Pataleshwar Mahadev Temple, Nahan, Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh, India

Pataleshwar Mahadev Temple, Nahan, Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh, India 

Location

The temple is located in the village Patalian near Panwata Sahib in Himachal Pradesh. It is 5 km away from Panwata Sahib on Nahan-Yamuna Nagar road, and vehicle can reach up to the temple campus. Dense forests and Eco - friendly atmosphere brings  supernatural peace among the visitors.

( Shivlingam )

In the Hindu month of Shravan,  akhand path of Shiva purana and japa of Maha Mrityunjaya is arranged. After finishing the celebration a fair and bhandara is organized on a large scale in which large number of people gather and enjoy.

It is a Swayanbhu Shivlinga(self created) and believed that it came out from the earth without any efforts. It is believed that that in ancient time a lion roared daily near the temple in the morning and evening. There is also a beautiful statue of Nandi and snake god which is installed in front of the temple. Many saints came here time to time and meditate here.

History of the Temple

During the exile period of Pandavas, the brother Arjuna meditated hard for lord Shiva. Being pleased, lord Shiva appeared himself before Arjuna and told him for boon. Arjuna prayed lord Shiva to retain himself at this place in the form of Shiva linga for public welfare. Lord Shiva accepted his prayer and told him that one who worships him and pours water on the Shivling will be blessed and fulfilled with all his wishes.

The place where lord Shiva standing a shivling started to come out from the earth by itself. Coming out of the shivling from the earth leads to name Pataleshwar Mahadev.

It is told that every year on Shivratri the Shivlinga increases by an inch. That is why  Pataleshwar Mahadev shivling is unique in the world and has become the centre of religious faith for Hindus. On some height, the temple of  siddh Baba Balaknath temple is situated in front of Pataleshwar Mahadev. The devotees after worshipping shivling go to the Balaknath temple for darshan.

Festivals

The main festival is celebrated in Shravan month. People from nearby villages come here all the month for worship and pour water on the Shivlinga.

Shivratri-a fair on large scale is organized by the local people.

A bhandara is also arranged in Shivratri.

Places to visit

1. Panwata Sahib gurudwara

2. Nahan fort and places near Nahan

How to reach

Panwata Sahib lies on the nh-73 that connects the city of Chandigarh and Dehradun. There are frequent bus sevices from major cities of Himachal, Punjab and Haryana.

Accommodation

Panwata Sahib is the nearest city where one can stay. There are so many hotels and rest houses for comfortable stay.

Tarapith Temple, Rampurhat, Birbhum, West Bengal, India

Tarapith Temple, Tarapith, Rampurhat, District Birbhum, West Bengal, India

Location

[ Tarapith Main Temple ] 

Tarapith is a small village near Rampurhat town in the state of West Bengal. The temple here is dedicated to Maa Tara. It is a tantrik temple and deity of the tantric aspect is Maa Tara. The temple is a medium sized temple and situated adjacent to cremation ground ( Maha Smashan). It is among 52 Shaktipeethas of Sati cult. It is believed that this Sidhpeeth grants enlightment,wisdom, happiness and siddhees to her devotees. There are two idols of Maa Tara is installed in the temple which are in two forms.

[ Gentler Mother Form ]

One is mother some form and second is a fearsome form of Goddess. The stone idol is a mother some form in which Lord shiva as a child in the lap of Maa Tara, sucking milk from her breast. The other image is a metal image wearing garlands of skulls and protruding tongue. The forehead of the metal idol is adorned with red vermilion. The priest of the temple took a small amount of kumkum by his finger and apply on the foreheads of the devotees as a blessing of goddess.

[ Fearsome form ]

Legend

The legend behind the temple are many, but few are being described here.

1. It relates to the story of  Sati cult.  King Daksha Prajapati, father of Goddess Parvati, invited only his daughter in the Yagana organised by him. Lord Shiva was not invited. Parwati, the consort of Shiva felt it as her insult. Unable to bear this humiliation she gave up her life by jumping in to the fire of Yagna. Knowing about this tragic turn of events Lord Shiva went wild with anger.  Then Guardian of the universe, Lord Vishnu took the responsibilities to calm Lord Shiva. He decimated her body by Sudarshana chakra which fell on the earth in Indian subcontinent. It is said that the back (pitha) of sati fell here and this place became one of the Shakti peeth.

2. As per Hindu mythology, during the churning of the ocean the poison came out and no body was ready to consume it. Then to save the earth, Lord Shiva took the poison in his throat. By the intensity of the poison, burning started inside the throat of Lord Shiva. Then Sati in the form of Maa Tara, breast fed Lord Shiva to relieve him from burning sensation.

3. According to an another legend,  Sage Vshistha was her devotee and did deep meditation of her but not succeeded to please her. By the order of a divine voice he went to meet Lord Buddha. Buddha is supposed to be an avatar of Lord Vishnu as per Tibetan mythology. Buddha advised him to go to Tarapith , the abode of Tara and try to please Maa Tara by meditation. Then Sage Vashishtha did deep meditation by chanting  03 lac Tara mantra. Maa Tara became pleased from his devotion and appeared before him. But Sage told her to appear in the form of mother sucking her breast by Lord shiva. Tara then incarnated herself in that form as he wish and turned in to a stone idol. Since then this form of Maa Tara is being worshipped  in Tarapith.

In Bengal Kalighat, Tarapith and Nabdwip are known as pilgrimage of Bengali Hindus.

Puja and Rituals

This temple is an important place of worship forTantrik Sadhkas. The worship includes blood offerings and particular hymns sung and rituals of the cremation ground. The devotees offers coconut, banana, silk sarees, and whisky.

The mother form of Goddess is a soft and gentler aspect of Devi. The priests of the temple worship with great reverence to draw her motherly aspect from the fierce depiction for the welfare of devotees. For this they sung hymns and poems in her praise.

There is a tank very near to the temple, where the devotees took bath before and after entering the temple. The pond is believed to have a healing power and even can restore the life to the dead. A small quantity of blood of Goats in a bowl after sacrifice is offered to Goddess.

Animal Sacrifice

Animal sacrifice is a a daily procedure here. Generally Goats are sacrificed here at the place assigned for it and in the temple campus. The devotees who offer animal sacrifice seek blessings from goddess. They bathe the goat being sacrificed in the sacred tank over there. Then the goat after some rituals brought to the place of slaughtering. Then a small quantity of blood in a bowl is offered to Goddess and worshipped for happiness of their family

[ Slaughtering place ]

Cremation Ground (Maha Shmasan)

It is located on the river side and near to the temple. The cremation ground is believed to be the place of Tantrik Siddhi, hence an integral part of the Shaktipeeth. It is believed that Maa Tara in shadow form wanders in the cremation ground in night to fulfil her thirst of blood. Tantriks believe that cremation ground is the residence of Maa Tara who has attraction towards bones, skulls and skeleton.

[ Cremation Ground ] 

Bamakhepa, a Siddh tantrik

[ Bamakhepa ]

In 19 th century, a Sadhak named Bamakhepa was an ardent devotee of Maa Tara. There are two words in his name Bama and Khepa. Bama means a Saint who believed in left handed path ie Bammarg, a tantric way of worship and Khepa means ‘Mad’ in Bengali. He achieved many Siddhis by the grace of Mother Tara. He was perfect in yoga and Tantric Sadhana. People in distress came to him for blessings.in this way Bamakhepa can truly be said to have been a Holy mad man with supernatural power. A film in his name was also made and released in Bengal on his life history.

Where to Stay

Tarapith is a small town but due to the importance of this place as a pilgrimage the devotees visit this temple in good numbers on regular basis. There are many budget hotels are available there in Rampurhat town for a comfortable stay. Some of them are namely Amantran hotel, Sonar Bangala hotel, and hotel chakra nayan tara.

Places to Visit Nearby

Shantiniketan

A famous place of education Shantiniketan is located in Birbhum district of Bengal and easily approachable from Rampurhat. The university here is named as Vishwa Bharti University established by Rabindra Nath Tagore who called it the university that communion of the world with India. One should must visit this place.

[ View of Shantiniketan ]

How to Reach

By rail

Rampurhat is a railway station on eastern railway and well connected by railway network of India. From Howrah. and major   cities of Jharkhand, Bengal and Bihar direct trains are available to reach Rampurhat. .

By road

From Jharkhand and Bengal Rampurhat is well connected by good roads. But from Bihar public transport is not available frequently.but can reach here by his own car or hired taxi.

By air

There is no airport nearby. Hence journey by air is not is troublesome. 

Tara Devi Temple, Soghi, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India.

Tara Devi Temple, Shoghi, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India

Location

Tara Devi temple is located in Shoghi on the top of a hill named Tarav hill, 15 km west to the state capital town, Shimla of Himachal Pradesh. On Kalka – Shimla highway Shoghi is a small town and a narrow gauge railway station of Northern railway. It is also a beautiful place of tourism importance in Himachal. From Shoghi one can go to the temple by his own car, hired taxi or by a shared auto available from Shoghi.

From Shoghi to the temple one can enjoy the beauty of nature by sweet smelling of lush green forest of pine and breeze touching softly infusing a freshness and vigour in the devotees. After reaching the temple a superb panorama view of Shimla can be seen. It seems that Maa Tara sees every body from here and keeps everyone of the territory under her protection.

[ Maa Tara Temple]

[ View of Shimla] 

The temple is an ancient, about 250 years old. The main deity inside the temple is Maa Tara who is among the 9th youngest sister of Maa Durga. A wooden idol of Maa Tara is installed inside the temple. On Shardey Navratra a fair and festival is organised in which a large gathering is witnessed. Bhandara of Mata is also organised by the local villagers and their devotees.

Significance of Maa Tara form of Devi

Maa Tara literally means Star is the second among Maha Das Vidyas form of Durga. It is a Tantrik manifestation of Durga, Kali or Parwati.

As the star in the sky looks beautiful but continuously self com busting thing. Similarly Maa Tara is believed at core as the absolute, unquenchable hunger that propels the life of the creatures.

As per Hindu mythology Maa Tara and Kali are similar in appearance. Both have a fear full appearance in Hindi called Bhayankari.

[ Maa Tara Idol in Shoghi] 

Maa Tara is blue and Maa Kali is black in appearance wearing minimal clothing. Maa Tara wears a tiger skin where as Kali wears only a girdle of severed human arms.

As per Devi Bhagwat (a Hindu holy book) Maa Tara is one who created first seed from which the entire universe took birth in the form of Lord Narayana (Vishnu).

History of the Temple

The temple was constructed about 250 years ago by the King of the Sen dynasty of west Bengal. This ancient temple have a beautiful and attractive wooden idol of Tara Devi. it is believed that Maa Tara brought here from the eastern state of Bengal by the king of Sen dynasty. Maa Tara was his family Deity. The king used to wear a locket in his upper arm in which the image of Maa Tara was encased.

Later on the king established Kyonthal as his dynasty. In the 96Th generation Bhupendra Sen was the king of Kyonthal dynasty. One day he was hunting in the dense forest of Juggar nearby the present temple he experienced the presence of his family deity Maa Tara with her watchmen Bhairav and Lord Hanuman. He felt that Maa Tara ordered him to construct a temple of her and install my the idol in it. The king immediately donated 50 Bigha of Land and constructed a temple there and installed a beautiful wooden idol of Maa Tara.

Later on king Balbir Sen of the same dynasty had a dream in which Maa Tara directed him to installed her idol on the top of Tarav hill. Pandit Bhawani Datta, the priest of his family then ordered a famous artist of the area to prepare an Ashtadhatu idol of Maa Tara. Then this idol was installed on Tarav Parwat with proper rituals where it stands with all majesty and grandeur even today. 

Since then and even today the family members of Sen dynasty do puja and rituals with full vigour and enthusiasm on Shardey Navratra and organises a fair and bhandara in the temple premises.

During Navratra a special puja is organised here with a fair over here in which a large gathering is witnessed. Bhandara for all devotees is arranged on this occasion.

Temples to Visit Nearby

Jakhu Temple

[ A large statue of Lord Hanuman ]

Basically, the temple is dedicated to Lord Hanuman. It is believed that Lord Hanuman rested here during his long journey to Himalaya in search of sanjeevini booty for Lakshman. One should must visit this temple while in Shimla.

Sankatmochan Mandir

[ Sankat Mochan Mandir]

It is situated in the heart of Shimla town. An ancient and religious temple of Lord Hanuman.

Bheem Kali temple

[ Bheem Kali Temple ]

It is an ancient temple about 800 yrs old and one of the Shaktipeethas for the Shivaites constructed in Tibetan architectural style worth visiting.

How to reach

By Rail

Shoghi is a narrow gauge railway station on Kalka- Shimla route of northern railway. Get down at Shoghi station and take a auto or taxi to reach the temple.

By Road

Seoghi is situated on Kalka – Shimla highway at a distance of approximately 75 km. Buses from delhi, Chandigarh,and all major cities of Himachal, Punjab, Haryana ply regularly. Luxury buses are also available easily.

By air

Nearest air port is Shimla only 7 km away from Shogi. One can hire a taxi on the air port and reach easily Tara devi temple.

Timings

Timing to visit the temple is from 7.00 am to 6.30 pm daily.

Best time to Visit

Except the rainy season one can visit the temple through out the year. Shimla is an important tourist place and it is advised that one should must visit this temple while on tour to Shimla.

Where to Stay

Shimla is the capital town of Himachal. Hotels of every budget are available here for a comfortable stay.