Woman drop letter in donation hundi seeking deity’s blessing to get married to boyfriend

By Mahendra Darjee

Sambalpur, Jan. 24: A letter purportedly written by a woman devotee was recovered from the donation box (Hundi) of Goddess Samaleswari in Sambalpur seeking marriage with the love of her life. The letter was recovered during the opening of hundi on Monday night, officials of Samalei (Samaleswari) Temple Trust Board said on Wednesday.

Written in red ink, the writer, believed to be a girl, sought the blessing of the Goddess to unify with her boyfriend Kanha. She requested Maa Samalei that she loves Kanha truly and she should bless her so that she can get married to him. “O God, bless me to get married to my boyfriend. I cannot live without him,” the devotee wrote.

Speaking about the letter, president of Samalei Temple Trust Board, Sanjay Babu said, “Devotees consider them as the children of Maa Samaleswari. So they come to the Goddess seeking solutions to their problems. Writing a letter is also a way to pray to Maa Samaleswari.”

“This is not new. In fact, we find such letters every time we open the hundi. Sometimes the letters were written praying for good health and sometimes they were about the children. There were letters about marriage problems as well,” Babu said.

Notably, ahead of the consecration of Ram Temple and Pran Pratistha of Lord Ram in Ayodhya, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan had on Sunday visited Maa Samaleswari temple. He lighted earthen lamps in the temple and later cleaned the stairs of the temple with a broom as a part of Swachhata Shramdan.

The rituals for the inauguration of Samalei project at Samaleswari temple in Odisha’s Sambalpur city will commence from Monday.

The inauguration of Samaleswari Temple Area Management and Local Economy Initiatives (SAMALEI) project will be held on January 27.