Salasar Hanuman ji Temple, Salasar, Churu, Rajasthan, India.

Location

Salasar Balaji Temple is located in the town Salasar in Churu district in Rajasthan. It is an important religious temple of Lord Hanuman, where the devotees from all over the country come here to worship and get blessings from their deity.

Entrance of Temple

Idol of Lord Balaji

This temple is believed to be a Shaktiasthal (place of power) and Siddhpeeth (spiritually proved). The idol of Lord Hanuman is supposed to be a self created (swayambhu), fulfilling all appeasement (manouti) of their devotees.

The idol of Balaji is totally different from all other idols, seen throughout the country. The face of idol is round in shape with moustaque. By a glance (Darshan)  of the holy idol of Balaji, the devotees become full of reverence and head bowed automatically before their deity.

Bhog, Puja and Rituals

Around the temple there are many shops, preparing Bhog (pera,Laddu,Churma ) prasadam for offerings. Devotees purchases Prasadam and offer it to their deity.

The devotees who pray balaji to achieve something in his life or to remove any problem from his life, if fulfilled they came here and offer 1.25 mounds (50 kg) of different kinds of Prasadam such as Laddu ,Pera, Churma etc to their Deity is called  SAVAMANI BHOG.

The Prasadam is then distributed among their family members and relatives and rest is distributed to the other devotees inside the temple.

Savamani bhog is also prepared in the temple kitchen or may be outsourced, depending upon the will of the devotees.

The devotees from Delhi, Jaipur, and other cities of Rajasthan come here on foot, this shows the reverence  and belief to Lord Balaji.

Tying Coconut

The devotees ties coconuts with mouli (red colour sacred thread) and put it in the temple campus with a belief, that his wish will be fulfilled by their deity.

Tying Coconut

Fair and Festivals

A large fair is organized in Chaitra Purnima and Ashwin Purnima (full moon day of Hindi month) in which a large number of devotees gathers and enjoy the occasion.

Hanuman Jayanti  on Chaitra Shukla Chaturdashi, the Birthday of Lord Hanuman celebrated here with pomp and glee.

History Behind The Temple

A Jat farmer of village Ambota in Rajathan, found this idol during cultivating his farm. He handed over the idol to the Thakur of Asota who again handed over it to a Brahmin priest of Salasar, named Mohan Das. One day Lord hanuman appeared in his dream and inspired him, to construct a temple. By the inspiration of his deity he constructed a temple using mudstone in Samwat 1811(1754 AD) at Salasar.

A slightly different legend is also famous among the devotees. In a dream, Lord Balaji directed to Thakur of Asota to shift his Idol by a bullock cart and leave the Bull of the cart to move freelly. The place where the bulls stop, construct a temple at that place. Thakur brought a cart with two bulls and put the Idol on it, leaving the bull to move freely.

The place where the bulls stopped, Thakur constructed a temple there. Since then the place was given the present name Salasar. This all happened by the order of Balaji.

Although there is no citation available for this occurrence.

Construction of Temple

As the time passed, the renovation of the temple was done time to time. Now, it is a beautiful temple entirely made of white marble. Even the prayer hall and circulatory path for Parikrama constructed extensively with white marble, giving it a worth look.

The Garbhagriha (place of Idol) is covered with artistic work of gold and silver. All the utensils used for Puja, rituals, Bhog Prasad, and Arti are made of either gold or silver.

Administration

The temple is being managed by a Trust namely Hanuman Seva Samiti. Public facilities like roads, bathrooms, wash rooms, water supply, medical aid, charitable hospitals are all managed by the Samiti.

Facilities

1.  Many more Dharashalas are available near the temple at moderate rates for comfortable stay.

2.   Many good restaurants are just around the temple for food.

3.   Many sweet shops for Prasad, Pataka, photos of Balaji and religious books are near the temple.

4.  Toilets and bathrooms.

5.   Free medical assistance run by the temple committee.

6.   Drinking water facilities for devotees.

Places To visit Nearby

Anjani Mata Mandir

This temple is dedicated to Mata Anjani, the mother of Lord Hanuman situated at a distance of one km from Salasar

Khatu Shaym baba temple

The famous Shyam Baba temple is only 80 km from Salasar. The devotees coming to salasar genrally visit few more temples namely Ranisati Dadi temple, Jhunjhunu, Menhdipur Balaji and other small temples nearby.

Laadlu Jain Temple

It is a famous Jain temple only 40 km from Salasar.

Where to stay

There are more than 50 Dharamshalas all are very near to the temple and most of them are run by the trust. So the rates of comfortable rooms are moderate. Some of them are namely -

1. Ramswaroop Seva Sadan

2. Bombay Wala Dharamshala

3. Guest House of Kolkata

4. Kejariwal Dharamshala

5. Agrawal Seva Sadan

6. Sharda Seva Sadan

7. Fatehabad Dharamshala

Timings of Temple

Temple opens at 4.00 am in the morning and closes at 10.00 pm night in regular days, but on occasions such as Hanuman Jayanti and other festivals, it remains open 24 hrs. Depending upon the gathering of the devotees the committee decides the timings.

How To Reach

By Road

Bus services are available from Delhi, jaipur, and all major cities of Rajasthan. State transport buses of Haryana, Rajasthan, and Delhi ply regularly on Delhi – Jaipur – Sikar – Salasar road route. One can reach easily by road to Salasar. The distance from Jaipur is approximately 160 km.

By Rail

The nearest Railway station is Sikar or Jaipur. From their only road is the option. From old Delhi some trains are available on Ahmedabad route by which one can reach Jaipur or Sikar.

By Air

Jaipur is the nearest airport aprox 170 km away. Delhi is well connected all over major cities of India by air route. Flight of Indian airlines for Jaipur is available daily.

Video link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz6bG80lfGw