Unokoti : Story Of 9999999 Gods

Unokoti means one less than Koti, Koti which is a term in Devanagari meaning 10 million. It is a hilly place and an ancient place of worship of the most powerful God in Hinduism, Lord Shiva.

According to mythology, Lord Shiva was travelling to Varanasi with 10 million Gods and Goddesses including him. While passing through this hilly region they stopped to take rest. Lord Shiva told his entourage to wake up before sunrise to continue their journey but before sunrise, only Lord Shiva woke up and saw everyone else sleeping. Lord Shiva, because of his short temper cursed the other 9999999 Gods and Goddesses for disobeying him. The curse turned them into stone sculptures.

Huge Ganesha rock carving

It is still a mystery how such huge sculptures were carved out of rocks in ancient times. The prime deity of the place is Unokotiswara Kal Bhairava another name of Lord Shiva. Locals believe the place possess mystical qualities. The local priests called Chontai, whom you can see all over the place says you can't take the rocks with you. A Chontai

One such incident happened with my mother when she went to this place to worship Lord Shiva. It happened two years ago in 2015 when my mother went there and brought with her two small round shaped stones. She told me that the Chontai was telling her not to take the rocks. As a devotee of Lord Shiva my mother was bringing those rocks with her and told the Chontai that she will worship them. Smilingly the Chontai replied that many had taken them and they all have come again to give back the rocks where they belong. "You can't keep them for long, they are very powerful. They will make you come back here again." My mother thought it's just a myth and brought these two stones back at home to worship them and also to keep them as a memory of her journey. A year passed and one day I got a call from my mother. She told me that almost every week for the past three months she is having weird dreams relating the stones. Dreams that consists of her past experiences, happiness, sadness, fear, anger and all of them ultimately end up with the stones or Unokoti. She told me that she is not feeling good and needs to put back the stones in Unokoti.
So, I came back to my home to accompany her to Unokoti. We went there and I was just amazed to see this beautiful place with huge rock carvings. My mother was searching for the priest who told her not to take the stones. After searching for some time, we asked the other priests and my mom described them the Chontai she met a year ago. After hearing the description of the chontai, the other chontais told us that he died some six months ago. We handed the stones to them and told them about our incident. They were all smiling and told us, that every stone in Unokoti belongs to Lord Shiva and they can't live without their Lord. It had happened with many people and they all came here again to return the stones.
I am a very practical person and I don't believe in superstition but I was unable to find a logic to this whole incident. May be the words of the Chontai had an effect on my mother's mind psychologically or may be the stones are really powerful as they say.
Unokoti is located in Kailasahar, Tripura. A state in the the north-east India. The best time to visit Unokoti is from September to April. If you are visiting, I repeat don't take away any stone from there who knows you will also have to come back again.