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After
all they could steal nothing from him! So, he
was shocked out of his wits when he suddenly found
himself surrounded by some people who seemed intent
on beating him senseless. He could not offer any
resistance and fell down bleeding. His tormentors
continued to kick and pummel him. They stopped
only when he began to moan in agony and his breathing
began to come in tortured gasps. Then they roughly
asked him to show them where the treasure he had
discovered was hidden.
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Shridhar
was unable to comprehend what his tormentors wanted from
him and he said as much. This led to another beating.
When Shridhar finally understood what these people wanted
from him he was thunderstruck. Even in his wildest dreams
he could have never imagined that his early morning visits
to the Holy cave would be interpreted by people as secret
visits to a vast treasure that he had discovered. When
he tried to tell the young men that they were mistaken
they glowered at him and threatened to beat him some more.
Finally, in sheer desperation Shridhar decided to take
them to the Holy Cave. So, with Shridhar leading the way
the party marched towards the cave. Enroute, Shridhar
picked up a few small branches of Chir (Pine) trees which
he explained to the young people, he would light up and
use as torches when they entered the dark cave. These
torches are known in local parlance as Deenee and are
frequently used even now by village folk whenever they
have to move about in the night through forested or uninhabited
areas.
After
a few hours of steady climbing and descending the party
reached the mouth of the Holy Cave. Shridhar set light
to the Chir branches and distributed them amogest the
people in the group. Then he entered the cave first
and the others followed him. The cold water, the light
of the torches bouncing off some walls of the cave and
casting deep shadows on others, the gentle sound of
the splashing water and the soft chanting of prayers
by Shridhar, all combined to create a mysterious effect
and subdued the belligerence of the young men. Shridhar
led the way to the sanctum sanctorum and showed them
the Holy Pindies. He then narrated to them the story
of young Vaishnavi and the Vision he had. All present
were impressed and after paying obeisance they came
out of the cave and commenced their return journey.
After they had been walking for some time, the impact
of the Darshan and the atmosphere in the Holy cave began
to wear off. One of the young men then remembered that
the leaders of the four groups would be quite annoyed
if they returned empty handed. He said as much. The
others mulled over it and agreed that it would indeed
be so. They thought about the problem and then one of
them suggested that since the place was holy, news about
its holiness should be spread in the neighboring villages.
As a result people would start visiting the Holy Shrine
for worship. When they did so they were bound to make
some offerings. These could be shared by the various
groups. The suggestion was found acceptable and the
group returned to their respective homes to report about
the matter. The next day the leaders of the four groups
reassembled and discussed the report received by them.
They were all suitably impressed by the description
of the aura of the Pindies and agreed that the place
was indeed holy and needed to be popularised. They also
agreed that the offerings made by the devout at the
Shrine should be shared equally among all of them. Broadly,
they agreed that each group should be allotted one day
by rotation for collecting the offerings. Thus the turn
of each group would come on every fifth day and that
group would be entitled to carry away the offerings
of that day. Details of who among which group would
go to collect the offerings on a particular day were
left to be sorted out by the elders of each group. In
local language the word for a turn is Bari. Thus on
every fifth day the turn or Bari of one group would
come to collect the offerings. This was the genesis
of the Baridari system of later times. The elders also
agreed that no part of the offerings should be given
to Shridhar because, they hastened to explain to each
other, he was only interested in his spiritual advancement
and not material well being. Besides,devout Brahmans
were otherwise also supposed to pursue the ideal of
Daridra Narayan, they told each other. And they did
not wish to incur the Paap of diverting him from attaining
this goal by placing materialistic temptation in his
path. Thus, Shridhar was effectively kept out of the
arrangement of sharing the offerings. However, Shridhar
was neither
interested in these arrangements nor cared to know about
them. He continued to worship the Goddess everyday in
the cave. His routine did not alter even after he got
married. Before he died, he enjoined upon his children
to continue to worship the Goddess every day in the
same fashion.
Shridhar's
progeny have been worshipping the Goddess in the Holy
cave since those hoary days!
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