Sri bala bahuchara mata temple gujarat
Location of temple:
The most famous shrine dedicated to the Goddess is located in Mehsana
District in the state of Gujarat. Bahucharaji Temple is located
in Bahucharaji town in Mehsana district of Gujarat, India. It is 82 km
from Ahmedabad and 35 km west of Mahesana.
History of the temple:
Bahucharaji or also called Becharaji is small town and Taluka place in
Mehsana District, Gujarat. Ma Bahucharaji Temple is major Hindu
pilgrimage center in town. The name of the town is derived from the Ma
Bahuchar. This temple is one of the 51 Shakti Peeth, it is believed that Left
hand of Ma Devi Sati fallen down here. The original shrine was built by a
king Sankhal Raj in 1152. Goddess Bahuchara is worshiped fervently by
many devotees in the Indian sub-continent. This magnificent temple was
built in 1783 AD and is adorned with several exquisite stone carvings. The
original shrine was built by a king called Sankhal Raj in 1152 CE and the
first surviving mention of the shrine was found in an inscription dating 1280
CE. According to the inscription no changes were made in the temple
architecture until the eighteenth century.
A Bala Tripura Sundari Temple-Must for every Sri Vidya practitioner
Pleasantly surprised to find this rare temple mainly dedicated to Goddess
Bala Tripurasundari the Virgin Goddess of the Sri Vidya tradition in
Mehsana- Gujarat rather than in southern India where the worship of “Sri
Mata-Lalita Tripura Sundari “ is more known and practiced. Sri Vidya- an
ancient and often secretly guarded knowledge and practice of the Supreme
creatrix Mother Nature is regarded to be the most potent form of alchemical
transformation that one can beget from the science of worshipping. I
recommend all devout pilgrims and devotees of the Mother form of cosmic
power to must visit this temple and pay an obeisance to the principal deity.
The experience of beatitude and well-being can definitely be experienced
here.
Bahuchara Mata is a Hindu goddess of chastity and fertility in her Maiden
aspect, of the incarnation of the Hinglaj. Like other divinities in Gujarat and
Rajasthan, Bahuchara is of Charan origin. Devi Bahuchara was the
daughter of Bapaldanji Detha. when a bandit named Bapiya accosted them
on the journey. It was common for both men and women of the charan
community to kill themselves when faced with the prospect of being
overpowered and killed by enemies; and shedding the blood of a charan
was considered abominable. The sisters announced Tragu, a form of self-
immolation, upon being attacked and legend has it that they cut off their
breasts, with Bahuchara cursing Bapiya to a life of impotency unless he
dressed and acted like a woman, and worshipped her for the rest of his
days. The underlying message here is simple — impotence or genital
mutilation are again recurring themes in tales associated with Bahuchara
Mata.
She is also considered the patroness of the hijra community. By and large
the Hijras adhere strictly to Non violence. They consider killing of birds and
animals as Sin. Thus Bahuchara Mata also stands for Non violence. In
Hindu context, Hijras or Transgenders belong to a special caste. They are
usually devotees of Mother Goddess Shakti, Bahurchara Mata, Lord Shiva.
It is seen that Hijra culture draws upon the traditions of several religions.
Mention of Hijras is first made in the Kama Sutras as a third sex or Tritiya
prakarti. Bahuchara Mata is one of the pivotal Hindu deities who enjoys the
patronage of the transgender and transvestite community in India, with
several different tales in folklore depicting unmistakable and thus, shedding
the trappings of hetero normativity. While there aren’t any direct references
to homosexuality in ancient Hindu literary texts, there are several to the
fluid nature of sexuality.
Bahuchara Mata is shown as a woman who carries a sword on her bottom
left, a text of scriptures on her top left, the abhay hasta mudra ("showering
of blessings") on her bottom right, and a trident on her top right. She is
seated on a rooster, which symbolizes innocence. One of the theories says
that she is one of the goddesses in Sri Chakra. The real symbol of her
vehicle is kurkut which means the serpent which has two mouths.
Bahucharaji is seated on the low end and the other end goes to Sahasrara,
which means that Bahucharaji is the goddess starting the awakening
of kundalini which eventually leads the liberation or moksha.
The Mata wears a prominently ornamented Crown. Her Nose ring is
circular and ear rings are of the south Indian thongattan kundalas. Mata is
heavily jewelled. An extended garland adorns her red Saree clad body. Her
Vehicel is the Rooster, a territorial bird that proclaims it is his area by his
crowing. Thus it heralds each dawn with a call to wake and arise. It also
symbolizes innocence, imminence of spiritual un foldment and wisdom.
Incidentally the Rooster is also depicted as “Seval” in Lord Skanda’s battale
flag. In many mythologies, Rooster is seen as the intermediary of
communication between gods and human beings. In Hindu ritualistic
worship, spilling rooster blood is common among “ Theyyam” Cults.
There is another version that states that her Vehicle is “ Kurkut” the
Serpant with two mouths. This is an attempt to link Goddess Bahuchara to
Sri Chakra and Kundalini. Bahucharaji is said to be seated on low end of
the spine and othe end goes to Sahastrar, which means that Bahucharaji is
the goddess of starting the awakening of Kundalini which eventually leads
to liberation. Thus She is claimed to be a manifestation of Goddess Durga
and that her name in Tantrism is Bala Tripura Sundari. The Bala here is
said to bestow Virya or Semen to man in Tantric worship. Impotent men are
said to embark these prayers for Fearlessness, Boon and Knowledge, their
desired boons and wealth as well. Her Yantra has Nine Triangles
symbolising that she is Durga.
According to ancient tradition, [. an asura named Dandhasur was the
descendant of Dhumralochan, another asura who was defeated and killed
by goddess Parvati in the form of Durga. Dandhasur wanted to take
revenge of the death of his ancestor, so he performed austerities in praise
of the god Shiva. Lord Shiva was happy by Dhandasur's practice and he
asked him for a wish , so Dhandasur said that the goddess who killed his
ancestor, Dhumralochan, should appear before him. Lord Shiva granted
him the boon (wish) that the goddess who killed Dhumralochan will appear
before him in the form of a small girl. After getting the boon, Dandhasur
won all the battles on earth as well as Nether world and Mrutyulok. Then he
went for battle on heaven (devaloka); hence all the devas went to lord
Shiva and goddess Parvati for protection against Dandhasur.
After listening to their prayers, the goddess Parvati promised them that in
accordance with the boon of Lord Shiva, she would take the form of a
small girl and defeat the devil Dandhasur. She promised them that she
would transform into a small girl, and her place of emergence will be the
place where a part of the goddess Sati's hand was dropped on the earth,
and she would be named Bahuchara.
Goddess Parvati fulfilled her promise and emerged as Bahuchara.
Dandhasur saw this small girl sitting under a tree called Varakhdi.
Dandhasur came closer to the girl and asked who she was. The girl replied
that she came here from the devaloka, as all the devas from the devaloka
had lost the battle and moved to another place so she was left alone;
hence she was sitting under the tree. Dandhasur was impressed by the
courage of the small girl and asked her to go with him as he would treat her
like his daughter, to which she agreed. Upon reaching a place called
Chuvad, Dandhasur felt thirsty, but there was no water all around.
Adi parashakti hit her trishul on the ground near a tree of Varakhdi, and
fountains of water came out of the ground. Dandhasur, after drinking water,
was pleased and asked Bahuchara to marry him when she grew up. This
made Bahuchara angry and she transformed into her ugra swaroop (fierce
form), telling him that she is the one whom he wanted to see and she was
the only one who killed his ancestor Dhumralochan.
Now the time had come for him to be punished for his evil and dreadful
deeds. She killed him with her Trident. She also killed many other devils
who were causing trouble for many innocent people and devas and fulfilled
her promise, thus making them fearless. She came to Shankalpur, where
she again transformed herself from ugra swaroop to a small girl. Bahuchara
is worshiped as goddess Bahuchara Maa. There are three shrines of the
Goddess within the temple complex. The oldest part of the shrine complex
termed 'Adyasthan' (the original site) is a small temple enclosing a
sprawling, small-leafed varakhadi tree, believed to be the site where the
goddess first appeared.
Adjoining this is another small temple, the madhya sthan (second or
intermediate place), which houses an incised plaque representing the
goddess and has a locked silver door at its entrance. This part of the
temple is believed to have been built by a Maratha named Fadnavis (or an
official with that title) in the eighteenth century. In 1779 CE, Manajirao
Gaekwad, the younger brother of the Maratha ruler of Baroda, built a third
structure close to the original shrine after the goddess cured him of a
tumor. The third is the main temple today and contains the Bala Yantra of
quartz crystal representing the Goddess.
A kings prostrates before Bahuchara mata for the boon of an offspring. He
gets a Son. But the Prince Jeta was impotent. The goddess appears in his
dreams and order that he cut of his genitals and wear women’s clothes.
Thereafter he is to devote his life as her servant. The Goddess also
indentifies all impotent men in the region to chop off as well. Punishment
for breaching this would be seven generations of impotency. This saga is
said to have brought the cult of Bahuchara Mata whose devotees are
required to self castrate and remain celibate.
In yet another of these numerous folk stories, Bahuchara was a princess
whose marriage was never consummated. Her husband would, every night,
slip away to the forest where he would ‘behave as a woman’ while other
versions say that Bahuchara followed him one night and found him having
sex with another man. Furious, she castrated him and cursed him,
announcing that all men like her husband ought to be emasculated to give
them a chance at a better rebirth. This same community of men was also
promised protection if they worshipped her. A manifestation of the
Goddess, Bahuchara is a symbol of immense strength and protection to the
kinnar community in all of these stories, regardless of whether the story is
about the men getting neutered or her being depicted cutting off her own
breasts to save herself from the atrocity of rape; her worshippers are
staunch believers in non-violence and consider killing of all animals and
creatures a sin.
Bala Bahuchar is a goddess that bestows virility to males. During the
Mahabharata period, Dhrupad's son Shikhandi prayed for valour and virility
before going to fight Guru Dronacharya.* Bahucharaji is an incarnation of
Ambadevi who wanted to get married to Bhishma as per rituals of
Swayamwar. Bhishma declined the marriage and offered Ambalika's hand to
his brother. Enraged by this, Ambalika vowed to become the cause of death
of Bhishma. She was reborn as Shikhandi (a eunuch) who accompanied
Arjuna in the Mahabharata war.
Bhishma knew that Shikhandi was actually Ambalika and did not retaliate as
he would not take up arms against a woman. This way, Bhishma was killed
and Ambalika's vow was fulfilled.* If a eunuch child is born in the family, the
child is brought to this temple and left here for eunuchs to pick up and carry
out primitive surgical ritual followed by confinement for 45 days before they
are anointed as eunuchs.* The present Bahucharaji temple was built by
Manajirao Gaekwad in 1835. The earlier temple was a very small structure
that still exists at the backyard of the main temple. It is said that Gaekwad fell
sick and came to this temple. He was treated by eunuchs and was cured.
How to reach:
By Road: 25 km from Modhera, 35 km from Mehsana.
By Train: Mehsana is the nearest railway station 35 km.
By Air: SVP Airport ahmedabad is the nearest airport 103 km.
Contact details of Temple:
Mehsana - Becharaji Rd
Tel · 02734 286 317
