Mundeshwari Temple

A visit to the oldest temple in India

After coming back in the last week of January from abroad I started planning for my next visit which was to cover Sikkim and Bhutan before I moved over to Indonesia. Sikkim and Bhutan's schedule was fixed to start in the last week of March assigning ten days to each. The month of February 2020 was going abegging as nothing was earmarked for this month. I had an idea about the Rann Utsav in Gujarat which was scheduled to close on the 20^th with its peak around the 8^th (full moon). However, planning for the Rann was another ball game altogether.

A traveller has a wandering mind continuously in quest of ideas to pack the bags. It stirred my curiosity to see the oldest living temple in India. Having seen a few very old Hindu temples (actually ruins or remnants) outside of India and also the ancient civilization of Egypt, I was looking forward and eager to find a standing constructed temple in India which belonged to the 4^th century CE or earlier. My search on the internet threw up an interesting result. There was this Mundeshwari (Mundesvari) temple in Bihar. This living temple became my object as it was said to belong to the 4^th century CE. Somewhere it was also mentioned 108 CE while another reference was 350 CE. For me, it filled the bill.

In order to not let February slip by that easily, I packed my Osprey FP 40, loaded my camera bag and set out towards Varanasi on an unplanned and unreserved journey. In order to broad base this trip I also threw in the itinerary Varanasi and Robertsganj.

The Mundeshwari (Mundesvari) temple

 Situated on a hilltop (200 m high) it falls in rural Bihar in Kaimur district. The nearest town is Bhabua some 14 km away. Reaching the temple village is by a tempo (if you don’t have your own car or taxi) followed by a walk up the hill. You can take the stepped track or the road that is about 2Km from the foot of the hill to the top. I took the road and returned via stepped track that is well lit and covered. My trek was with my Osprey (usually 10 kg) on the back.

This is a small temple with just a sanctum sanctorum which houses the idol of goddess Mundeshwari and a Shivalingam. They say in its time it was a big temple which is testified by the large quantity of broken parts of the temple strewn around in the area. It could have been razed to the ground by invaders or fallen down by some natural calamity like an earthquake. The concept of Shiva-Shakti appears to have been the basis of this temple and the fact that sacrifices were offered in the temple points to its antiquity. Even today male goats are offered as sacrifice to the goddess but not slaughtered. They are let out after performing some rituals of symbolic sacrifice.

The upkeep of the temple and the premises doesn’t seem to be a priority of the temple management board as there is lot of filth around and the fallen debris has been turned into a sort of dustbin. Graffiti – the menace of India’s heritage structures and cultural places is visible all over.

The information board fixed at the site by the Archaeological Survey of India says that the temple was constructed in 635 CE. However, on the internet I have read it that some inscriptions found in the debris of the temple have been deciphered which put the time of its construction as 108 CE. There’s yet another mention of 320 CE as the year of construction based on the opinion of some archaeological experts and historians.

How I reached the temple:

-        In Varanasi I was putting up in the Assisi Ghat area. From the hotel, I took a threewheeler/tuk tuk/ autorickshaw to Maruti Nagar bus stand from where buses ply to Bihar. It was a three hour journey to Bhabua (100 km).

-        From Bhabua town I took a shared autorickshaw that dropped me at the village where Mundeshwari temple is located.

-        I stayed in Bhabua for one night and the next day in the afternoon caught a bus to Robertsganj where my next exploration was to take place. The places I did in Robertsganj are mainly The Panchmukhi Rock Shelters, The Bijaigarh or Vijaygarh, and the Salkhan tree fossils.

SOME PHOTOGRAPHS

PS:

The person with me in the photograph is Mr Lal Mohan Sharma. Mr Sharma runs a unisex salon and academy in Bhabua. He has 25 years of experience in hair designing and has worked as a consultant with the likes of VLCC and other hairstyle companies. Now he and his family have hair salons in Saket area of Delhi.

Mr Lal Mohan Sharma was a copassenger on the bus from Varanasi to Bhabua. We struck conversation during the journey and he took me as his guest in Bhabua. I had a wonderful experience in the town where I accompanied Mr Sharma to a marriage function and also in a village of Bihar where the next day I visited to watch the production of jaggery from sugarcane. After lunch in the village, I caught a bus to Robertsganj. I also had my beard done by Mr Sharma and hair massage by his staff. Besides I got tips on maintaining my beard. My thanks to Mr Sharma for hospitality.

 (12 Feb 2020)