Goroba Kaka Temple, Ter – Legends

Goroba Kaka Temple, Ter – Legends

Gora Kumbhar (Goroba) was born in 1236 CE in the village of Terdhoki (Satyapuri). He was a potter by profession and earned his livelihood from pottery despite inheriting large plots of lands. He would always be engaged in singing devotional songs of Lord Vithoba. He was married to Shanti and had a son. Once, his wife left their child in the courtyard where he was working and went to bring water. Gora Kumbhar was busy in preparing the mud required to make the earthen pots and was as usual engrossed in singing bhajans of Vithoba. His son was playing near the ditch where the mud for preparing the pots was laid and fell into it.

Gora Kumbhar was churning the mud with his feet and was in a trance position singing bhajans of Vithoba. In this state, he accidentally trampled and crushed his child under his feet. His wife returned back and started searching their child. She was not able to find his child and went to Gora Kumbhar to know the whereabouts of their child. She saw the churned mud with blood and realized that her child had been crushed under the mud. She started blaming Vithoba for the loss of her child. As an ardent devotee of Vithoba, Goroba got angry on his wife for blaming Vithoba and ran towards her to thrash her.

She got frightened and requested him not to touch her invoking the name of Vithoba. Goroba pardoned her and got involved in the bhajan of Vithoba again. Santi got reconciled after some days and approached Goroba one night. Goroba reminded her about her own oath not to touch her on the name of Vithoba and accordingly he did not allow her to touch him. She felt that their family line would come to an end if Goroba continue to behave in this manner. She approached her father for help. She suggested to her father that her younger sister Rami should be given to Goroba in marriage so that the family would have a successor.

This suggestion was accepted by her father and accordingly he approached his son-in-law and requested him to accept Rami, his second  daughter, as his wife. Goroba agreed to the proposal and the marriage took place. After the marriage was over, the father-in-law requested him to treat both his daughters alike. Goroba  accepted the request of his father-in-law and started to behave in the same way he behaved with his first wife. He interpreted the request in such a way that the second wife should also be treated in the same way as the first one. He therefore avoided both his wives and did not touch either of them. 

The sisters got upset and devised a plan and carried out their plan on one night. When Goroba was asleep, they went and slept on either of his sides and kept his hands on their breasts. Goroba woke up and found that the oath on Vithoba had been violated. He thought his hands were responsible for this act. He was not able to tolerate this disorderly behavior of his hands. He wanted to punish his hands as atonement and hit them with a sharp instrument and chopped off both his hands. As his hands were chopped, his pottery business also suffered a setback.

Thereafter, Lord Vitthal and Goddess Rakumai started living in his house in the guise of workers and his business started to flourish again. But both the wives felt bad about the condition transpired on them. Goroba consoled them that Lord Vithoba would provide a solution for their sufferings. After some time, the famous saints namely Sant Jnaneshwar and Sant Namdev were on their way to Pandharpur. On their way, they came across the village of Teredoki and asked Gora Kumbhar along with his wives to accompany them to Pandharpur. He immediately started to Pandharpur with his wives and reached the place on the Ekadashi day. 

After reaching Pandharpur, they took a bath in the sacred Chandrabhaga river and visited the Pundalik temple. Then, they went to Vithoba temple and had darshan of the Lord. During their visit to Vithoba temple, Sant Namdev was performing bhajan and he requested his audience to sing bhajan and clap. During the kirtan, people raised their hands and started clapping. Even Goroba forgot that his hands were chopped off and instinctively moved the stumps of his hands emotionally in the air. To his surprise, his hands sprung up from his broken arms. Further, his wife Shanti prayed to Vithoba, begged his pardon and requested him to give her child back to her. 

To everyone’s surprise, her child appeared from nowhere and rushed crawling towards Shanti. Shanti lifted the child, embraced and kissed the child with joy. On this happy occasion, Rukmini, the consort of Vithoba, reminded Goroba of the oath of his wife and said that the oath was now over and that he should accept both his wives and live happily with them. After the above incident, Goroba was fully reconciled with his wives. They also understood him in the proper perspective and never interrupted him in his bhajan. On the other hand, they also joined him in the bhajan. It is said that he merged with Lord Vithoba at Ter in 1317 CE.