Maihar’s mother Sharda. In Maihar city of Satna district near Chitrakoot in Madhya Pradesh, which is called the heart of the country, there is a temple of the revered Goddess Maa Sharda on Trikuta hill at an altitude of 600 feet, which is famous as Maihar Devi Temple. It is an important religious and religious place of the Hindus. Devotees reach here after having darshan of Mata in the same way as they go to visit Maa Vaishno Devi in Jammu. To reach the temple of Maa Maihar Devi, about a thousand steps have to be taken. Mother Sharda Devi, who gave a boon to Maha Veer Aala-Udal, is known as Sharda Ma in the whole country. With the construction of a ropeway here, it has become easy for the devotees to have darshan of the Maihar’s mother Sharda.
Mythological stories and fables in the context of pilgrimage site –
There is a very ancient mythological story behind the origin of this temple, according to which Sati, the daughter of Emperor Daksha, wanted to marry Lord Shiva, but King Daksha considered Shiva not a god, but a companion of ghosts and Aghoris and was opposed to this marriage. However, Sati married Lord Shiva against the wishes of her father. According to the story, once King Daksha created a yagya named ‘Brihaspati Sarva’, in this yagya Brahma, Vishnu, Indra and other gods and goddesses were also invited, but deliberately they did not call Lord Mahadev. Mahadev’s wife and Daksha’s daughter Sati became very sad and at the place of sacrifice, Sati asked her father the reason for not inviting Lord Shiva, on which Daksha said abusive words about Lord Shiva, then suffering from this humiliation Sati sat silently facing north and meditating at the feet of Lord Shiva, imbibing the elements of air and fire through the yoga path, consumed her body with her own brilliance, when Shiva came to know about this accident. When he went, his third eye opened in anger and the sacrifice was destroyed. Then Lord Shankar lifted the body of Mother Sati on his shoulder and started doing orgy in anger.
For the good of the universe, Lord Vishnu divided the body of Sati into fifty-two parts. Wherever various parts and ornaments of Sati’s body fell, Shakti Peethas were formed there. One of them is the Shakti Peeth, the temple of Maihar Devi, where the necklace of Mother Sati had fallen. Maihar means mother’s necklace, hence the name of this place Maihar. In the next life, Sati took birth as Parvati in the house of the Himachal king and after doing severe penance, got Shivaji as her husband again. Another interesting legend is also prevalent about this pilgrimage site. It is said that 200 years ago, Maharaj Durjan Singh Judev used to rule in Maihar. A shepherd from the same state used to come to the forest to graze the cow. In this frightening forest, the day was as dark as the night. There were many scary sounds.
One day he saw that a golden cow had come from somewhere with the same cows and in the evening the cow suddenly went somewhere. The next day, when the shepherd brought cows to this hill, he saw that the same cow was grazing with these cows. Then he decided that when this cow goes back in the evening, he will also follow her. While chasing the cow, she saw that she went to the cave located on the top of the hill and as soon as she entered the cave the door of the cave was closed. He sat there at the door. He didn’t know how long after that the door opened. But he had a vision of an old mother there. Then the shepherd said to the old lady, ‘My mother, I feed your cow, so give me something to stomach.
With this desire I have come to your door.’ The old mother went in and gave the barley grains in the wooden soup to the shepherd and said, ‘Now do not come alone in this forest.’ He said, ‘Mother, my work is there. Cow is grazing in the forest, but you live alone in this forest? You are not afraid.’ So the old mother laughed at that shepherd and said – son, this forest, high mountains are my home, this is where I reside. Saying this she disappeared. When the shepherd came home and opened the bundle containing barley, he was surprised. Instead of barley, diamonds and pearls were shining in it. He thought – what shall I do with it? As soon as the morning dawns, I will appear in the king’s court and I will tell him my past. The next day, the shepherd reached the court with his complaint and narrated the whole ordeal in front of the king. Hearing the story of that shepherd, the king asked to go there the next day, and went to sleep in his palace. In the night, the king had a vision of the old mother told by the shepherd in a dream and realized that this original power is mother Sharda.
In the dream, the mother ordered the Maharaja to install the idol there and said that the wishes of all the people would be fulfilled just by my darshan. As soon as the morning dawned, the king got all the work done as per the orders of his mother. Soon the glory of this place started spreading all around. Devotees started coming from far and wide to have darshan of the mother and their wish also started getting fulfilled. After this, the devotees of Mata got a huge temple of Mother Sharda built. Another legend is also prevalent in the context of this religious place. According to tradition, two brave brothers, Alha and Udal, who fought a war with Prithviraj Chauhan, were also devotees of Mother Sharda. These two were the first to discover this temple of Sharda Devi amidst the forests. After this, Alha had pleased the goddess by doing penance in this temple for twelve years. Mother who blessed him with immortality, it is said that both the brothers had offered their tongues with devotion to Mother Sharda, which was returned by Mother Sharda at that very moment. Alha used to call Mata as Sharda Mai and since then this temple became famous as Mata Sharda Mai. Even today it is believed that only Alha and Udal do the darshan of Mother Sharda. Behind the temple there is a pond under the mountains which is called Alha Talab.
Two kilometers further from the pond, there is an akhara, about which Alha and Udal used to fight wrestling here. At present, the entire work of the temple is going on on the responsibility of Maa Sharda Committee, the chairman of this committee is the Collector of Satna district. History and Events of Maihar’s Mata Sharda Devi Temple History of Maihar- If one goes to the history of the temple, then the ancient authenticity of the idol is confirmed by an ancient inscription below the enshrined idol of Maa Sharda. In the Chitrakoot mountain towards the west of Maihar city, the life-consecration of the stone idol of Shri Adi Sharda Devi and Shri Narasimha Bhagwan enshrined on her left, about 1994 years ago, Vikrami Samvat 559 Shak 424 Chaitra Krishna Paksha Chaturdashi, on Tuesday, A.D. It was commissioned by Shri Nupul Dev in the year 502 during the reign of Toor Man Hun. The practice of sacrificing animals in this temple was going on since ancient times.. Which was banned by Raja Brajnath Judev of Satna in 1922 AD. Betu Maharaj of Sharda Management Committee says, ‘In January 1997, a devotee of Allahabad offered sheep to the mother in the court of Sharda Maa. At that time Billa was only ten days old. He kept the wild animal with him from that day itself. Wherever he was, he would have reached his mother’s court at the time of aarti.
A devotee of village Majhiyar says that ‘Billa considers him his enemy, who comes to the temple with goat. If Billa sees someone coming towards the stairs with a goat, he does not allow him to go up. Maihar temple of Satna is the only temple of Mata Sharda in the whole country where along with mother on top of this mountain, Shri Kaal Bhairavi, Lord Hanuman ji, Goddess Kali, Durga, Shri Gauri Shankar, Shesh Nag, Phoolmati Mata, Brahma Dev and Jalapa Goddess is also worshipped.
