Have you ever enjoyed the beauty of any stony landscape ? No am not talking about Stonehenge or about any cave ,It is the beautiful stony landscape of Mama Bhagne Pahar area . Pahar means hill but it is not actually hilly in nature .It is rather the extention of Chotonagpur Platue .Very big sized rocks balance on each other and form a unique land form here .Thus creates a natural stony beauty of the landscape .The gigantic rocks cust a spell and allure to take a walk amidst the hills and ultimately climb them .
Just look how these almost spherical natural boulders of granite rocks balancing on each other create a stony beauty .This landmark is the special feature of the area named MAMA BHAGNE (maternal uncle and the nephew) at Dubrajpur in the district of Birbhum,West Bengal.These granite hills are made of glassy quartz , pink and gray feldspar and black mica . At the foothill of these hills is the temple of PAHARESWAR ,Lord Shiva .
The temple is very tall . The intricate outside design is just stunning .On both sides of the gate there are two bell like designs bordering with small lamp designs and highlighting the third eye of Lord Shiva .Just above the beautiful design of the temple gate Lord Ganesh is placed .In Hindu mythology Lord Ganesh is considered as the siddhidata (one who enables us to achieve our goal ) .As the face of Lord Ganesh is that of an elephant so the wall of the temple is designed with many elephant faces in between the hanging bells .Above the bar there is a lotus with two trishuls on both sides .The design of the dome of the temple is even more interesting .The dome starts with the petals of a big lotus encircling the temple .In between the petals of lotus small Shiva lingas are placed .Above that the image of Lord Shiva is engraved with the letter OM above his head .Even above that one can watch the trishul and the snake .On the top of the snake there is a lotus bud on top of which five golden kalasas are placed .On the top of that dombaru ,trishul and a flag is placed .The dombaru and trishul are symbolic of Lord Shiva .Inside of the dome looks very beautiful .
The inside of the temple is quite big ,One can worship Lord Pahareswar there .
But what caught my eyes was the fact that there are two stones worshiped as god .it might even be symbolic of Mama and Bhagne .
Just after the visit of this temple take a walk through the stone and boulders and start walking till you reach the big rock where the Bhawani Temple is situated .
Just think of the devotion of the local people who has build this very small temple even at this top of the hill of Mama Bhagne .I salute them from my heart . I simply love their purity of heart and the simplicity of their intention . They simply understood that people will climb this top if Goddess Bhawani is worshiped there .Trust me it feels like HEAVEN when you look at the area from the top of the hill where this small Bhawani temple is situated .
The feature of the landscape is so striking that one would love to listen to the mythology related to this place . According to Wikipedia ;
When Rama decided to attack Ravana, he found it necessary to throw a bridge across the straits for the conveyance of his troops, he drove in his aerial chariot to the Himalayas, picked up what stones he needed and drove back. As he was passing Dubrajpur his horses took fright and tilted up the chariot and so some stones fell out. These are the stones at Mama Bhagne.
There is another legend to the effect that they were collected by Viswakarma, at the command of Shiva, to erect in one night a second Kasi. When he collected the rocks and was about to commence work day dawned and so he left.
According to yet another view of Mr. Mridul Ghosh :
The most acceptable one is that these rocks are very extended parts of the Chotonagpur Plateau. The nearby soils get lower by means of erosion due to natural phenomena like water, air etc. But the hard rocks remained less affected and thus remained erected.
Some people are of the view that these rocks were formatted due to a very small volcanic eruption. The lava so erupted got cooled in due time and formed those rocks. A ‘Hot-Spring’ near this place may support this view
Whatever may be the cause behind naming this place as MAMA BHAGNE , the place is unique for its quite surrounding.The Pahareswar Temple, in the midst of boulder like stony hills standing straight with all its might , is really worth visiting . Cherish to visit this place again to be in the lap of Mother nature .
TRAVEL AND EXPLORE 