Gola Gokarnath, Amrit Vichar. The religious and historical importance of Mahadev Temple located in Chhoti Kashi is deeply established in Indian culture. A detailed description of this temple and the traditions surrounding it is found in the Gazetteer (Volume 2) of 1877. In which the features of Mahadev temple and the traditions associated with it are mentioned.
Mahadev Temple is considered as the main center of a huge sacred area. There were four major gates located on the perimeter of this area. Gajmojannath situated on the banks of river Gomti near Mohammadi in the west, Shahpur in the north, Gadainath in Pargana Bhud, Devkalinath near Lakhimpur in the east and Badkhar in Pargana Mohammadi in the south-west. There was a tradition of devotees passing through these four gates to reach the temple.
Lakhs of devotees used to enter through these gates and reach Gola. In the month of Phalgun and Sawan, Shiva used to circumambulate 12 Kosi of the area and worship in the temple. There were four small temples on the four sides of the temple i.e. Theru situated at Sub Teerth, Bhadra Kund in the east, Panaha (a small temple situated in the Sal forest) in the north, Kirnagar (a temple situated in the forest) in the south and Main Kund in Ahmednagar in the west. .
These smaller temples served as satellites of the main temple and added to the religious significance of the entire pilgrimage. There was a tradition of circumambulating twelve kos around the Mahadev temple at a distance of about two kos (three miles). This circumambulation has been called Sacra Viya and was done by devotees to atone for their sins. For minor sins the parikrama was performed on foot, while for major sins the parikrama was completed by measuring the body on the ground. The belief associated with this practice is that by doing Parikrama one attains purity and spiritual purification. Sadhus and monks from all over the country used to come here to circumambulate.
Parikrama stopped before 1905
Ravisut Shukla, chairman of the Human Research and Development Committee, which is writing the history of Kheri district, said that the British did not mention this circumambulation route in the gazetteer of 1905. This shows that with the end of the rule of the princely states, this ancient tradition also gradually ended. Even after independence, no special attention was paid to the Shiv temple area of Gola Gokarnath and in Gola, in 1905, more than six lakh devotees used to come in a month to visit the historic Chaiti Mela and do shopping. Chaiti Mela was also of religious importance, the main point of which included circumambulation of the Shiva temple, which gradually became entertainment centric.
Demand for opening of closed circumambulation route
Many big villages of the present time, Ahmednagar, Chhitauniya, Dhiravan, Gharthania, Kotwara, Bhudwara etc. were situated on the Parikrama route. The historical importance of these ancient villages seems to have been established only because of this circumambulation route. Committee Chairman Ravisut Shukla, General Secretary Yatish Shukla, Vice President Shrikant Tiwari, Treasurer Shipra Khare have demanded from the government administration to restart the parikrama route of this historical religious importance.
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