Kalri is a small village in Becharaji taluka of Mehsana district, about four kilometres from the Bahucharaji temple. Its story is older and larger than its size: local tradition remembers it as the seat of a Solanki Rajput house, as the village whose family served Bahuchar Mata at Becharaji, as the birthplace of Vachhraj Dada, and as the home of a Jain Sangh whose families still return to its derasar.
A Solanki seat
The Solankis, also known as the Chaulukyas, ruled much of Gujarat from Anhilwad Patan between the tenth and thirteenth centuries. Their era gave Gujarat many of its great temples, step-wells and Jain tirths, and Solanki families settled across the north of the state long after the dynasty itself ended.
In local tradition Kalri was the seat of one such Solanki house. The village's place among the neighbouring villages, and its link with the Becharaji temple, are both traced back to this family.
The details of this history, such as when the family settled here, the extent of its lands, and its later relationship with the larger states of the region, are still being collected from the family, the Sangh's elders and published records.
Guardians of Becharaji
The temple of Bahuchar Mata at Becharaji is one of the most visited Shakti shrines of north Gujarat. Pilgrims come throughout the year, and the full-moon fairs of Chaitra and Aso draw very large crowds.
By tradition the Solanki Rajputs of Kalri hold a hereditary role in the worship of Bahuchar Mata. That service is the clearest way in which Kalri added to Becharaji: the village supplied a family bound to the goddess by duty, generation after generation, and the temple's rituals and festivals have carried Kalri's name with them.
The link also runs the other way. Being next to Becharaji has brought pilgrims, trade and visitors to Kalri for centuries, and many families in the village have their own ties to the temple and its fairs.
Vachhraj Dada
Vachhraj Dada (વચ્છરાજ દાદા) is honoured across Gujarat as a Solanki hero and a protector of cattle. Tradition holds that he was born in Kalri.
His memory is kept alive in the village by his shrine and by a fair held in the month of Chaitra, when devotees come to offer prayers and fulfil vows.
Accounts of his life differ between tellings. The Sangh is gathering the versions told in Kalri so that they can be written down here.
The Jain Sangh
Kalri's Jain families have kept a derasar and a Sangh in the village for generations. Many families have since moved to Ahmedabad, Mumbai and further afield, but they return for festivals, for the derasar's Pratishtha day on Maha Sud 10, and to stay connected with each other.
The derasar, about 160 years old and now known as Shri Shantinath Jain Tirth, has Bhagwan Shantinath, the 16th Tirthankar, as moolnayak in white marble, with a shrine of Bhagwan Naminath, the 21st Tirthankar. Its founding, pratishtha and the families who built and cared for it will be added here as they're confirmed with the Sangh's records.
The village today
Kalri today is a quiet village with its lake, its temples and its fields. Its calendar follows the festivals of Becharaji, the Chaitra fair of Vachhraj Dada and the Jain festivals at the derasar, especially Paryushan.
For families who have moved away, the Sangh's member area keeps the family records, the committee and the donations in one place.