India has always been popular and known as an ancient land of saints and sages with a beautiful blend of different religions.
The people of India have always lived harmoniously with each other. One of the oldest existing religions practiced in India is Hinduism with an ancient tradition and culture. What makes this religion even more amazing is the belief in a vast number of Gods and Goddesses.
According to a popular belief, India consists of 33 crores of Gods and Goddesses. However this may be a misinterpretation of the language, as ‘koti’ in sanskrit language may not mean crore but type or category. Thus it maybe understood as 33 categories of Gods and Goddesses.
Some of these Gods and Goddesses are shrouded in mystery which makes the Hindu religion even more alluring to people. There are some strange and unusually mysterious temples in India which many don’t know about. So let’s discuss about some of them today!
Malanada Duryodhana Temple
Usually temples are built to worship Gods because of their divine and good qualities which make them different from ordinary human beings. But a temple in Kerala is dedicated to the evil. Its difficult to believe that here the Kaurava king Duryodhana is worshipped.
As the legend goes, once when Duryodhana was chasing the Pandavas, he was very tired and thirsty. So he stopped at this spot to rest and asked a man for a drink.
A poor old man belonging to the Kuruvu tribe offered Duryodhana water to drink. The cool water quenched his thirst and made him so happy that he hugged and thanked this old man even though the man belonged to a low caste.
Duryodhana also promised to reward him on his way back. However, in the battle of Kurukshetra Duryodhana was killed. But he kept his promise and appeared to the old man in his dream.
The old man was so overwhelmed by the kindness shown to him by Duryodhana that he sat down to meditate on a platform near a banyan tree and regarded Duryodhana as God. As a result a temple was built to pay respect to Duryodhana but there is no idol, only a platform around which the temple has been built.
Koothandavar Temple
This temple is located in the Koovagam village of Tamil Nadu. The strange practice followed here is that it is a temple where transgenders are shown a lot of importance and respect. During the months of April and May, a festival is held where a large number of transgenders participate.
This temple is dedicated to Iravan, the son of Arjuna’s 4th wife, Ulupi, who offered himself as a sacrifice to Goddess Kali in order to appease her and make the Pandavas win the battle of Kurukshetra against the Kauravas.
But one of the conditions put forth by Iravan was to get married before being offered as a sacrifice. Since no girl was ready to get married to him knowing that he would die, Lord Krishna took the form of a woman named Mohini and married Iravan thus fulfilling his wish. The next day Iravan was sacrificed as an offering to Goddess Kali. Playing the role of a faithful wife Krishna in the form of Mohini, mourned the death of her husband by loud wailing or crying.
From that time onwards, a festival named Koovagam is observed every year where transgenders perform a play in which they wail loudly mourning the death of Iravan their husband. It surely is an unusual temple.
Muthappan Temple
This temple is dedicated to Muthappan considered to be an incarnation of Lord Shiva. Strangely the temple has statues of dogs inside the temple and at the entrance as Muthappan is believed to be always accompanied by dogs.
Unlike other temples where non-vegetarian is strictly prohibited, here offerings in the form of fish and toddy (an alcoholic drink) is served.
Hidimba Temple
This temple was built in the year 1553 by Maharaja Bahadur Singh. It is a three storeyed structure dedicated to the demon wife of Bhima, one of the Pandavas.
According to the legend ,when the Pandavas were fleeing from the attack of the Kauravas, they reached the Kamyak forest which was the home of demons Hidimb and his sister Hidimba. When Hidimba was asked by her brother to kill the Pandavas, she disguised herself as a beautiful woman hoping to trap one of the Pandavas but instead she fell in love with Bhima known for his mighty strength. She asked him to marry her and also revealed to him her true self and the plan of her brother.
Bhima agreed to marry her on one condition that he would leave her and go away after the birth of their child. When Ghatotkach was born, Bhima went away. So even though Hidimba was a demon, she was considered to be a protector of this region by the local people and hence a temple was built to worship her.
Bonbibi Temple
This temple is located in a village in the Sunderbans. Both Hindus and Muslims worship in this temple. They are a community of people who earn their livelihood by catching crabs ,fish and gathering honey. They all worship Bonbibi.
There are no brahmin priests here. According to a legend, a demon named Dokhin Rai, took the form of a tiger and started killing the human beings living there. It also motivated the spirits and tigers of the forest to do the same. The people cried out to God for help.
Then Allah sent Bonbibi and her brother Shah Jongoli to protect the people. One day Bonbibi saved a man named Dukhe. She over agreed not to kill Dokhin Rai if he promised not to harm the people of that village. From that time onwards, Bonbibi is considered to be the Goddess of the forest and people pray to her before venturing into the jungle.
The temple has the idol of Bonbibi sitting on a tiger, with her brother and Dukhe standing next to her.
Harsiddhi Temple
This temple is located 30 kms from Porbander on the way to Dwaraka. According to a legend, Lord Krishna requested Maa Amba or Goddess Durga to help him defeat the demons led by Jarasanda. When Krishna succeeded in defeating them , he built a temple to honor Maa Amba, on top of a hill.
However no form of worship was allowed there. The legend also tells the story of a Jain merchant named Jagadu who traded in spices. But when his ships carrying spices passed beside the hill , they were either wrecked or burnt. This was because Goddess Amba cast her eyes on them. In order to save his ships, Jagadu prayed to Goddess Amba or Durga asking her to come down to the foot of the hill.
Goddess Amba agreed on one condition that Jagadu would sacrifice a buffalo on every step down the hill. Although Jagadu was a jain, he agree to do so. He started sacrificing buffaloes and when he fell short of them, he sacrificed his family and then himself. Pleased with the devotion of Jagadu, the Goddess brought him back to life and blessed him immensely.
He then built a temple at the foot of the hill where the idol of Goddess Amba is worshipped. The local people also put up the idol of Jagadu in memory of his great sacrifice.
Karni Mata Temple
This temple is located near Bikaner. The strange sight that meets the eye when you visit this temple are the thousands of rats moving freely inside the temple premises especially before dawn and after dusk.
This temple built in the 14th century is dedicated to Karni Mata who is believed to be an incarnation of Goddess Durga. According to the legend, when the step son of KarniMata (Laxman) died she requested Yama, the God of death to bring him back to life. At first he refused but later he agreed on one condition that Laxman and the other sons would live but in the form of rats. So rats are worshipped in this temple and fed with milk and sweets.
The leftover food of the rats is considered holy when consumed. This is indeed amazing and sometimes even weird when we see the faith of the devotees.
The Temple of Chilkur Balaji
It may be difficult to believe that there is a temple dedicated to Balaji who issues visa. The devotees are seen going round and round the temple holding a card and a pen in their hands. This parikrama is done in order to thank the deity for fulfilling their wish, be it a visa to go abroad for studies, a job or simply for a holiday.
The legend is about a devotee who found the idol of Balaji near his house because he was unable to visit Tirupati due to his illness. Thus Balaji is said to have fulfilled his heart’s desire. It is also believed that while praying you have to keep your eyes open as though talking to Balaji eye to eye. What can be stranger than this.
Last but not the least we have a temple named……..
The Bullet Baba Temple
One cannot imagine the strangeness of this indeed weird concept. Worshipping a motorcycle? This temple is situated some 50 kms from Jodhpur. Alcohol is brought by devotees as offering, along with garlands and bangles.
According to the legend surrounding this temple, a man named Om Singh Rathore also known as ‘Om Banna’ met with an accident when his bike hit a tree. He died on the spot and the police took the bike into their custody. The next day the bike was found in the same accident spot.
Thinking that someone was trying to play a prank on them, the police personnel tied it with a chain and emptied all the petrol. But once again the motorcycle came back to the same place.
Then the local people built a temple keeping the motorcycle and the idol of Om Singh Rathore to worship and also brought alcohol as offering. Women tied bangles and threads praying to Rathore to protect their husbands from accidents.
We have to agree that India is indeed a country where there is no reason or logic when it comes to faith. These are some of the most amazing temples of India, not so famous temples which have interesting stories behind their existence, legends which make us wonder about the way a person can believe in something with a childlike simplicity. Such is India and its varied culture and tradition.
