BILASPUR

The legend associated with Baba Balak Nath cult has been summarized as follows:-

"Balak was a Sanyasi boy born at Girnar in Kathiawar was endowed with miraculous powers. He made many pilgrimages and eventually wandered to Talai in Bilaspur, where he became a cowherd. One day by the tank, from which the place derives its name, he met a band of saints, whose Mahant or the leader was a Nath.

Balak entered into a disputation with this man, and the two agreed to test that was the more powerful of the two as miracle- worker. The Nath threw his stick for Balak to call it back. Balak made it come back floating in air. Balak then threw his stick but the Nath could not call it back. The saints seeing a greater than their greatest endeavored to persuade Balak to become one of them, and, when he refused, thought to detain him by force.

Balak fled and jumped into the tank followed by the Nath. Both disappeared but were seen a little later to emerge from a cave, in a hill about five kilometers off, near Chakmoh. The saints went to the place, but when they got there the two had once more vanished and were- never seen again. In course of time the cave became sacred, and Balak and Nath came to be worshipped as one deity under the name Balak Nath or Dewat Sidh.

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