Bilaspur: The work on plating the 'Shikhar' (pinnacle) of the the revered Shaktipeeth Naina Devi temple in Bilaspur Himachal Pradesh was completed on Monday with gold and copper worth Rs 16 crore used for the facelifting, the temple management said. The renovated temple was thrown open for devotees with with complete rituals and yagya, Additional Temple Officer Vikas Verma informed.
Verma said that gold plating weighing 5.50 kg gold was adorned on the temple shikhar on a 596 kg copper base. The shikhar was renovated by a social service organization based in Delhi. It took the workers nearly three months for the work started on Jan' 16. According to the priest of the temple, Rakesh Gautam, the work of gold plating on the shikhar of the temple was completed by about 50 artisans from Gujarat and Rajasthan, who worked day and night to complete the task.
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Pertinently, the sanctum sanctorum of the Naina Devi temple in Bilaspur is also made of gold. A few years ago, a social worker organization from Punjab had plated 3 kg gold on a copper base inside the sanctum sanctorum. Maa Naina Devi Temple located in Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh is one of the 51 Shaktipeeths and is considered to be a highly revered temple.
It is said that King Daksha, the father of Lord Shiva's wife Sati, had organized a yagya in which all the gods were invited but Lord Shiva was not called. According to Hindu mythology, Mata Sati sacrificed her life by jumping into the same Yagya Kund after which Lord Shiva kept roaming across the world with the dead body of Mata Sati.
It is said that in order to save the universe from the anger of Shiva, Lord Vishnu cut Sati's body into many pieces with the Sudarshan Chakra. It is believed that wherever the parts of Sati fell, they came to be called Shaktipeeths. It is believed that the eye of Mother Sati had fallen in Bilaspur, Himachal, where the Naina Devi temple stands today.
Vikas Verma, the temple officer said that the face-lift of the temple will boost religious tourism in the state.
