Daijiworld Media Network - Goa (MB)

Panaji, Oct 12: Sattari and Sanguem, both Goa's remotest talukas, have stored the most precious treasure in its earth which can yield crores of rupees in the international market.

Idols belonging to different deities, which were kept hidden at various spots in these talukas shifting them away from Portuguese rulers' clutches, still lie untouched thanks to the sheer faith of the people here.

"A wild guess can peg the number of these idols to around 10,000. Each idol can fetch lacs of rupees in the international market," Rajendra Kerkar, a heritage activist, residing in Sattari taluka, stated.

These idols, which once were worshipped in different temples, were displaced when Portuguese began capturing these talukas. Sattari was the last conquest of Portuguese, which had not come under their control till 1912 because of the stiff resistance from the locals.

"These idols are made of schist and granite stone, which carries great value as an antique," Kerkar, who has around 30 idols in the area, next to his house in Kerim village (Sattari), stated.

After being in the ground for almost a century, these idols are slowly getting deteriorated. The ancestors, who feared that the Portuguese rulers would desecrate them, shifted them to a place called "devrai".

"Devrai is a sacred place that exist in every village. No one dares to enter these spaces so they (ancestors) found them as an ideal spots," Goapinath Gawas, another Sattari village youth, stated.

"There are 150 devrais in Sattari taluka itself," Kerkar stated.

These idols are mostly of goddess  Mahishasurmardini, Sateri (Shantadurga), Ravalnath and Betal, besides Shivling. Being exposed to constant rain and sun fury, many of them stand desecrated. Some of these are rare idols.

In most of the places these idols are covered by bushes making it difficult to trace them. Only locals can pinpoint the place where they are lying, saving them from the prying eyes of antique traders.

What's striking is that in two villages - Pendral and Zandani - in Sattari taluka, the human habitation has disappeared but the idols still remain half buried in soil.

A visit to Pendral on the foot of sahyadri hill revealed the existence of three devastated temples. There are 26 idols lying in a state of neglect here which can be reached after walking for almost four kilometres from the main road, after crisscrossing through forest.

At Zadani, another similar village, a sole shivling that has survives suffices to prove the claim that human habitation once existed here.

"It's a mystery how the human habitation disappeared," Kerkar, who intends to document the rich legacy in the Sattari taluka, stated.

Devout residents of Sattari and Sanguem feel that God himself has thwarted all the attempts to smuggle these idols in the international commercial markets.

"We don't want that these idols to be taken to some place but government should rehabilitate them properly at the same place by shielding them from sun and rain," an elderly Sattari villager suggested.