Kalicharan Sahu, Ranchi: The history of Bhavani-Shankar temple of Thakurgaon is 300 years old. It is prohibited for the devotees to see the couplet statues of ‘Bhavani-Shankar’ made of Ashtadhatu installed in this temple. On special occasions like Navratri, only the temple priest and members of the Shahdev royal family can enter the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, while other devotees hand over chunri, flowers, prasad to the priest and sit in the courtyard of the temple and praise the Mother Goddess there. .
According to Jaikumar Nath Shahdev, a resident of Thakurgaon, a descendant of the Shahdev royal family, Mother Bhavani is actually present in this temple. No separate idol of Mother Goddess is installed in the temple during Navratri. At the same time, the worship of Mother Goddess is also done in a confidential manner. During this, the priest blindfolds the idol of Bhavani-Shankar and bathes it and changes his clothes. Sandhi sacrifice is performed on Ashtami. On the day of Navami, there is a tradition of sacrificing a Kara (buffalo) along with goats. A fair is held on Navami and Vijayadashami.
Chetnath Baba gave the statue to the royal family
The story of construction of this temple is interesting. In the year 1543, the wedding procession of Yadunath Shahdev, son of Maharaj Raghunath Shahdev of Navratna Garh, was going to Buxar. Meanwhile, on the river bank where the procession halted, the Prince’s health deteriorated. The surrounding villagers advised Maharaj to go to Chetanath Baba. Chetanath Baba cured the prince with his mantra.
After this he was given precious Chintamani and statues of Bhavani-Shankar. Later, Kunwar Gokul Nath Shahdev, son of Prince Yadunath Shahdev, started worshiping the idols of Bhavani-Shankar and Chintamani. Later, Gokul Nath Shahdev’s son Kamalnath Shahdev came to Ginjo Lot with the statues of Bhavani-Shankar. For this reason this place was named Ginjo Thakurgaon. Ratu Maharaj got the statue of Chintamani during the partition.
The idol was stolen, the matter went to Patna High Court.
It is said that on the night of 19 October 1965, the precious idols of Bhavani-Shankar were stolen from the temple. These statues were found near Etwar Bazartand in Ratu in the year 1991 during road construction. The villagers installed the idol in the Shiva temple located at Amtand. On getting information about this, the people of Thakurgaon laid claim on the idol, but the people of Ratu refused to give it.
The matter reached the court, in which the decision was in favor of the Thakur villagers. A case was registered against this in Patna High Court. On February 13, 1992, the Ranchi bench of the Patna High Court, while hearing the case, gave its verdict in favor of Thakurgaon. After this, thousands of villagers reached Ratu on foot with musical instruments and took the idols of Bhavani-Shankar to the temple and reinstalled them there. At present the Shahdev family is taking care of these couple statues.