Jageshwari Temple, Chanderi – Legends

Jageshwari Temple, Chanderi – Legends

Shishupala, King of Chedi, worshipped Goddess here:

As per legend, Shishupala, King of Chedi country during Mahabharata period, lost in the forest here during his hunting expedition. He felt thirsty, but he was not able to find any water source to quench his thirst. He spotted a woman and asked her water. The woman was actually a goddess and she excavated the water tank for the king to quench his thirst.

The grateful king asked her wish. She requested him to build a temple with a screen around the sanctum. She insisted him not to remove the screen for nine days. As requested, the king built the temple but was not able to control his curiosity. He set the screen aside in few days only to see that a head had formed in the sanctum, but there was no body of the idol. This idol is now housed at the Jageshwari Temple.

Raja Kirti Pal:

As per local folklore, the Pratihara king, Raja Kirti Pal was afflicted with leprosy. He was not cured till his old age. Once, he went for a hunting expedition here and lost his way. He strayed into a deep forest wandering directionless and found a pond. He dipped his hands to drink water and miraculously found his leprosy cured. He found a girl child watching.

The king was surprised to see a child in deep forest. As the king approached the child, she started to run. The king chased her for a while, the child stopped and talked to the king. The child revealed herself to the king that she was the goddess Jageshwari and the king was cured because of her blessings only. The goddess ordered the king to build a temple for her atop a hill nearby.

The goddess further instructed the king not to place any idol in the sanctum and keep the doors locked for nine days. She will emerge as an idol inside the sanctum. As instructed, the king built the temple but was not able to control his curiosity. The king opened the door of the temple before nine days. The king was again inflicted by leprosy as the curse.

As he opened the door of the temple before the time specified, only the head of the goddess had been formed by that time. Thus, the sanctum enshrines an idol of head of the goddess. Budhi Chanderi, the erstwhile capital of the king was destroyed by an earthquake soon after this incident. This made the king to move his capital to the present town.

Sakthi Peethas:

It is believed that the head of Goddess Sati fell at Chanderi. Hence, this temple is considered as one of the 51 Sakthi Peethas.