swollen river to light the lamp before the Bhagwati, he swam across, lit it, and, to prove he had been there, marked the murti’s face with soot from the lamp. The Devi, moved by his faith, appeared and granted him learning. Kalidas Dih, a mound across the river, is said to be the place of his school. Students still come before examinations to offer at Uchchaith.
02A Devi of the Mithila sages
Local tradition says the rishis of Mithila, Kapila, Kanada and Gautama among them, passed this way, and that the Bhagwati was worshipped here in Janaka’s time. The black stone murti, a seated Devi on a lion, has no head, and is worshipped so. Navaratri and Shravan bring the villages of Benipatti block to her door.
Near Benipatti, about 25 km west of Madhubani town.
