Bhalei Mata Temple, Bhalai – Legends

Bhalei Mata Temple, Bhalai – Legends

As per legend, Goddess Bhadra Kali appeared in the dreams of a king named Raja Pratap Singh and informed him about her presence in a place called Bhran about 3 Kms from the current temple. She ordered the king to bring her from Bhran and build a temple for her. The king decided to build a temple for her in Chamba Town. The king accompanied with his officials went to Bhran and discovered the idol. They started their journey back to Chamba. They decided to take rest at Bhalei.

When they resumed their journey, they could not able to lift the palanquin in which the deity is housed. A Brahmin priest from the nearby Kilod village was invited to interpret the omen. He informed the king that the deity did not want to go to Chamba and desired her temple to be built in Bhalei itself. Even, the locals were not happy over the idea of the deity being taken to Chamba, so they requested the king to construct the temple at Bhalei.

The king decided to respect the wishes of the deity as well as locals and built this temple. The idol of Bhadrakali was robbed by some miscreants in 1973. It is believed that after reaching a certain distance, they were not able to see anything. when they drop the idol, they were able to see things. They were terrified, left the idol and ran away from the temple. The idol was recovered at Chohra near the dam.