Jai Jwala Mata

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Jwala Ji temple is the one of the 51 Shaktipeeths of India. It is located in the lower Himalayas in Jawalamukhi town of the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh India, about 55 kilometers from the larger town of Dharamsala. The temple style is typical of Jwala Ji shrines, four cornered, with a small dome on the top and a square central pit of hollowed stone inside where the main flame burns endlessly.

There are nine different flames within the temple. It is said that centuries ago, when Shiv Shankar was carrying the Mata Sati's body then Devtaas asked Lord Vishnu to end the pain of Lord Shiva. Lord Vishnu used his Sudarshan chakra to cut through Sati's corpse into 51 parts which are known as Shaktipeeth these days.

Shaktipeeth was created wherever Mata Sati body part dropped. There are total 51 Shaktipeeths. Jwala Ji temple is also one of the 51 Shaktipeeth. In Jwala ji Temple, Mata Sati tongue dropped. People worship Her in the form of flame. There are total 9 flames that burn endlessly. These 9 flames indicate 9 forms of Mata Durga that are:

Shailaputrī, Brahmachariṇi, Chandrakaṇṭa, Kuṣhmaṇḍa, Skandamata, Katyayanī, Kalaratrī, Mahagaurī and Siddhidatrī

◾Stories behind Jwala ji:

Listening to the rising name and fame of the auspicious and miraculous constantly running Jyotis, the famous Dhyanu Bhakt also came to this destination along with his thousand companions. The king of that time, i.e. Akbar was informed of the same and he summoned Dhyanu Bhakt in this court. The general accused him of raising his head in the regime of King and calling himself bigger than King Akbar. To this Dhyanu bhakt replied that he does not call himself bigger than the king, instead Maa Jwala as the biggest of all and She is the king of the whole world and universe where as King Akbar was just the king of India. Being presented infront of the king, he was asked to show a miracle to prove his true devoteeness towards his Maa. King Akbar wanted to test the powers of Mata Jwalaji. Dhyanu called himself a very small Bhakt/ devotee of Mata Jwalaji and that he could not. The general suggested to cut off the head of the horse his was riding to Mata Jwala and if the powers of Mata Jwala were authentic, She would put the head back on. Dhyanu Bhakt called it as a sin the king had done and asked him still that he should keep the head and the torso of the horse intact for a month. The king agreed and allowed him to do the rest of his pilgrimage.

Dhyanu Bhagat proceeded further and upon reaching Mata Jwalaji Temple, pleaded for Her kripa. She, the almighty knew all and he begged Her to fix the head of his horse and make it alive again and also that he would then be able to answer King Akbar for the sinful act he did to test Her powers. He prayed and begged for many days and even after that when Maa did not to the same, the great bhakt, but his own head in front of Maa Jwala and offered it to Her.

She was Maa Aadi/ Maa Jagat Janaji and appeared immediately and put the head of Her divotee back on his torso and gave him life again. Coming back to life Dhyanu Bhakt, fell on Maa's feet and prayed that we humans do not know the proper procedures and rituals to worship Her and requested that in coming times She does not take this big test of Her devotees as every devotee cannot offer his head and that she accepts the prayers of the devotees in future with a simple offering of Nariyal(coconut) and a flag and grant their wishes. To this Maa agreed to accept the prayers with the same in future and would grant all wishes with true heart and got invisible there after.

Over there in Delhi, with the kripa of Maa Jwala, the head of the horse also got attached to the torse and got alive. To this the amazed Akbar still did not want to believe in the powers of Maa Jwala and sent his general again to Jwalaji to test her presence in this world. The general tried to extinguish the jyotis by putting various thick sheets of iron on top. However the powerful and miraculous jyotis of Maa Jwala came above tearing the iron sheets.

The foolish general was not ready to accept his defeat and went up the hill around 2 kilometers to get a river down the temple through a temporary path of stones. He then flooded the auspicious Jyotis with the running water. As and how the water started filling the area, the more powerful became the Jyotis(flames). When the temple was completely flooded with water, the jyotis started floating over the water. The general hard to accept and with grief, reported the same to Akbar who realized his mistake of testing Maa's powers. He realized that he should have never done such a deed of sin. He decided then to walk barefeet to Maa Jwalaji and offer a sava mann (one and a quarter quintal) Chhattar of Gold as an apology. Maa Jwala Devi refused to accept the same as the Gold Chhattar turned immediately dark to an unknown metal or alloy. Seeing this Akbar fell on his feet and begged for forgiveness for the sin of testing Maa Jwala. Maa is said to have forgiven Akbar. He later offered and prayed Maa with Paan, Supari, Dhwaja (flag), Nariyal(coconut) and Chunari (Stole) and he there after returned back to Delhi happily.

◾Unsolved Mystery:

The flame burns flawless and in blue colour.It is burning continously since first date of its known history.We don't have any knowledge of its source. Some says it could be reserve of natural gas.


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