Himachal Pradesh, Mar 15, 2017: In a culturally diverse country like India, many different ethnic communities co-exist and follow their distinct religious and social belief. Visiting temples in as integral part of practising one's beliefs in India, more so in the Hindu community where more than 330 deities are worshipped. The third largest and oldest religion of the world, Hinduism lays emphasis on idol worship. With more than a billion followers, there are innumerable Hindu temples in India.
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Going to temples to pray and seek blessings or on festive occasions for rejoicing etc. has become synonymous with the Indian way of life. To put it simply, people cutting across religions in our country love visiting temples and places of worship.
However, as pointed out by an article in Merinews, there is one Hindu temple located in India people are scared to visit. This is the only temple on the planet dedicated to Yamaraja: the Indian God of Death. Located at Bharmour, in the Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh.
A temple with no devotees (representative); Source: Pixabay
This temple resembles a home rather than a religious place of worship. Most people are afraid to enter this house of the Death Lord and prefer to leave from the threshold itself, offering prayers from the outside. The reason for this is that it is believed that Yamaraja resides in this abode, being the only temple in the whole world dedicated to him.
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Chitragupta, Yamraj's secretary cum accountant, who keeps a record of all good deeds and sins of all the mortal beings, has been dedicated a room in this temple. It is said that after death, each soul is first brought to this place before continuing on its journey further.
As per common belief, the temple has four invisible doors made out of gold, silver, bronze and iron. It is Yamraj who decides which soul should pass through which door. The same mythological reference can also be found in the religious text Garud Puran.
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The legend goes that the soul is first produced before Chitragupta, who reads out the accounts of the person's good and bad deeds and karma. Based on this, it is decided which gate the soul should pass through. Lord Brahma's son, Lord Shravan assists Chitragupta in this task. It is believed that Shravan knows everything about Earth, heaven and hell and also has the power to clearly see and hear the people living on the planet.
-Prepared by Nikita Saraf, Twitter: @niki_saraf