Sri Naina Devi Temple – Bilaspur

Sri Naina Devi Temple is situated on a hilltop in the Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh State in India.

Naina Devi is an incarnation of Goddess Shakti.

It is one of the 51 Shakti Peeta Temples

In the Temple complex, there is a huge Peepal tree that is acclaimed to be present for many centuries. On the right side of the entrance to the main shrine, idols of Lord Hanuman and Lord Ganesha are placed. After crossing the main gate of the shrine, two striking statues of Lions are visible. The main shrine reveals the images of three deities. Goddess Kali can be traced to the extreme left. In the center image of Naina Devi is visible, while Lord Ganesha is on the right side.

 

Several mythological stories are associated with the establishment of the temple. According to a legend Goddess Sati burnt herself alive in Yagna, which distressed Lord Shiva. He picked the corpse of Sati on his shoulder and started his Tandava dance. This horrified all deities in heaven as this could lead to a holocaust. This urged Lord Vishnu to unleash his Chakra that cut Sati’s body into 51 pieces. Shri Naina Devi Temple is the place where the eyes of Sati fell down.

 

Another story related to the temple is of a Gujjar Boy named Naina. Once he was grazing his cattle and observed that a white cow is showering milk from her udders on a stone. He saw the same thing for the next several days. One night while sleeping, he saw Goddess in her dreams who told him that the stone is her Pindi. Naina told them about the entire situation and his dream of Raja Bir Chand. When Raja saw it happening in reality, he built a temple on that spot and named the temple after Naina’s name.

 

According to the legends, Mahishasur was a powerful demon who was blessed with the boon of immortality by Lord Brahma, but the condition was that he could be defeated only by an unmarried woman. Due to this boon, Mahishasur started spreading terror on Earth and Gods. To cope with the demon, all Gods combined their powers and created a Devi to defeat him. The Devi was gifted different types of weapons by all Gods. When Mahishasur got mesmerized by the immense beauty of Devi and proposed to her to marry him. Devi told him that she will marry him if he would overpower her. During the battle, Devi defeated the demon and took out both his eyes. This urged Gods to happily applaud “Jai Naina” and hence the name.

This temple was built in the 15^th century. 

Navaratri, Makar Sankranti, Vasant Panchami, Maha Shivaratri, Holi, Sri Rama Navami, Sri Krishna Jayanti, Ganesha Chaturthi, Dasara, and Diwali are the festivals celebrated here.

Timings

5.00 am to 12.00 noon

4.00 pm to 9.00 pm

4.00 am – Mangal Aarti

6.00 am – Shringar Aarti

12.00 noon – Madhyan Aarti

6.30 pm - Shayan Aarti 

How to reach the Temple

100 km from Chandigarh

30 km from Anandpur