Folktale: Newlywed Jai becomes a goddess after her boat capsizes in Chilika Lake during a cyclone

It was a warm afternoon, and the boat was sailing peacefully upon the silvery waters of the lake. The lagoon was so vast that from its centre, the shore was nowhere in sight, and neither were the other islands jutting out across its surface. The boat had been travelling for some time; the surrounding villages had faded from sight and only the peaks of the twin hills, Mamu Bhanja, were visible in the distance. Brahminy kites circled overhead between the various islands and the shores in search of fish. The locals called them cheels, and some said Chilika Lake owed its name to their abundance. The boat was conveying a young bride and her father. They were travelling to Parikud Island, her new home, where she was to live with her husband. The day had grown warmer and the air over the lake was heavy with humidity. Jai, the young bride, was weeping.

Seeing his daughter miserable, the father felt helpless. Without her, their house would feel empty. When he used to return home after a day of labouring in the fields, she would run to him, asking him what he had done that day and to whom he had spoken. She...

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