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Shri Sheetala Mata Mandir |
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 The Famous Temple in
Gurgaon One of the
major Hindu pilgrimage is the Shri Sheetla Devi Temple located near a pond at
Gurgaon village, a suburb of Guru Dronacharya's birth place, in the state of
Haryana. The temple is thronged by devotees in large numbers throughout the
year. Also referred to as a 'Shakti Peeth', the presiding deity of this temple
is Shri Mata Sheetla Devi.
The Legends
There are many legends, which are connected with the building of the present
temple of Shri Mata Sheetla Devi. According to one legend, a poor carpenter living
in Farukh Nagar had a beautiful daughter of marriageable age. On hearing about her
beauty, the Mughal ruler expressed his desire to get married to the girl. The carpenter
resented giving away her daughter to a person from a different religion and so appealed
to King Surajmal of Bharatpur. The matter being outside his jurisdiction, the king
refused to interfere. The disappointed carpenter met Prince of Bharatpur, son of
King Surajmal. The Prince tried to talk it out with his father but to no avail.
Consequently, the prince revolted against his father. On his way to attack Delhi,
he passed through
Gurgaon and he pledged to the Shri Mata Sheetla Devi that if he
returned victorious, he would build a proper temple. The prince won and upon his
return, built the temple. There is another version of the same temple. It is said
that when prince of Bharatpur was proceeding towards Delhi, he and his army stopped
at Ballabhgarh for rest. When they wanted to resume their journey, horses refused
to move further from there. The court astrologer was summoned to explain the strange
behaviour of horses, whereupon it was found that since obeisance was not paid to
the goddess after entering Gurgaon on their way, this had angered her. Thus an elaborate
worship of the goddess was arranged and the horses started moving. The prince pledged
that he would build a temple on his victorious return.
The Queens At War
The third legend also includes king. On a pilgrimage to Pushkar, a verbal
fight ensued between the queen and the king of Bharatpur, Kishori on who would first
jump into the waters. The men finally took over and it resulted in King of Bharatpur
attacking the king of
Ajmer, defeating the latter in the process. Queen Kishori
was jubiliant and urged the king to build the Shri Mata Sheetla Devi temple and
King Bharatpur and Chaudhary Jawahar Singh consecrated the idol made of eight metals
in this temple. |
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