Deo Surya Mandir

Deo Surya Mandir is a Hindu temple in Bihar, India. The temple is a Sun shrine, dedicated to Lord Sun for Chhath Puja. The temple is located in Deo Town, Aurangabad in the Indian State of Bihar. The Temple is unique as it faces west, the setting sun, not the usual rising sun.[2] Considered to be one of The most sacred place for sun worshiping and Chhath puja.

Deo Surya Mandir
Devark, Dewark
Deo Sun Temple
Religion
AffiliationHinduism
FestivalsChhath
Location
LocationDeo, Bihar, India
Geographic coordinates24.658791°N 84.437026°E / 24.658791; 84.437026
Architecture
Architect(s)According to ASI. built in 8th century[1]
TypeMix of Nagri Architecture, Dravidian architecture & Vesara architecture
CompletedAccording to ASI. built temple in fifth to sixth century
Website
Official Website

History

the origin and history is mostly based upon mythological and legendry accounts which exists in oral tradition such as it is said that once Lord Vishwakarma was asked to build a temple in one night by lord sun, and lord Vishwakarma built the Deo Sun Temple in one night. The authentic history of the temple and area begins during pala and senua period, the inscription outside the temple dated 1437 record the dedication of temple by king Bhairavendra to Jagannath,his brother Balbhadra and his sister Subhadra beside describing the area and recording list of 12 ancestors of the king Bhairavendra, suggestion that the temple present state due to these local Hindu chieftains who recovered the temple after Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji invasion of bengal.According to some scholar on basis of temple facing west instead of east as sun temples tend to do, the deo sun temple could have been originally a buddhist temple destroyed by Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji and later converted to sun temple by Bhairavendra[3][4]

Attempt to date

According to some Sanskrit scholar of kashi who tried to date it on basis of Sanskrit ashioka engraved on slabs outside temple, according to them the temple is 9,49,093 years old however this date is not accepted by prehistorians and archeologist. some gupta era inscription dated 642 AD talks about sun worshiping though not directly referring to deo sun temple however such inscription and local oral tradition do hint at presence of temple in about 7th or 8th AD. ASI too dates back temple to about 8th century AD[5][6]

Architecture and design

The temple is a mixture of Nagri Architecture, Dravidian architecture & Vesara architecture. Dome shape is carved above the Dev Sun Temple which is very beautiful. Above the dome is a gold urn which can be seen shining from far away, which makes the temple very beautiful and grand.[7][8]

Cultural Significance

The temple is famous for its annual chhat festival celebration, lakhs of devotees from all over Bihar and other region visit temple to worship, attend chhath mela, bathe in the holy 'Surya Kund' and offer 'arghya'.[9]

See also

References
  1. "Deo Sun Temple".
  2. "Deo Sun Temple".
  3. Anirudha Behari Saran; Gaya Pandey (1992). Sun Worship in India: A Study of Deo Sun-Shrine. Northern Book Centre. pp. 36–37. ISBN 978-81-7211-030-7.
  4. Salila Kulshreshtha (2017). From Temple to Museum Colonial Collections and Umā Maheśvara Icons in the Middle Ganga Valley. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781351356091.
  5. Anirudha Behari Saran; Gaya Pandey (1992). Sun Worship in India: A Study of Deo Sun-Shrine. Northern Book Centre. pp. 46–48. ISBN 978-81-7211-030-7.
  6. "Deo Sun Temple".
  7. "Deo Temple | Welcome to Aurangabad Bihar | India".
  8. Google Books
  9. "Bihar: No Chaiti Chhath celebrations at Deo temple in Aurangabad | Patna News - Times of India".
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.