Hidimba Devi Temple

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hidimbā Devi Temple is located in Manāli, a hill station in the State of Himāchal Pradesh in north India. It is an ancient cave temple dedicated to Hidimba Devi, who was a character in the Indian epic, Mahābhārata. The temple is surrounded by a cedar forest at the foot of the Himālayas. The sanctuary is built over a huge rock jutting out of the ground, which was worshiped as an image of the deity. The structure was built in the year 1553.^[1]

1 Design
2 A Mahabharat narration
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Design

The Hidimba Devi Temple has intricately carved wooden doors and a 24 meters tall wooden "shikhar" or tower above the sanctuary^[2]. The tower consists of three square roofs covered with timber tiles and a fourth brass cone-shaped roof at the top. The earth goddess Durga forms the theme of the main door carvings^[3]. The temple base is made out of whitewashed, mud-covered stonework. An enormous rock occupies the inside of the temple, only a 7.5 cm (3 inch) tall brass image representing goddess Hidimba Devi. A rope hangs down in front of the rock, and according to a legend, in bygone days religious zealots would tie the hands of "sinners" by the rope and then swing them against the rock.^[4]

[edit] A Mahabharat narration

The Indian epic Mahabharata narrates that Pāndavas stayed in Himachal during their exile. In Manali, a powerful "rākshas" (demon), Hidimb, attacked them, and in the ensuing fight, Bheem, the strongest Pandav, killed him. Bheem and Hidimb's sister, Hidimba, then got married. They and had a son, Ghatotkach, (who later proved to be a great warrior in the war against Kaurvas). When Bheem and his brothers returned from exile, Hidimba did not accompany him, but stayed back and did tapasyā (a combination of meditation, prayer, and penance) so as to eventually attain the status of a goddess.^{[citation needed]}