Idana Mata Temple, Udaipur

Famous Devi Temples in Rajasthan to Visit this Navratri

This Navratri, visit these nine famous Devi Temples in Rajasthan famous all over India. Each of the temples has its unique and magical story.

Festivals Places To Visit

Navratri is widely popular as the festival of worship. As per the beliefs, Maa Shakti or Durga is omnipotent and if worshipped with true devotion she becomes benevolent and showers prestige, power and wealth on all her true devotees. Famous for its forts and palaces, Rajasthan also entices pilgrims and devotees. Rajasthan boasts of many famous temples which date back to ancient times. This article tells you about the nine popular Devi temples of Rajasthan famous in India. Each of the temples has a different and enchanting tale. 

Idana Mata Temple, Udaipur

Idana Mata Temple nestles amidst the wide hills of Aravalli on the Kurabad-Bambora road, 60 km from Udaipur city. Famous as Idana Mataji Dham, it is one of the most prominent Shakti Peethas of Mewar. The goddess perches here under the banyan tree. As per the beliefs, devi takes a fire bath when feels pleased. Around two to three times a month, the temple catches fire which sometimes reaches a height of 20 feet. The fire burns down everything except the murti (idol) of Mother Goddess Shakti. Locals believe that the goddess takes bath in a fire. But till date, no one could find out the reason behind the fire in this temple. 

According to the beliefs, Devi fulfils the wishes of everyone who sees the fire bath. She cures many incurable diseases including paralysis when a devotee gets a chance to witness the fire bath. 

Legend associated: 

According to the beliefs, this Devi Temple in Rajasthan has a construction dating back to the Mahabharata period. Comprising many mysteries inside it, this temple sees a huge crowd of devotees during Navratri. Every year thousands of devotees visit here to catch sight of Idana Mata taking a fire bath. Devotees wait for hours for a glimpse of the fire bath. Years ago, Idana Mata was worshipped as the kuldevi by the local kings.

Karni Mata Temple, Bikaner

This Karni Mata Temple is located in Deshnoke, which is 30 kilometers from Bikaner. The Devi Temple in Rajasthan has marble construction and has silver and gold domes, mandap and panels above the deity. The entrance to the temple has beautiful and detailed carvings. Also famous as the Rat Temple worldwide, devotees here worship rats as holy. They also get a part of the same Prasad after offering it to the Goddess and then rats.

One of the most amazing features of this temple is the large number of rats that reside in the premises and surprisingly, they do not bite anyone even when the pilgrims are barefoot. Also, even after having so many rats, no disease has spread here till date and no devotee has got sick by consuming the leftover prasad of rats.

According to the belief, you are lucky if you see a white rat, which is a rare sight, it is a sign you will face better times in future. 

Legends associated:

The custom of worshipping rats in the Karni Mata Temple has its origins in the local folklore according to which the Goddess had gone on a long penance to bring back one of her followers from the clutches of Lord Yama, the God of Death. The Lord informed that the person had already taken birth as a rat. He then blessed Karni Mata with a boon that all her followers would be born as rats after their deaths till they are reincarnated as humans in their own clans.

Tripura Sundari Temple, Banswara

Tripura Sundari Temple is located at a distance of 20 km from Banswara in Rajasthan. This temple is also famous as Mata Turita temple. Situated atop a small hillock, the temple has a typical Bengali-hut style sanctum with a conical dome. Inside the sanctum, there is a beautiful shrine of a goddess with black stone carving. The shrine has an idol riding a tiger and is five feet high with 8 hands and more importantly, each hand carries a different symbol. As per the beliefs, this holy place is one of the Shakti Peeths of Hindus who worship Goddess Shakti or Goddess Parvati. The idol of goddess Bhagwati Tripura Sundari has divine powers and is considered to be miraculous. 

In the holy the devi is the Sri Yantra containing Siddhi, which provides all-around perfection. It has miniatures of the Navadurga carvings on either side. She is called Tripura Sundari having three forms of kumarika in the morning, Sundari i.e. adolescent in midday and adult in the evening. Many politicians from Narendra Modi to Vasundhara Raje also come to visit Tripura Sundari Temple.

Legend associated: 

There is a quarry close to the temple, where once was an iron mine. According to legend, one day Tripura Sundari arrived as a beggar at the entrance to the mine, but the people of the Panchala caste paid no attention to it. The goddess, in anger, destroyed the mine, causing many people to die. To please the goddess, the Panchalas constructed her temple and a pond near it.

Shakambhari Mata Temple, Sambhar

Maa Shakambari Temple, nestles in the town of Sambhar, about 100 km from Jaipur and is about 2500 years old. Shakambhari Mata is the Kuldevi of the Chauhan dynasty, but people of many other religions and societies also worship the goddess. It is said that Shakambhari is considered an incarnation of Durga. Shakambhari Maa has three Shaktipeeths across the country. As per the beliefs, the oldest of these Shaktipeeth lies here. 

Legend associated:

According to the legends described in the mythological texts of Maa Shakambari, at a time when the earth did not receive rain continuously for a hundred years, all the creatures started dying of hunger due to lack of food and water. At that time the sages together worshipped Goddess Bhagwati. Pleased with the worship, Durga Ji incarnated in a form of Adi Shakti and looked at the earth and her divine vision produced herbs on the barren earth and it rained. 

Shakambhari got its name after this penance. After the penance, the barren earth was blessed with herbs named Shak. By eating these herbs, everyone quenched their hunger. This is the reason that the mother’s name was Shakambhari. But along with prosperity, quarrels began here regarding this natural wealth. When the problem took a serious form, Shakambhari Mata got angry and converted the precious wealth and the priceless treasure into salt. This is how Sambhar Lake also popular as salt lake came into existence.

Tanot Mata Temple, Jaisalmer

Settled in the small village of Tanot in Jaisalmer, Tanot Mata temple has a strong connection with legends, miracles, and religion. This temple has the utmost faith and devotion of local people. The temple is located on the India-Pakistan border, about 130 km from Jaisalmer. This is one of the wondrous Devi Temples in Rajasthan was has construction of about 1200 years ago. This temple has its own identity in the world due to the Pakistani bomb not detonating here. One can still find hundreds of diffuse bombs in the Tanot Mata temple.

Legends associated:

Every soldier of the country is well aware of the grace and miracle of Tanot Mata. Maa’s grace has been on the devotees for centuries, but in the 1965 war between India and Pakistan, the mata showed her miracles. This one of the miraculous Devi Temples in Rajasthan that nestles at the battle site of the intense Indo-Pak War of 1965. Pakistan dropped more than 3000 bombs on Mata’s temple but these bombs did not explode. These bombs are still has a place in a museum built in the temple premises for the devotees to visit. After the 1965 war, the temple’s responsibility was handed to the Border Security Force(BSF). Since then, every day only the soldiers of the Indian Army offered prayers in the temple.

Jeen Mata Temple, Sikar

The temple nestles at the convergence of three small mountains of the Goria village of Sikar district. The temple of Jeen Mata also surrounds by dense forest. Jeen Mata’s real name is Jayanti Mata. As the temple of Devi is centuries old, the construction is relatively new as the temple has undergone reconstruction by Pandavas during their exile from Hastinapur. Since the past when the temple of Jeen mata was a place of pilgrimage, the repairing and rebuilding has taken place several times from the p temple of Jeen mata was a place of pilgrimage from early times. The architecture of the temple is very attractive. In the sanctum, there are many pillars all engraved with flora and fauna, dancers and deities from top to bottom. The huge marble Shivling and Nandi statue are the main attractions in this temple.

Legend associated:

According to folk belief, once the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb sent his soldiers to break the temple of Jeen Mata and Bhairon dev. Jeen Mata displayed her miracle. A bunch of bees attacked the Mughal army and the entire army escaped the field even leaving their horses in the field. Legends says that due to this bee attack the emperor became very serious. Then the emperor accepted his mistake and promised to burn the eternal flame to the Maa.

Also read: Khatu Shyam ji Mandir Rajasthan: Unveil the story of the god of defeated

Shila Mata Mandir, Jaipur

Dedicated to the Hindu goddess Kali, this Shila Devi temple is located within the premises of the Amer Fort. Raja Man Singh was a great believer of Kali Mata. He got this temple constructed after he brought this idol from Bangladesh. The story behind the name Shila Mata goes like that Raja Man Singh found the idol from the water in the form of a Shila (Slab), and when it was cleared and wiped, the current idol appeared, hence the name Shila Mata. The legend behind the discovery of the idol is that the Goddess happened to appear in the Maharaja’s dream and instructed him to procure her statue, which was floating in the sea near Jessore (now in Bangladesh), and place it in a temple.

The goddess Shila Mata, considered to be the patroness of Amer, is famous throughout the country. Devotees from far and wide come to visit this temple. The interior of this Devi Temples in Rajasthan is extraordinary. It has a beautiful construction using white marble on the entire temple. This temple’s main gate has silver covering having all of the numerous characters of “Maa Durga”. There is an idol of the crooked neck of the idol of Shila Devi installed in this temple. 

Legend associated:

There is also a legend about the crooked neck idol of Shila Devi installed in the temple. According to the beliefs, devi used to have conversations with Raja Mansingh. The king used to offer Male sacrifice to the goddess, but once, during a conversation, King Mansingh talked about animal sacrifice instead of male sacrifice. This angered the goddess and in anger, she turned her neck from Mansingh’s side to the other side. Heretofore, the neck of this statue has crooked. 

Also read: Top 10 Heritage temples in Jaipur worth visiting

Chamunda Mata Temple, Jodhpur

Located at the southern end of Mehrangarh Fort, Chamunda Mata Temple is one of the oldest and most esteemed Devi Temples in Rajasthan located in Jodhpur. The inhabitants of Jodhpur consider goddess as the main deity of the inhabitants of Jodhpur. Devi Chamunda Mataji is considered the ‘Ishta Devi’ of the royal family. Chamunda Mata is believed to be the favourite goddess of Rao Jodha, so he installed her idol in the Mehrangarh Fort in 1460. Rao Jodha was the ruler of Mandore and he brought the idol from Mandore itself.

Legend associated:

Rao Jodha built the temple at the time when he was building the Mehrangarh fort. The hill was earlier in occupancy of hermits before the construction of the temple began. As a result, he cursed the king that his fort will always have a shortage of water. To balance this curse, Rao Jodha built this temple and installed the idol by following the complete religious process with the help of a saint. He constructed the Chamunda Mata Temple inside the fort to safeguard the fort and its people. Since then, Devi Chamunda became the main deity of the Rajputs who lived here.

There is also a legend that says, Chamunda Maa saved the lives of the inhabitants of Jodhpur by transforming into an eagle during the 1965 war.

Kaila Devi Temple, Karauli

Kaila Devi Temple is located at the bank of Kalisi River, about 23 km away from Karauli district, Rajasthan. This temple dedicates to Goddess ‘Kaila’, the saviour of mankind. The temple has construction of expensive marble and has a large courtyard with checkered flooring. In the temple, one can see many red flags which devotees here. Every year, the devotees plant red flags here as an offering to the goddess along with bhog.

According to the beliefs, Kaila Devi is Yaduvanshi and people here consider her to be the sister of Lord Shri Krishna. One thing very special about the Kaila Devi temple is that whoever comes here never returns empty-handed. Kaila Devi fulfils every wish of her devotees. This one of the famous Devi Temples in Rajasthan is also very famous all over the world and a huge crowd of devotees visit this temple throughout the year.

These sacred Devi Temples in Rajasthan are miraculous and a must-visit. This Navratri, visit one of these temples and seek the blessings of Maa. 

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