Sherlanpoche – the golden elephant of Grang Sacred Forest
Legend believes that long back there lived a powerful creature in the forests surrounding the Yewong village in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh. He was like the size of an elephant and was therefore known as ‘Sher- lanpoche’ meaning the golden-elephant in Monpa language.
Sherlanpoche was evil. Whoever would pass through the forest was harmed by him. If two people travelled through the forest, one would be killed. Even the birds and animals were not spared. Nobody knew the reason of his cruelty; but everybody feared him.
Once, Atajarapa – a respectable Buddhist Lama from a nearby mountain was travelling through this forest with his son. And as fate would have it, Sherlanpoche captured his son.
“Return me my son”, commanded Atajarapa. But Sherlanpoche refused.
Atajarapa thought of giving Sherlanpoche a taste of his own wrong doings. With his religious and spiritual powers, he entrapped Sherlanpoche’s son inside a bell.
The tables had turned. Sherlanpoche could not fathom the supremacy of the Buddhist Lama. He considered himself to be the most powerful. However, he realised the worth and power of Atajarapa and hence released his son.
“I will release your son and in return you release mine”, said Sherlanpoche.
“Yes, I will. But you also must give me your word that you won’t kill or harm any creature passing through this forest, ever again”, exclaimed Atajarapa.
“Yes, I will. But you also must give me your word that you won’t kill or harm any creature passing through this forest, ever again”, exclaimed Atajarapa.
Sherlanpoche assured Atajarapa that he would never hurt or kill anyone with a promise in return. The people of Yewong village will worship him till human life exists.
“I assure you on behalf of the people of Yewong”, promised Atajarapa.
People of Yewong village have kept their promise. Prayers are offered once a year to Sherlanpoche who is believed to be living in the forest in the form of an elongated rock resembling an elephant trunk. This forest is known as the Grang Sacred Forest by the locals and spans around four acres.
“You must have seen some half constructed concrete structures there. We thought of building a place of worship. But we think Sherlanpoche did not like it and got offended. Last year, we also had an earthquake in our village. So, we stopped the construction and decided to maintain the area as it is and not offend Sherlanpoche”, Konjo Tsering, Goan Bura (village headman) of Yewong village told me as we ended our conversation.
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This anecdote has been written with inputs from Konjo Tsering, Goan Bura (village head man) of Yewong village. The Grang sacred forest is now maintained by two brothers of the Yewong village Kongo Tsering Phurpa and Sang Khandu. They are also responsible for organising the yearly rituals on behalf of the community. No forest resources are extracted by the communities from the Grang sacred forest.
