Report of a Tour through the Bengal Provinces/Khelai Chandi
KHELAI CHANDI.
Six miles south of Pachet is a group of bare, rocky hills known as the Khelai Chandi hills; a fair is held here annually on the full moon of the month of Paush, and many people collect there; the object of worship there is a local goddess named Khelai Chandi Devi, who is supposed to live on the hills, but to be invisible; she is said to be eight-armed; at midnight she descends the hill, goes to the sacred tank, washes herself, and returns; hence nothing impure is thrown into it, nor do the people presume to bathe in it themselves; vows are made, and the suppliant vows to dig up with his hands (without any tools) a certain quantity of earth from the bed of the tank and carry it up beyond the tank embankment on his head, in case his (or her) wish is fulfilled; and on the mêla day thousands may be seen with tiny baskets scraping up mud from the bed of the tank and carrying it up the embankments; a small temple (modern) stands at the foot of the hill near the tank; it enshrines a white stone sculpture with hands folded in the attitude of prayer; two lions are sculptured on the pedestal; there is no inscription; the temple faces the hill; this statue is worshipped in place of the invisible goddess Khelai Chandi.