Jalpesh Temple () is an important

Hindu temple A Hindu temple, also known as Mandir, Devasthanam, Pura, or Kovil, is a sacred place where Hindus worship and show their devotion to Hindu deities, deities through worship, sacrifice, and prayers. It is considered the house of the god to who ...

dedicated to the Bhramari Saktipitha's Bhairava as Jalpesh. The worshiped in this temple is Bhairava as Jalpesh, a form of

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

– one of Hinduism's trinity of supreme divinity. The temple is located on the banks of the Jarda river, 7–8 km from Mainaguri town in the Indian state of

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

History

Bishwa Singha, father of Maharaja Nara Narayan of

Cooch Behar Cooch Behar (), also known as Koch Bihar, is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal and it stands on bank of the Torsa river. The city is the headquarters of the Cooch Behar district. During the British Raj, Cooch Behar was the seat of the ...

, founded the Jalpesh temple in 1524. Later he rebuilt the temple in 1563. Again after 100 years, King Pran Narayan rebuilt this temple in 1663. During the reign of King Lakshmi Narayan of Cooch Behar, Mahidev Raikut declared his independence in 1621 AD, refusing to obedience to the

Koch dynasty The Koch dynasty (; 1515–1949) ruled parts of eastern Indian subcontinent in present-day Assam and Bengal. Biswa Singha established power in the erstwhile Kamata Kingdom which had emerged from the decaying Kamarupa Kingdom. The dynasty c ...

. Since then the temple was under the supervision of Raikats of Baikunthapur. It was restored on 30 January 1899 by Rani Jagadeswari Devi, wife of King Jagendra Deva Raikut. An

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

occurred in

Jalpaiguri district Jalpaiguri district () is a district of the Indian state of West Bengal. The district was established in 1869 during British Raj. The headquarters of the district are in the city of Jalpaiguri, which is also the divisional headquarters of Ja ...

on 26 April 2015 at 11:41 AM (IST). The duration of the earthquake was 58 seconds. Initially, the magnitude of the tremor was 7.5 on the Richter scale, but it was finally 7.8.

University of North Bengal The University of North Bengal (also North Bengal University, abbreviated as NBU) is a public state university in the North Bengal region of West Bengal, India. Its main campus is located in Raja Rammohanpur, Siliguri, Darjeeling district, in ...

's meteorologist Subir Sarkar said that the magnitude of the earthquake in Jalpaiguri was 6.9 on the Richter scale. The earthquake caused numerous cracks in the walls and spire of the ancient Jalpesh temple.

Deity

The worshipped deity in the temple is Bhairava as Jalpesh. Inside the temple there is a Shivalinga called 'Anadi'.

Festivals and fairs

The main festival celebrated in this temple is

Mahashivratri Maha Shivaratri is a Hindu festival celebrated annually to worship the deity Shiva, between February and March. According to the Hindu calendar, the festival is observed on the fourteenth day of the first half (night start with darkness - ...

. Pilgrims come in July–August and February–March to worship

Lord Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hinduism. Shiva is known as ''The Destroyer' ...

. Shravani Mela is held in the temple during the month of Shravan. Ever since the construction of the temple in the 17th century, a famous fair started here on the occasion of Shiva Ratri. The fair is one of the oldest fairs in

. Hundreds of thousands of people gather for the fair. Before

India's independence The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic movement t ...

, elephants were sold at these fairs. People from

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

and other nearby states come here for the fair.

Jalpesh Temple gallery

File:Jalpesh Temple by Tirtha.aec09.jpg, File:Jalpesh Shiva temple 13.jpg, File:Jalpesh Shiva temple 22.jpg,

References

{{coord, 26.52565, 88.86684, format=dms, type:landmark_region:IN, display=title Shiva temples Hindu temples in Jalpaiguri district Culture of West Bengal 16th-century Hindu temples Bengal temple architecture