on the left bank of goas lifeline mhadei river at a point known as brahmyachi mali stands a shrine worshipped by locals of velguem sattari the small image consists of a man with an oar shrines are common place in any devout country this place of worship is located within the property of a brahmin balkrishna joshi this isnt odd either until one learns that the shrine is dedicated to a folk deity who is believed to have been a dalit i have spent my own money to build the shrine after the deitys blessings helped me and my family to overcome hurdles he has been respected by the villagers in the vicinity as one of the folk deities every year we offer food to the dalit community from khadki said joshi the belief is rooted in an interesting legendsometime in the 19th century the dalit man rajgo is believed to have been born while goa was still under portuguese rule he was working as a boatman ferrying people in his country canoe from velguem khadki and surrounding areas of sattari to its headquarters valpoi via masordehe was associated with the the ranesardesais of khadki this was an era when ranesardesais with the help of villagers of sattari were fighting the portuguese locals of khadki too helped themsattari resident sahdev vithal khadkikar says that the dalit boatman too was assigned the task of bringing liquor and food to the mutineers who are believed to have taken refuge in an underground cave locally called bhab in velguem to avoid the wrath of the portuguese soldiers but the alert ranes would drink or eat the food transported to them only after it was tasted by the dogs it is believed that one day the ranes similarly fed the liquor transported by rajgo to the dogs to test its safety once tasting the liquor the dogs are said to have died instantly it made the ranes furious and caused them to doubt the loyalty of rajgo believing that he might have poisoned the alcohol the angry ranes soon awarded the him the death penalty rajgo was a brave and loyal man unfazed by the death sentence he took a bath in the mhadei river and sat in front of the ranes wearing a garland of redcoloured wild flowers of patkolni it is said that when his head was cut off it fell in guleli a village of rajgos ancestors rajgos unmoved acceptance of the sentence removed all doubts from the minds of ranes who then began considering rajgo as a loyal man of principles said khadkikar realizing their mistake villagers of khadki and velguem built a memorial in honour of rajgo people who passed through the road or over the river began paying tribute to rajgo who assumed the status of a folk deity within a short span of time locals began offering flowers woolen carpets or hanging bells and started believing that their wishes were being fulfillednarayan sakharam khadkikar a 55yearold resident