Jhatri ka Pani: Garhwali Folk Story about emerging Water Source

(Folk Tales from Garhwal Series-112)

                           Collected by Bhishma Kukreti

           (Narrated by Shri Tribhuwan Balodi of Jhatri village, Patti-Sheela, Pauri Garhwal)

  There are folk stories about emerging new water sources and drying of old water sources in every village of Garhwal.

           There is a folk tale about emerging of new water source in Jhatri village, near Dadamandi, Sheela Patti, Pauri Garhwal.

 Balodi caste community lives in Jhatri village, of Sheela Patti.   Long back, Then there was no water source in Jhatri village of Pauri Garhwal. People used to go to one mile steep down for fetching water. Long back, one day, in high summer noon, a sage came to Jhatri and asked a woman for water. The woman felt sorry and started weeping by listening request of the sage for water. After asking the reason of weeping by the sage, the woman told the sage that it was her poor luck that she could not offer water to a thirsty sage. Even there was no water drop in her pots in the house. The Jhatri woman told the sage to wait for a couple of Ghadi(time unit)as she would go to down and would fetch water.

 The sage felt pity on the villagers and they had to go steep down for water.  The sate told the woman not to go down and blessed that Jhatri would get water within a couple of Ghadi in the village itself.

The sage went from Jhatri and after some time, the Jhatri woman was happily shocked that water started oozing from the place where the sage was standing. The villagers started praising the unknown sage who blessed water for Jhatri. Jhatri villagers built a Nauli/Nao at the new water source. Still today, Jhatri villagers remember the unknown sage for offering them water by his blessing.

Copyright@ Bhishma Kukreti 7/6//15, Mumbai, India

References

1-Bhishma Kukreti, 1984, Garhwal Ki Lok Kathayen, Binsar Prakashan, Lodhi Colony, Delhi 110003, 

2- Bhishma Kukreti 2003, Salan Biten Garhwali Lok Kathayen, Rant Raibar, Dehradun

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South Asian Garhwali Folk Story about emerging Water Source; South Asian Garhwali Folk Story from Jhatri village about emerging Water Source; South Asian Garhwali Folk Story from Sheela Patti about emerging Water Source; South Asian, Garhwali Folk Story from near Dadamandi about emerging Water Source; South Asian, Garhwali Folk Story from Duggadda block, about emerging Water Source; South Asian, Garhwali Folk Story from Lansdowne Tehsil, about emerging Water Source; South Asian, Garhwali Folk Story from Pauri Garhwal about emerging Water Source; South Asian, Garhwali Folk Story from Uttarakhand about emerging Water Source; South Asian, Garhwali Folk Story from North India about emerging Water Source;