The local story
A river, a cave and a lake of sacred fish
The Jayanti river comes out of the Bhutan hills just above the village and, in the dry season, spreads into a riverbed of white and grey stones that can be several hundred metres wide, with only thin channels of clear water. In the monsoon the same bed fills from bank to bank. The village grew on its edge as a forest settlement inside what became, in 1983, the Buxa Tiger Reserve.
Two places in the hills above give Jayanti its pilgrims. Mahakal is a limestone cave where dripping water has built stalactites and stalagmites, worshipped as forms of Shiva; at Maha Shivaratri thousands walk up the riverbed to it. Pokhri, a small lake on a hilltop, is revered by local communities; the local story is that its fish and turtles are sacred and must never be caught, and visitors are asked to leave them in peace.
Jayanti's people include Bengali and Nepali-speaking families, and in the hills nearby are Dukpa villages with roots in Bhutan. Life here still follows the forest's rules: early nights, elephants on the riverbed at dusk, and the river's moods.
