DEOGHAR, July 8, 2013: Records of millions of devotees from across the country, who visit BaidyanathDham, is maintained in the 400-year-old indigenous system that is no less than a computer.

Devotees hailing from a remote village in Lalgaunj block of Vaishali district in Bihar or from Bharaich in Uttar Pradesh or even from Krushnanagar village in Jamnagar district of Gujarat can track down their family panda (priest) within few minutes. Once the priest is identified he or she can check the records of his family members and great grand fathers if they had ever visited the temple.

The system that developed over a period of 400 years is now managed by around 1000 firms named after a senior priest, irrespective of the fact whether he is living or dead. Till date the Babadham temple in Deoghar supports the livelihood of around 3,500 priests and their family members directly whereas a several thousand others are indirectly depended on the temple for earning a living. The temple has never been categorized as one of the richest temples in the country yet it has been supporting livelihood of several thousand people round the year, indicating that the traditional Indian panda system has been a success model of management.

Priest and member panda of Dharmarakshini Sabha Anil Mishra said the sabha has recently elected a new committee under Dr Suresh Bharadwaj to ensure that the management proceeds flawlessly. According to the entries made in the Santhal Pargana gazetteer by the then Bhagalpur commissioner in 1827, the panda system started in Babadham temple in 1605 with as many as 400 panda dividing among them the responsibility of each district of the country.

"At the onset one panda looked after several dozen districts and any devotee coming from the districts of his quota used to communicate with that particular panda for the rituals," said Rudranarayan Jogiraaj, an octogenarian priest. The system evolved into a human computer record when the number of priests increased and today around 3,000 priests work in the firms named after their grandfather or great grandfather. They have divided among themselves even the blocks and villages. "It took us less than fifteen minutes to track down the family page of Teena Ambani when she came here to offer puja last year," said Daninath Panda.

Source: The Times of India, DT. July 8, 2013.