Shibarai Mdaikho (Shiv temple) - Sheorartal Village
The narrator Akash Barman describes that the Shibkho or Shibarai Madaikho was established in 1959 (left building), and the Durga Puja area (next to the temple) was built in 1989. The Dimasas of the Sheorarthal village offer prayers to Shibarai or Shibrai weekly at the temple, and also offer their prayers every year during Maha Shivaratri based on Hindu calendar. Durga Puja is also held in the space for the Goddess Durga idol. He added that the bel tree ‘stone apple tree’ replaces the banyan tree behind the coned shaped temple.
Dimasas are pious followers of Shib or Shibarai who is synonymous in Hinduism with Lord Shiva. Shibarai is their primordial deity or godfather. Hence, every Dimasa village has a Shib temple and a Durga temple who is considered to be his wife goddess. The stone apple also bears a religious significance with Shib, and it is believed in the same way among the Dimasas. Dimasas also worship ancestral and clan spirits while Shibarai bears the image of a godfather of the community.
Village : Sheorartal, Cachar, Assam
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