The villagers, who have come under the banner of Sri Devi Navdurga Pratishthan, state that the temple is over 800 years old while the Saraswats came to Goa only during the Portuguese regime.
“The mahajans have no documents to prove they have replaced the idol thrice or that they are the original owners of the temple,” says Shailendra Panjikar, president of the Pratishthan.
He says after the Portuguese left they made papers in the form of Regulamento de Compromiso de Majana in their names.
“They are only the caretakers and managers they can’t claim they are owners of the property,” he says. He says the idol is 800 year and is a precious artifact today and needs to be preserved.
Giving a brief history of the temple, he said, that the villagers consist of Sevekari, Kulavi, Bhajak and Grmasth who carry out various works on a daily basis in the temple.
He says that the until these people come for the works assigned to them for generations the dev jkaryas (puja) isn’t complete like Sangodd, Lalkhi, Palquim, Rath, Durga, Sukhasan, Mayurasan, Gade, Holi Friday Arti and Shigmo Dhol Tashe.
Shailendra says, the Ghaisas family are the pujaris and 36 generations of the family have served the temple besides also the Gowda, Zalmi, Shet Madkaikars are the other families who have specific tasks in the puja.
“While everything is done by Bahujan Samaj, the Mahajans control only the management of temple. The Bahujans were not allowed in the sanctrum sanctrum of the temple,” he said adding the Palaquim is also taken by only the Mahajans and Bahujan Samaj was not allowed to even touch the palaquim”.
Panjikar further says that the villagers are not asking for money or anything.
“It is an old idol which should be retained that’s our demand,” he said.
Panjikar also pointed out that annually lakhs of people come for jatra wherein the temple gets donations and earnings of nearly Rs 5 to 10 cr.
“The Mahajans want power only where there is money like Mhalsa temple, Mangueshi, Kamaxi, Ramnathi, Kavlem, Nageshi, Mardola, Mahalaxmi, Kundaim and Borim. We have asked under RTI what has happened to the money which comes over the years as the Mamlatdar is the caretakar and audits the accounts every three years,” he said.
