Khatoo or Khatu is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

of religious importance near

Reengus Reengus is a town in Shrimadhopur tehsil of Sikar district. Demographics India census, Reengus had a population of 26,139. Males constitute 54% of the population and females 46%. Reengus has an average literacy rate of 72%, higher than the n ...

town in Sikar District of

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Sikar district falls under the Dhundhar region of Rajasthan. Khatoo village is home to a famous

Khatu Shyam Temple The Khatu Shyam Temple (Hindi: खाटू श्याम मंदिर) is a Hindu temple in Khatoo village of Sikar district in Rajasthan, India. It is a pilgrimage site for worshipping the deity Krishna and Barbarika who is often ven ...

, one of the most sacred temples in

. In Rajasthan, Hindu deity

Barbarika Barbarika (''Barbarīka)'' or Khatu Shyam, is a Hindu deity, particularly worshipped in western India. According to the ''Skanda Purana'', Barbarika was the son of Ghatotkacha (Son of Bhima) and Princess Maurvi, daughter of Daitya Moora, thou ...

is worshipped as Khatu Shyam.

Distances

Sikar Sikar is a city and municipal council in the Sikar district of the state of Rajasthan in India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Sikar district. It is part of the Shekhawati region, which consists of Sikar, Churu and Jhunjhunu.Si ...

: 55 km * Shrimadhopur: 33 km *

Jaipur Jaipur (; Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had a population of 3.1 million, making it the tenth most populous city in the country. Jaipur is also known ...

: 80 km *

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

: 266 km ; *

Indore Indore () is the largest and most populous city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of both Indore District and Indore Division. It is also considered as an education hub of the state and is the only city to ...

: 680 km *

Jabalpur Jabalpur is a city situated on the banks of Narmada River in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. According to the 2011 census, it is the third-largest urban agglomeration in Madhya Pradesh and the country's 38th-largest urban agglomeration. J ...

: 1000 km * Jeenmata: 26 km * Salasar Balaji:105 *

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

: 1250 km *

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

: 1592 km *

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

: 1775 km *

Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nagpur is projected to ...

: 1200 km *

Guwahati Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest city of the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the ...

:2300 km *

Varanasi Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world. * * * * The city has a syncretic t ...

: 940 km * Ahmedabad : 720 km The nearest airport is

Features

Khatushyamji Temple

Khatushyamji's temple, constructed of the famous

Makrana Makrana is an urban city located at the centre of Rajasthan in Nagaur district. It also served as a tehsil headquarters, with 136 villages under its jurisdiction thus making it the largest tehsil in the district. The biggest village of Makr ...

marble, is in the heart of the town. The temple of Baba Shyam is built in the middle of the town. The mere sight of the temple gives great peace to the mind. There is a big hall for worship in the temple, which is known as Jagmohan. There are mythological paintings on its four walls. The door of the sanctum sanctorum and its surroundings are decorated with silver lining. Baba's head is situated inside the sanctum sanctorum. Sheesh is decorated with beautiful flowers from all sides. There is a big ground outside the temple for the devotees. There is a fair ground on the right side of the temple. On this side the office of Shyam Mandir Committee, which handles the administration of the temple, is also located. Veer Barbarik(Shyam Baba) is the son of '' Dvapara Yuga'' Bhimsen and Naag Kanya Ahilawati(daughter of Basak/Basuki Naag). Khatushyamji is considered to be the God of the '' Kali Yuga'' who shall perform incarnation (10th incarnation of Lord Vishnu) or an avatar, once the ''Kali Yuga'' is at its final stage, until then he was worshipped as KhatuShyamji. Shyamji is synonymous with Krishna and thus, he is worshipped in the same form. He is also known as khatu naresh(ruler of Khatu), sheesh ro dani (head donator), lakhdatar (one who gives after proper judgement), teen baan dhari(holder of three arrows), haarya ro sahhaaro (supporter of defeated), Ahilawati ro laal (son of Ahilawati), Pandav kul Avtar (Son of Pandav kul), Bhimsen ra Kanwar (grand son of Raja

Bhim BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) is an Indian mobile payment mobile app, app developed by the National Payments Corporation of India, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), based on the Unified Payments Interface, Unified Payments Int ...

), leele ra aswar (rider of horse named Leela), baba shyam, etc. Shyam Baba is the community god of the Marwaris from the Dhundhar,

Shekhawati Shekhawati is a semi-arid historical region located in the northeast part of Rajasthan, India. The region was ruled by Shekhawat Rajputs. Shekhawati is located in North Rajasthan, comprising the districts of Jhunjhunu, parts of Sikar that lie ...

Bagad A bagad (, ) is a Breton band, composed of bagpipes ( br, binioù, french: cornemuse), bombards and drums (including snare, tenor and bass drums). The pipe band tradition in Brittany was inspired by the Scottish example and has developed si ...

Ahirwati Ahirwati (''Ahīrvāṭī'', sometimes also known as Hīrwāṭī) is an Indo-Aryan dialect of India. It is spoken within the Ahirwal region located to the south-west of the capital Delhi. It belongs to the Rajasthani language group and is com ...

and

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land a ...

area and is widely revered by many other communities also. People from all over India come to seek his blessings every year, with a large following from Kolkata, West Bengal, Haryana and Punjab During the Mahabharat war between Pandavas and Kaurvas, baba Shyam (Veer Barbrik) came to the war field with 3 baan (arrows) and Shree Krishna, even knowing his potential asked him reason for his arrival at war field with only 3 arrows and asked to prove his capabilities by targeting all leaves of a Pipal tree(having uncountable leaves) with just one arrow and placed one leaf under his own feet. Baba took the bow and an arrow and made a hole in all leaves with one arrow and also hit the leaf under the foot of Lord Krishna. On asking to whom he will support in the

Mahabharat The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the '' Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuru ...

, veer Barbrik told that he will support the one being defeated. Then considering his such act to be against the Pandavas scope to win, Lord Krishna asked him that the war needs one stringent fighters sacrifice (only 3 such fighters being available – Krishan himself, Arjun and Barbrik), Baba offered himself for ultimate sacrifice and donated his head that's why reminded and worshipped in ''Kali Yuga'' as "sheesh ke daani & haare ka sahara", as announced by Lord Krishna and also the name Shyam was given by Lord Krishna.

Shyam Kund

It is the holy pond near the temple from which the Sheesh (Head) was retrieved. It is believed that a dip in this pond cures a person from ailments and brings good health. People come at Falgun Mela from various places here and assume sacred after taking bath. People take water from here which they use to remove several diseases.

Shyam Bagicha

A blessed garden near the temple from where the flowers are picked to be offered to the deity. The great devotee Lt. Alu Singhji's

Samadhi ''Samadhi'' (Pali and sa, समाधि), in Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and yogic schools, is a state of meditative consciousness. In Buddhism, it is the last of the eight elements of the Noble Eightfold Path. In the Ashtanga Yoga ...

is also in the

premises Premises are land and buildings together considered as a property. This usage arose from property owners finding the word in their title deeds, where it originally correctly meant "the aforementioned; what this document is about", from Latin ''pr ...

Gourishankar Temple

This is a

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

which is near Khatushyamji's temple. There is a legend that the Mughal

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

Aurangzeb's soldiers wanted to destroy this temple, and attacked the Shiva Linga with a

spear A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fasten ...

. Fountains of blood appeared from the Shiva Linga, and the soldiers ran away, terrified. One can still see the mark of the spear on the Linga.

References

2
[Khatu shyam ji] website
{{Sikar district Hindu holy cities Locations in Hindu mythology Villages in Sikar district