Anugraha Deva - The Powerful Deity

Anugraha Deva sanctuary, a famous and hallowed temple in the village of Padubidri was indeed a sight for the sore eyes. Since time immemorial, the great sages had been meditating inside the temple which in turn created a consecrated divine energy. It is believed that the divine power generated by meditation backed by Anugraha Deva himself churned out immense wealth inside the temple. Abundant coins, jewellery, and diamond sculptures added grandeur to the temple and the visual spectacle offered by the temple was a feast to the devotee's eyes. People from all walks of life across the country frequently visited the temple to seek Anugraha Deva's blessings and everyone experienced immense peace and happiness in the holy shrine. They all praised the grandeur of the temple and had deep faith in the deity. In the present day, Raghavendra Adiga, who is from a well-respected Brahmin family had the responsibility to perform pooja to the deity and also drive the temple services.

A board had been erected outside the renowned temple with a clear warning not to steal the divine wealth of the temple.

Anugraha Deva himself has created abundant wealth inside the temple.

It is the responsibility of every devotee to maintain the utmost peace inside the temple premises.

The devotees are hereby requested not to steal coins, pieces of jewellery or other wealth which would incur the wrath of the deity.

Robbing wealth here is considered inauspicious and the concerned person would accumulate bad karma in his life. 

Hitherto, nobody had dared to steal wealth from the consecrated shrine because they deemed the deity to be super powerful and incurring his wrath would only create havoc in their lives.

There was a landlord in Padubidri named Bhima Achari and there was a greedy man named Gangappa. One day, a very bad thought sprang up in Gangappa's mind. Instead of snubbing the thought, he decided to fuel it despite knowing the consequences. Every morning, Raghavendra Adiga unlocks the temple door and the key will always remains inside the keyhole of the lock. Gangappa scanned around to ensure nobody directed their attention towards him, then he slowly removed the key from the keyhole and then made a duplicate key. His modus operandi was to use the duplicate key during the night when the temple was closed so that he could rob some gold coins. 

Gangappa had read the warning message inscribed on the board but still showed the guts to rob gold coins because he was overtaken by his greed. In the night when everybody had retired to slumber, Gangappa, who had been subjected to extreme greed, decided to try his luck in the temple. He scampered off into the temple and used his duplicate key to unlock the door. He aligned his torchlight outside the window to see if there was anyone patrolling the temple but couldn't find a sign of anybody. The golden coins that sat on top of each other stirred his greed and without wasting a second, he scooped four coins into his pocket. He sent a secret petition to God not to harm. His eyes then hovered over glistening jewellery that slipped him into a dream wherein his wife looked glamorous after being wreathed with jewellery. Out of nowhere, a flower fell over his head to jolt him back to reality which he construed as the almighty's blessings. He thought of picking up some jewellery the next day. He came out of the temple, locked the door using his duplicate key and then fled the scene before anyone could turn up to notice him. The next day he went out of the village to convert the gold coins into cash. His face flushed with joy the moment he saw hard cash over his hands but he forgot the fact that what he did was an insult to God. 

Gangappa managed to rob a few pieces of jewellery from the temple in the nighttime but this time his luck ran out because the landlord caught him red-handed. The greedy man was now bathed in sweat rendered by fear and thought, the only option to survive was to pass on his greed to the landlord. He told Bhima Achari that he did steal a few coins and jewellery but did not incur the wrath of God. He also told that the warning message scratched on the board outside the temple was just to scare people and that nothing inauspicious would happen. The landlord then asked him to lend 50% of his robbed money to him so that he wouldn't confide in his secrets. Gangappa heaved a sigh of relief and agreed to pay 50% of the money to the landlord. He was reluctant to do so but if he goes back on his words, then he certainly knew what the landlord could do to him so he felt it was clever to agree to the deal.

As usual, the next day, Gangappa went about his robbing business with full vigour but what materialized next took him aback. Out of nowhere, lights turned on to unleash their energy upon him. He viewed his startled silhouette etched upon the side wall. Raghavendra Adiga, Bhima Achari and other people appeared at the spot out of nowhere. They were not smiling but rather had donned a solemn faces which reflected their anger on greedy Gangappa. It didn't take much time for Gangappa to come to terms with the betrayal of the landlord. He tried to point his finger at the landlord but to no avail.

"I wanted to catch you red-handed so that everyone in the village would believe this to be true otherwise nobody will believe me if I were to say someone is stealing wealth from the temple," the landlord justified his actions.

"It is sinful to steal wealth from this temple. Many sages had invested their entire life creating the divine energy which is responsible for the accumulation of abundant wealth. What you did is unacceptable, and you will have to bear the consequences for it. We are no one to punish you but we don't know what action the Anugraha Deva will take," Raghavendra Adiga said and walked out.

The people of the village protested against Gangappa's actions and the landlord came up with a bone-chilling decision to put a full stop to the story.

He decided to hang Gangappa by the tree. Gangappa folded his hands and pleaded with the landlord not to hang him but his request fell upon deaf ears. Bhima Achari asked his men to get the ropes and hang him before the onset of the next morning. His henchmen dragged Gangappa towards the giant tree amidst his incessant sobs and resistance. In a jiffy, his body dangled below the branch of the tree and he was dead. The landlord issued a stern warning to the people of the village not to emulate his actions which would only lead to death. He also warned them not to reveal the death of Gangappa to Raghavendra Adiga. Nobody even dared to look at the wealth of the temple leave alone rob it. 

The onset of the next morning following the death of Gangappa only disseminated negative energy across the village. Everybody was filled with fear after being witness to the unprecedented series of events that materialized the last night. There was no liveliness or peace in an otherwise joyful village. Whenever people tried to pass through the tree where Gangappa was hung, they heard some strange lamenting voice that sent shivers down their spine. The strange voices seeped through their minds and lingered there refusing to retreat. They couldn't even divulge the incident to Raghavendra Adiga who perhaps would have suggested a remedy for their mental upheavals. The mysterious death of Gangappa's wife added fuel to the already burning fire. Many of them were scared even to step out of their house. The perils of darkness had tethered the beautiful village which reeled under immense fear and sorrow.

The next few days when the village looked almost deserted, again some wealth was stolen from the temple. Raghavendra Adiga could make out the stolen wealth and brought this matter up to the landlord.

"Gangappa is no more to carry out this greedy act so the only person who has got the key to unlock the temple door is you," the landlord surprised everyone.

"Are you suspecting me? It's my responsibility to perform pooja every day and this holy shrine is like my home. How can I steal wealth from my own house?"

"Your ancestors were divine and nobody here has anything to say against that but we don't trust you. Since you took over the reins of the temple, one or the other inauspicious event is taking place which never took place during your ancestor's regime. We can't forget this as an aberration."

"You think I am not performing my responsibilities?" Adiga looked surprised.

"We lost wealth that was never unheard of before so you are not performing your divine responsibilities with the utmost respect and the lost wealth here testifies to that. So..." the landlord stopped.

"So what?"

"Instead of being the protector of the temple, you are slowly turning into its destroyer. The warning message put up outside the temple holds good for everyone including you," Achari said. "I have decided to quell your spiritual ego. Gangappa was hanged under the tree for his actions and I had clearly warned everyone not to emulate his actions but you chose to be greedy so you will be hanged in the same place where Gangappa was hanged."

Every villager's heart throbbed in fear upon listening to the landlord's violent words.

"How would you say that I stole the wealth? Do you have any proof?" Adiga asked.

The landlord swung his head towards his henchmen who acted as a witness to his statements.

"They are your henchmen and you would chop off their head if they don't heed you."

The landlord asked his henchmen to drag the pontiff towards the tree and the rope was waiting to lock his neck. Everybody stood like electrocuted robots unable to come to terms with what was transpiring. The poor pontiff's resistance didn't work because he was outnumbered soon.

"Anugraha Deva! If I have purely worshiped you without any iota of greed or negativity, please save me. If you truly believe I am the right person to run the temple, you will have to save me. If you believe I am impure and greedy, then render the strength to this landlord to hang me," Adiga prayed looking at the temple.

"This is Kali Yuga and no God will come to save you," the landlord and his henchmen burst into wicked laughter.

The pontiff's words seemed to have reached the ears of Anugraha Deva and the latter possessed the former's body. Just like that the rope snapped and whipped the landlord's henchmen. Bhima Achari couldn't fathom what he was seeing. The villagers were gripped by the unbelievable turn of events. The deity revealed the true colours of the landlord in front of the villagers.

Bhima Achari who enjoyed 50% of the share from Gangappa didn't want to see the latter become rich so he chalked out a plan to get him caught red-handed. Once Gangappa was inside the temple, he deliberately informed the villagers and just used their protest as a key to unlock his plan which was to hang Gangappa whom he thought was a danger on his path. During that night, he managed to slip the duplicate key into his pocket so that he could continue what Gangappa left and this time all 100% share will go to him and nobody will become rich. When Gangappa's wife had come to question his actions, he mysteriously killed her and the body was tossed at the banks of the river. Later, when Raghavendra Adiga raised concern about the temple's wealth, he deemed the revered pontiff as the next impediment on his path. He was always envious of the pontiff because the latter gained significant respect all over the world and everybody treated him like a God. So he came up with a plan to frame the pontiff as the culprit which would give him a license to hang him so that he can take over the reins of the temple.

The bad karma he accumulated is oozing out of his life bucket and the mere Kali Yuga reason wouldn't save him from the inevitable death.

The villagers stood astounded upon hearing the deity who removed the camouflage of the landlord. Still, the landlord was not guilty of his actions and he charged at the body of the pontiff that was possessed by the almighty himself but fell motionless spewing blood. Everyone prostrated before the deity and felt themselves to be the luckiest people on the planet since they witnessed the powerful God in their very own eyes. 

The villagers draped a shawl on the shoulders of Raghavendra Achari as a token of respect, anointed a vermilion on his forehead and the latter told everybody not to worship him but worship the God to which he received a resounding round of applause.

The unbelievable turn of events got etched in history forever. The extraordinary incident spread like a wildfire through the nook and corner of the world drawing the attention of innumerable devotees. Subsequently, they thronged to the temple to take Anugraha Deva's darshan. They came up with multiple offerings to the deity. All hailed the powerful deity. Peace, happiness and divinity reigned supreme thereafter in Padubidri.