Golu Devta: Kumaon's God of Justice and the Temples Covered in Bells and Letters

The katha of Golu Devta, sung by jagariyas across Kumaon, is a story about justice denied and then restored.

A king of the region, remembered as Jhal Rai or Halrai of Champawat, was without an heir. After long worship he married Kalinka, and she bore a son. The other queens of the household, fearing the loss of their standing, replaced the newborn with a stone and set the child adrift in the river in a box.

The child was found and raised by a fisherman. Years later, the boy came to the palace riding a wooden horse and began watering it in the river. When people mocked him, saying a wooden horse cannot drink, he answered that if a woman can give birth to a stone, then a wooden horse can drink water. The remark reached the king, the truth came out, the queen was restored and the boy was recognised as the prince.

He grew into a ruler remembered for settling disputes fairly and swiftly, and after his lifetime he came to be worshipped as the deity who does exactly that. Local tradition treats his temples as a court, and devotees still open their petitions with an address to him as nyay ke devta, the lord of justice.

The written petition is the heart of Golu Devta worship, and the format is surprisingly formal.

• Devotees write on plain paper or, commonly, on stamp paper bought for the purpose
• The petition names the deity, states the devotee's name and village, sets out the grievance plainly, and asks for justice
• Many petitions promise an offering when the matter is resolved, most often a bell, a chhatra or a bhandara
• The paper is tied or hung inside the temple, where it stays until the temple committee clears older ones
• When the case is settled, the devotee returns to hang a brass bell and, in many families, to read out the resolution

The bells at Chitai near Almora, and at Ghorakhal near Bhimtal, number in the thousands and hang from every available beam, railing and tree branch. Their sound in the wind is the most recognisable feature of both temples.

One instruction is repeated by temple attendants and by elders. The petition should state facts and ask for justice, not ask for harm to the other party. Golu Devta is understood as a deity who examines both sides, which is exactly why devotees trust the verdict.

Golu Devta has shrines across Kumaon, and four are visited most often.

• Chitai, Almora - the best known temple, about eight kilometres from Almora on the Pithoragarh road, entirely covered in bells and petitions
• Ghorakhal, near Bhimtal - set beside the Sainik School, equally dense with bells, with a large gathering on festival days
• Champawat - associated with the katha of his birth and the royal family of the region
• Chamdeval and Gairar Golu - older shrines held in high regard locally, where the deity's traditional rites are carefully maintained

Worship follows the Kumaoni pattern. A jagar may be held for a family in difficulty, with the jagariya singing the deity's katha through the night and the family placing its problem before him. Aipan designs are drawn at the entrance during festivals, and offerings of ghee lamps, sweets, red cloth and bells are made through the year.

Sunday is a common day for darshan, and the temples are busiest around Navratri and local melas. Both Chitai and Ghorakhal remain simple temples in hill style, so devotees should expect open courtyards, cold stone floors and hill weather rather than large facilities.

Kumaon and Garhwal keep a living system of local deities alongside the Puranic pantheon, and each has a defined function.

• Golu Devta - justice, disputes and wrongs to be set right
• Nanda Devi - the region's presiding goddess, worshipped as the daughter of the hills
• Bholanath and Gangnath - deities invoked in jagar for family troubles and possession related distress
• Airy Devta and Saim Devta - guardians of forests, cattle and travellers
• Kshetrapal and Bhumiya - the guardians of the village boundary and land

These deities are approached through jagar, a night long ritual in which the jagariya's drum and song invite the deity, and a family member may act as the medium, called the dangariya. This is not treated as separate from Hindu worship. The same household will keep Shivratri, Navratri, Janmashtami and the Chardham yatra, and will hold a jagar for Golu Devta when a case will not move.

Seen together, the system is practical. The great deities handle the meaning of life, and the local devtas handle the specific problems of living in these hills.

For devotees visiting for the first time, the practice is straightforward and does not require a priest.

• Write the petition yourself. State your name, your village or town, the facts of the matter and what you consider fair. Keep it plain and truthful.
• Ask for justice, not revenge. The tradition is firm that a petition asking for someone's ruin is not accepted in spirit.
• Make a promise you can keep. Most devotees promise a bell, a lamp or a bhandara on resolution. Do not promise what you cannot return to complete.
• Offer simply. A ghee lamp, sweets, a red cloth and a coconut are the usual offerings.
• Return when it is settled. Hanging the bell after resolution is considered as important as filing the petition. Kumaoni families treat an uncompleted promise to Golu Devta seriously.

For those who cannot travel, families often send the written petition with a relative visiting the temple, which is accepted practice. At home, a lamp lit on Sunday with a simple prayer to Gaur Bhairav is the usual substitute.

What draws people to this deity is not the ritual but the premise behind it: that a wrong recorded honestly, in your own hand, is already halfway to being addressed.