Kendrapara: If Rajasthan has a temple where rats are ‘worshiped’ and taken care of, Orissa has a temple where it is the cats that are revered. However, unlike the Karni Mata temple in Rajasthan, the devotees visiting Bilei khia Mutt in Kendrapada district are not allowed in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple. Traditionally the devotees pay their obeisance from outside the temple.
It is said that the temple has been feeding cats since the times when Aul royals ruled here. The then Aul king had donated land to the mutt to ensure that cats are fed here daily. Till today the ‘Mahanta’ (priest) of the Bilei khia Mutt at Nikirai’s Muthasahi, feed and take care of the cats here.
The Madanmohan jew temple was later constructed in the same premises.
The mutt, was set up in the year 1744. Later, the then king of Aul, Braja Sundar Deb, donated 150 acres of land for the mutt. Even, the Jamindar of Nikirai’s purbasahi and Paschima sahi, Jamindar of Ratnagiri, Jamindar of Damarapur too donated land for the smooth functioning of mutt and to meet the expenses of daily rites and rituals of Madanmohan jew temple.
Presiding deities Lord Madan Mohanjew, Radharani, Sri Krishna Chaityana Mahaprabhu, Gopinathjew, Gobindajew, Radhakantajew, Lord Baladevjew, Subhadra and Jagannath are worshipped in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, a place to which only the mahanta and cats have free access.
According to Baba Abhaya Charan Das, the Mahanta of Bilei khia mutt, there were about a hundred cats when Mahanta Braja Mohan Das, the 8th Mahanta of the said mutt and the Madanmohan jew temple was in-charge. The mahant used to take care of the cats and used to feed them. And that he used to do by collecting food by way of begging. Once, the then king of Aul, Braja Sundar Deb, was going along with his soldiers via Mathasahi road from Aul to his Rajabati at Derabish via Kantia road. The king asked his soldiers to find a place to rest. The soldiers fanned in the area and upon their return informed the king about the mutt. The king then summoned the mahanta of the mutt through his soldiers. When the mahanta came to meet the king, all the cats, numbering over a hundred, also followed him.
The king was surprised to see so many cats following the priest. The mahanta told the king that he goes begging daily and whatever he gets he shares it with the cats. The king was so impressed that he donated six acres of the land to the mutt, so that the mahanta could till the land and grow grains for himself and his cats. Now it is more than a hundred years since that meeting of the king and the mahanta of the mutt, but that royal decree is still honoured.
Over the years the number of cats at the mutt has declined. From being over a hundred a hundred years ago, at present there are only about a dozen cats residing in the mutt. The cats are also offered the ‘prasad’ of the midday, which is rice apart from milk and rice twice a day. Besides the resident cats, many a times people from nearby villages leave kittens here, knowing well that they would be fed and taken care of.
The Bilei khia Mutt is the second oldest mutt of Kendrapada district. Besides, caring for the cats, the mutt also provides stay and food to the visitors and that too free of cost. Although there is no rule that prohibits the devotees from entering the sanctum sanctorum of the mutt, they by tradition do not enter it. On the other hand the priest and the cats have unhindered access to the sacred place. PNN