A visit to Himachal Pradesh

 Visit to Devi places in Himachal Pradesh: 12-13^th May,2012.

Route taken to visit various places was as under,

ChandgarhàRoparàAnandpur SahibàNangalàUnaàMubarakpur Chowkà

Mata ChintpurniàDheraàDevi JwalajiàRani TaalàMata Brajeshwari Devi,

KangraàChamunda DeviàPalampuràBaijnath Shiva templeàMahakaal and Shani templeà

PalampuràNagrotaàPitambara,BaglamukhiàMubarakpur ChowkàShivbari(Gagret road)

àMubarakpur ChowkàUnaàNangalàAnandpur SahibàRoparàChandigarh.

After many programmes earlier finally actual undertaking of yatra to various devi places was finalized. Thus on Saturday, 12^th May one left Chandigarh in a car along with two other travellers early in the morning at 5.30 am. On the way one took a road under the bridge instead of upper one and was put on another path unlike the one described above. One accidentally thus followed Ropar road which leads to Balachaur. Realising the mistake one turned immediately after the Ropar bridge and travelled through various small villages. The road was small but very good and traffic was minimal. Morning air was fresh and clean and whole road was dotted with trees on both sides. People were slowly getting in to their morning routine. Thus one happily reached Una. Another aspect of this path was that there was no toll barrier unlike the other highway.  

On way to Chintpurni, just 1-2 km before one saw a newly married girl along with her husband doing dandwat yatra (measuring the path with her own body length). She was wearing Chura also. One felt greatly elated to see her devotion and wished her all the best in the world. On reaching mata Chintpurni one called up the known Panditji and met him at his shop. His son being a priest of the temple was called up. Three of the travelers went through a different path, ascending many steps and reached in front of the garbh grah. There was great rush, as people were pushing each other in lines. Had one come through the line it would have taken at least 3 hrs to reach the same place. One had brought the offerings of yellow Chunni, silver Chattar along with the normal things with a basket of flowers for the Mother. Quickly one entered the lines of people and was face to face with the Mother. One offered ones prostrations to her and things were offered to Her. Then one walked past the darshans as one can’t stand at that place due to great rush. Outside pandit ji came along with three big Chunnis as a Prasad for the travellers and helped perfom devi poojan. One also got the coins from the treasure of the Mother which are supposed to be auspicious and kept in ones own money locker. Then one proceeded to a children school nearby in a taxi where 11 kumaris were arranged for poojan. All were from 8-10 years only. All were dressed in white school clothes and made to sit in a line. They chanted Gayatri mantra, while 5 bigger girls were called to sing some bhajans which they did with great bhava. One washed feet of the kumaris, applied tilka, offered eatables to them, gave them dakshina(money) and then touched their feet and sought their blessings. Then one offered chunnis, hair clips, bindis etc to all the kumaris and girls. Chintpurni devi is also known as Chinnmasta devi of ten mahavidya category. Thus one left the place for onward journey to Jwalaji.

On reaching Jwalaji, considered to be Dhumawati devi of out of ten mahavidyas, one again saw a great line of people standing for the darshan of the devi. At the gate of the temple one bought the offerings and left ones pair of shoes at the shop. Shop owner arranged a pandit for poojan inside. Thus one reached the temple compound where one met Panditji who took one directly in to the temple. Again Red Chunnis were offered with silver chattar to the Mother present in the form of Flame there. On moving out of the temple precinct one along with Pandit did devi poojan and got devi Prasad in the form of big red chunnis. Thus one happily finished the visit to devi Jwalaji and proceeded to next devi Brajeshwari of Kangra.

Parking ones car one proceeded on foot to visit the temple through a very narrow market place on both sides of which were small shops selling various things used in poojan etc. It is said that Brajeshwari devi temple is an ancient temple. The history of it goes as follows:

Kangra comprises of three valleys and hence it was called Trigart during the time of Panini. During the times of Rama, from Vipasha to Kandhar whole area was called Kaikey Pradesh. Queen Kaikeyi of king Dashrath belonged to this area only. At many places it is also known as Susharmpur, due to its king whose name was Susharm Chandra during the times of Mahabharata. He fought from the side of Kauravas. Till 12 the century this area was called Trigart. In Rajtarangini of Kalhan and travelogues of Hyuntsang this place has been mentioned as Jalandhar and TrigartMahmood Gazni, his mantra Farishta wrote its name as Bheemkot. May be it refers to some fort built by Bheem, one of the pandavas. It was also called Nagarkot i.e city where a fort is. Kam means head and Gada means struck under ground and hence the modern name of Kangra. It is also called Jallandhar peeth as the back of demon Jallandhar was struck here. Guru Gorakhnath’s contemporary Jalandhar nath did his sadhana of Jalandhar Bandh here only.  

It is very difficult to point the exact time of building of this temple. But recorded history shows that it has repeatedly looted by many muslim invaders like Mahmud Gaznavi, Muhammad Tuglak, Firozshah Tuglak, Shahabuddin of Kashmir, Shershah Suri etc. between 1009 to 1540. Mahmood Gaznavi historian Farishta has recorded that they looted 700000 gold dinars, more than 28000 kgs of gold and silver plates, more than 8000 kgs of golden bricks, 80000 kgs silver, 8000 kgs of precious stones, 28x20 gaz silver house, 40x20 gaz chandwa, 2 pillars each of gold and silver. At that time English man Kaningham valued it as 17,57,000 pounds. Muslim Akbar held this temple in great esteem and walked without shoes to pay his respects here. It is evident from the local folk songs. On 24^th August, 1809 Maharaja Raknjit Singh took it under his control. 

The temple was destroyed in the great earth quake of 4^th April, 1905 and was restored fully by a committee made for the welfare of the temple.

After Shumbh Nishumbh got killed all rakshas ran in all directions. Some sat in Tapsaya of Brahma to seek boon so that no devta couls kill them. Brahma got happy with their tapasya and gave them the required boon. Immediately they attacked devtas and defeated them. They were ousted from heavens. So all the devtas went to Devi and requested her to help them. So devi started fighting with the demons. Since they had a boon from Brahma that they can not be killed by any devta hence devi could not kill them. After a long pitched battle she perspired and a drop of it fell on the ground from her forehead. Out of that drop a human was born who had a sword in his hand. He was considered as manas putra of Devi and was known as Bhumi Chand. He was the first of the kings of lineage of Katoch. During 234^th generation of the above lineage during the time of mahabharat Susharm Chand was the king of Kangra. Vrajeshwari is the kulja Devi of this lineage.

It is said that when Sati left her body in Daksha yajna, lord Shiva became very angry and his ganas totally wrecked the mandap and beat various Rishis and Devtas there. Daksh Prajapati was also beheaded. Lord Shiva took the dead body of his consort Parvati on his shoulder and started roaming all the places. He stopped the work of annihilation as a result of which whole cosmic creation became imbalanced. Everyone requested lord Vishnu to step in. He cut the body of Sati in to 51 pieces with his chakra. Where ever they fell those places came to be known as Shakti peeths. It is said her left breast fell which became like vajra on falling down. Another place it is written that her head fell here and it only appeared as pindi which is established in the temple. She is also known as Vageshwari Devi. It is also written that in the earlier times the poojan of the devi was dine as per the tantric traditions. Acharya Shambhunath use to stay here. He followed vama marg of sadhana and was held in great esteem by Abhinav gupt and his Guru Jairath of Kashmir Shaivism. They always consulted him before writing any major granth. Out of the ten mahavidyas this devi is known as Tripursundari. Earlier all the poojan was done as per tantric procedure of Tripursundari.   

This temple is called Jallandhar Peeth, while Jagannath Puri temple is known as Udyaan peeth, Gauhati Kamakhya Devi temple is known as Kaamroop peeth while Mallikarjun parvat temple in Andhrapradesh is known as Poorngiri peeth.

Thus with great reverence one entered the temple and had darshan of the mother, offered ones prostrations. There is a trident of the devi on which ten mahavidya yantras are engraved. It is said that in case of any woman having problems in delivering, or any one having problem in leaving his body, water from this trident was given to them which helped them to deliver or leave ones body easily. After sitting a few minutes under the great peepal tree inside the temple one prepared for the journey ahead.

On reaching Chamunda one rented a room in hotel Dolphin. Arranged for Panditji to help perform a havan.  After taking bath and having tea & snacks one proceeded to temple. The temple has been recently renovated and green lawns added with sitting benches. People were sitting on them and enjoying the spiritual ambiance there. One went in to the temple and stood in the line for darshan of the Mother. Some school children were standing in the line for darshan too. They all were restless, jumping from time to time to sound the bell and created lot of noise. One kept moving in the line slowly towards the devi darshan. Just when one was going to be in front of the sancto sanctorum, a great commotion was heard outside. One heard drumming sounds. People were cleared from the path way between us and garbh grah gate. Just from the side door palanquin carried by two boys on their shoulders entered. They were dancing to the tune of the drums. The palanquin carried local devtas and they had come to visit the Mother. One touched the dancing palanquin and after that another one entered and danced in front of the Mother. Both were given chunnis by the temple priest. Slowly they left the place and one felt very happy by their darshan. Thenone had darshan of the mother and offered red Chunni to Her along with other offerings. After completing her darshans one came out and went downstairs to bow to Lord Shiva there. After it one went further down to perform havan. This devi who is known as Chamunda Devi, is said to have killed the demons Chand and Mund and hence her name Chamunda. All the devtas had requested her to take care of the demons in the battle field. Devi killed them all and drank their blood and became so ferocious that devtas could not face her. So they requested lord Shiva to make her shant. Lord Shiva intervened and appeased her. She agreed to become shant once she is offered one body every day. Thus from that time it became a ritual here to offer one dead body to her everyday. There is a small river flowing here. So people who live on the other side cremate their bodies on the other side of the river while those who live on this side of the river cremate their dead bodies on this side. Thus it is called a mahashamshaan. If there is no dead body available for cremation on any day then a dry grass effigy is made and burnt as offering to the Mother. In the cremation ground, on this side of the river where the temple is, a naga sadhu by the name of Mahant Rajgiri Naga baba lives. In his kutiya he has a dhooni(fire place) on which havans are performed. One knew him from the past and arranged for a havan with the help of Pandits. Around 8 pm one started havan in their manner. By 10 pm one finished it. Giving dakshina to all one proceeded back to the Dolophin hotel. Thus retiring to the bed one felt quite happy over the way things unfolded the whole day. Thanking the Mother one went to sleep.

In the morning, after breakfast around 8am one left Chamunda and proceeded towards Baijnath. Reaching Baijnath one had darshan of Shiva there. The temple is located in a very scenic setting and is very neat & clean. The architecture is also ancient. From here one went to Mahakaal temple. This temple is said to be sadhna sthali of many gandharwas, yakshas etc. Ever Jalandhar also did his tapsya here. But these days the temple has been taken over by the government and looked after by them only. One can not stay in the temple to do tapasya or any other anushthaan. With the help of Pandit ji one did poojan of mahakaal there. Near by is the temple of Shani and one offered black, daal, sesame seeds and oil to statue. Then one did poojan of Durga mata also there. After giving dakshina to the Panditji, one proceeded towards Baglamukhi temple.

Out of the ten mahavidyas, Baglamukhi is very ferocious devi who has power to stop anything i.e stambhan shakti. Around 3 pm one reached the temple located by the side of national highway. Many people were there standing in the line for darshan or performing havan. Some were resting there while others were having food from the community kitchen. Many were having tea etc. On reaching there one met pandit Dinesh, who is known for some years. He came and met the travellers. One gave the offerings with yellow chunnis to be offered to Mother. With his help one went inside the temple and offered the things to the mother and had her darshan. Big Yellow chunnis were offered by the pujari to the travellers as prasadam. Giving dakshina to the panditji and thus satisfied one left the place and proceeded towards Shivbari.

One boarded the car and drove to Mubarakpur chowk and then proceeded towards Gagret instead. Around 6 km is the temple of Shivbari located in a dense forest. No one cuts any tree from that jungle as it is said to belong to lord Shiva. This temple is said to be around 6000 years old and was dwelling place of Guru Dronacharya. One had darshan of the ancient Shivlingam and then proceeded back to Mubarak pur chowk. From there, following the return path one reached Chandigarh around 8 pm on Sunday,13^th May after travelling a distance of around 630 km in total………Jai Mata ki……………….Om!