India may be a strange and mysterious country to outsiders, but it is by and large a God-fearing country. Extremely rich and diverse in culture, history, and traditions; India is dotted with beautiful, rich, large, and even weird and unusual temples. Some of these temples also happen to be major tourist attractions for their unique architecture, weirdness, and the legends associated with them. We Indians dedicate temples to cows, snakes, rats, etc.
India
is a country where we can find many mysterious places. Here is a list of unique temples in India with super
interesting back-stories:
1. Stambheshwar Mahadev,
Gujarat
Located in the town of Kavi Kambol in the state of Gujarat, this 150 years old temple lies on the betwixt of the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Cambay. This is a temple where Lord Shiva plays hide and seeks with you. What is unique about this temple is that the temple gets submerged into the sea during high tide hours and as the tide starts to get low, it again starts emerging from the sea inch by inch, unveiling the 4 feet high Shiva Lingam.
2. Visa God Temple, Chilkur,
Hyderabad:
Popularly known as VISA Balaji Temple, the temple is an ancient Hindu Temple of Lord Balaji in the Rangareddy district, Hyderabad. It is famous for clearing US visa. It is believed that Lord Balaji blesses everyone who is in need of visa. Devotees have to perform 11 ‘parikramas’ around the temple while making a wish, if they want their wishes of obtaining a Visa to come true. And if the wish is fulfilled, then one has to do 108 ‘parikramas’. Most of the devotees are in the age group 25 to 35 years.
3. Chinese Kali Temple, Kolkata,
West Bengal
Tangra, popularly known as mini-China in the city of joy, Kolkata, with almost 2000 Chinese residents, dedicate this famous Chinese Kali temple to Goddess Kali. Situated in China town, this Chinese Kali Temple is over 60 years old and serves as a great example of unity between Hindus and Chinese. An interesting thing to know about this sacred place in Kolkata is that the ‘Prasad’ (holy offering) offered at the temple are noodles and chopsey, rice and vegetables.
4. Nidhivan Temple, Mathura,
Uttar Pradesh
Located in the Land of
Krishna ‘Vrindavan’ with many temples and shrines, in the state of Uttar Pradesh,
is one of the most sacred destinations, is a place full of mystery i.e. Nidhivan, ‘Nidhi’ means treasure and ‘van’ means
forest.
It is said that Lord Krishna
comes here every night and performs ‘ Raslila’ with Radha Rani and all His gopis,
and if one sees these activities, he/she becomes deaf, dumb and even blind.
So after evening prayers, no
one is allowed inside the premises. Even the monkeys leave the Nidhivan temple
after the evening aarti.
5. Mehndipur Balaji Temple, Rajasthan
Another bizarre temple is the Mehandipur Balaji temple. Balaji is another name of Lord Hanuman. Mehandipur Balaji is an extraordinary pilgrimage site as it is believed that the people get exorcised from ghosts and evil spirits here, and this belief has been proved correct in most of the cases. If you ever visit the place, you’ll get to see some severe disturbing sights such as people hanging from ceiling or pouring boiling water on themselves, among others. The pandits chain people suffering from demonic being to walls. This is the only temple in India where exorcisms by priests is still carried out in the open.
6. Veerabhadra Temple, Andhra
Pradesh
Also known as the Lepakshi Temple, the temple is located in the small village of Lepakshi in Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh. The amazing and the unique feature of the temple is that one of the 70 pillars, that it stands on, is hanging and the pillar does not touch the ground. There is a small gap between the temple floor and the base of the pillar, and people pass thin objects such as paper or a piece of cloth from one side to the other. Such a huge solid granite pillar, 20 feet high to be precise, that hangs from the roof, defies the law of gravity.
7. Aeroplane Baba or Shaheed
Baba Nihal Singh Gurudwara, Punjab
Are you struggling to get a Visa? Don’t worry. Visit the ‘Hawaijahaj’ or ‘airplane’ Gurudwara and your wish to get Visa will be fulfilled. Located In the tiny village of Talhan in Jalandhar, people worship a deity, who prefers toy airplanes and not the traditional ‘Prasad’, in the hope of settling abroad. It is said that people come here with a specific aim: approval of Visa applications. Shaheed Baba Nihal Singh Gurudwara is totally flooded with toy planes by devotees who believe that this will help them get a visa.
8. Jwalaji Mata Temple, Himachal
Pradesh
Jwala Ji Mata Temple, located in Jwalamukhi Town of Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, and esteemed by the devoted Hindus of the country, is one of the oldest known pilgrimage destinations of Northern India. Jwalaji temple is believed to be the most auspicious of all the several other temples dedicated to Goddess Jwala Ji. The main attraction of Jwala Ji Temple is the eternal flames, as no idol is located in the temple, the deity is worshipped in the form of flames which come out of the cervices of the rocks and keep burning constantly. It is one of the 51 Shakti Peethas found in different corners of the South-East Asia. It is believed that the tongue of Goddess Sati fell on this ground.
9. Karni Mata Temple, Rajasthan
Deep in the Thar desert is located the Karni Mata temple, which is also known as the temple of rats. This temple is known as the temple of rats because there are an approximately 20,000 rats living in it. The temple was built in the early 1900s to honor Karni Mata together with her furry and reincarnated devotees the rats. Rats in the temple are fed milk, grains, and coconut shells on large metal bowls. These rats are referred to as little children or “Kabbas”. It is believed that eating the leftovers of the rats brings good fortune to the devotees who visit the temple.
10. Kaal Bhairav
If you believed India couldn’t get any weirder, you thought wrong. The ‘Prasad’ offered by the devotees to Kal Bhairav temple in Ujjain will literally shock you! The temple is dedicated to Lord Kal Bhairav, who is a reincarnation of Lord Shiva, Here, the devotees offer liquor to the deity, and it is also given away as ‘Prasad’ to the visitors of the temple. The devotees offer liquor bottles to the priest. Weirdly the priest directly pours the alcohol into the deity’s mouth and then gives 2/3rd bottle back to the devotee as 'Prasad'.
So friends, visualize yourself visiting the most mysterious temples of India. Discover the secrets of these unique Indian temples, from their statues to wall paintings, to architecture, to amazing legends. Taste the mystery of these temples with your family and curious friends.
In case you require any information on your family travel trips to any place in India, or an outing for a few days in any part of India, you may please contact me on Upwork or Fiverr and I shall plan your personalized travel itinerary, as per your need.
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