Friday, January 9, 2009

The Fire Goddess- Jwalajee

The temple of Jwalamukhi is situated in Kangra in Himachal Pradesh. It is surrounded by Shivalik mountain ranges. It is amongst the 52 shakti Peeth. According to legend, it is the place where the tongue of goddess Sati fell. In this temple the goddess is present in the form of tiny flames that is emerging from the cracks of rocks. There are 9 flames burning through ages without any combustible substance. These 9 flames are representatives of 9 forms of goddess namely,
1) Mahakaali
2) Annapurna
3) Chandi
4) Hinglaj
5) Vindya vaasini
6) Mahalakshmi
7) Saraswati
8) Ambika
9) Anjana

In the garbhagreh, the main flame is of goddess Mahakaali(bestower of bhakti and mukti). According to history of the temple once emperor Akbar visited it and tried to extinguish the flame of the temple. All his attempts were failed. He admitted the power of goddess. As an offering he donated a golden chatra at the temple. But he becamae arrogant. All of a sudden that chatra of gold turned into a strange metal which is still a mystery for the modern science. During the entire day 5 kinds of aarti is performed.
1) Mangal Aarti
2) Panchupchar Arti
3) Bhog
4) Sandhya
5) Shayan
The last aarti is performed around 9:30 pm. This is unique in many ways. It is performed in separate room known as “Sejabhawan”, where the bed of goddess is decorated with the beautiful dresses and rarest jewelries.
For some breathtaking pictures of the temple click here

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