After 46 years, man returns home as sadhu to seek alms from mother in Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh

PITHORAGARH: A 61-year-old sadhu returned to his native village in Pithoragarh after 46 years and sought alms from his mother, telling her that he was Budhi Ballabh Upadhyaya, the son who had disappeared from home at the age of 15 and was never found despite years of search by the family. He now calls himself Buddh Nath and follows the Nath tradition of Sanatan Dharma.

Nandi Devi was at her home in Dauligad village in Pausha Postala gram panchayat near Berinag on June 4 when a sadhu with a long beard arrived at her door seeking bhiksha.

The family later learnt that the man at the doorstep was the boy who had left the remote village near the Pithoragarh-Bageshwar border as a teenager, after which his father Tara Datt Upadhyaya searched several places for him but never received confirmed information about his whereabouts. Tara Datt died in 2005 without seeing his son return.

Buddh Nath told villagers that after leaving home he worked for some time in trucks and transport before gradually moving towards temples and a religious life. He later settled in Bikaner, Rajasthan, where he lives in a temple. “My spiritual guru died four years ago. Before his death, he asked me to return home and receive alms from my mother’s hands. I have come only to fulfil that obligation,” he said.

Buddh Nath said the custom required a renunciant to receive bhiksha from his mother before fully moving ahead on the path of sanyas.

“After taking alms, I will leave this place. I will not return,” he said, adding that he intended to go back to his life as a sadhu after completing the ritual.