Mahavir Mandir is a

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 god

Hanuman Hanuman (; , ), also known as Maruti, Bajrangabali, and Anjaneya, is a deity in Hinduism, revered as a divine ''vanara'', and a devoted companion of the deity Rama. Central to the ''Ramayana'', Hanuman is celebrated for his unwavering devotio ...

, located in Patna, Bihar, India. Millions of pilgrims visit the temple every year. Acharya Kishore Kunal is the secretary of the Mahavir Mandir Temple Trust, Patna. After the Vaishno Devi Temple, this temple has the highest earnings of over 1 lakh per day rendering its trust budgets as the second highest in the northern part of the country. The temple attracts huge crowds on festivals like Ramnavami. It is one of the leading temples dedicated to the worship of Lord

History

As per the

Patna High Court The Patna High Court of Judicature at Patna (commonly known as Patna High Court) is the High Courts of India, High Court of the Indian state, state of Bihar. It was established on 3 February 1916 by British colonial government and was later aff ...

judgment in 1948, the temple has existed since time immemorial. But due to the scrutiny of historical facts and traditions, it appears that this temple was originally established by swami Balanand, an ascetic of the Ramanandi sect in around 1730 CE. This temple gained popularity in 1947 with a large number of Hindu

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

s coming to

Patna Patna (; , ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paṭanā''), historically known as Pataliputra, Pāṭaliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, ...

after the

partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

. Subsequently, the temple was rebuilt as a concrete house, which was demolished in 1987 to construct a huge marble temple. The idol of Sankat-Mochan, an avatar of Hanuman, stands in it.

Visits

Long winding queues can be seen at the temple on Saturdays and Tuesdays, the traditional worshiping days of Hanuman. Thousands of people visit Mahavir Mandir every Rama Navami and New Year celebration. On Rama Navami, the queues can be over one kilometer long.

Dalit Priest

Since 13 June 1993, Suryavanshi Das, a person from the

Dalit Dalit ( from meaning "broken/scattered") is a term used for untouchables and outcasts, who represented the lowest stratum of the castes in the Indian subcontinent. They are also called Harijans. Dalits were excluded from the fourfold var ...

caste, has been

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

of the temple, the decision received support from three well known priests—Ramchandra Paramahans, Mahant Avaidyanath of Baba Gorakhnath Dham and Mahant Avadh Kishore Das.

Ram Rasoi

Arrangements for free food have been made to the devotees who visit Ramlala at Ram Rasoi. Acharya Kishore Kunal, secretary of the Shri Mahavir Sthan Nyas Samiti, started it on Sunday 1 December 2019. This free food facility functions in the Amava temple just outside the temple of Ramlala, at Amawa Mandir Complex, Ramkot, Ayodhya-224123. Devotees who visit Ramlala at Ram Rasoi get free food between 11:30 am till 3:00 pm every day.
For this, 60 quintals of Govind Bhog shear rice have been sent to Ayodhya. This rice has been sourced from Mokri village in Kaimur (Bihar). The services of Shri Ram's kitchen and Shri Ramlala's bhog will function continuously. There is arrangement of feeding one thousand people daily in the initial phase. After this, based on the increasing number of Ramlala's devotees, food will be arranged for more and more people.

Philanthropic work by Shri Mahavir Sthan Nyas Samiti

Mahavir Mandir Trust is named ''Shri Mahavir Sthan Nyas Samiti''(''श्री महावीर स्थान न्यास समिति''). Headed by Acharya Kishore Kunal, the trust monitors working and development of

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

. The Trusts uses the temple fund to run human welfare organizations and hospitals like Mahavir Cancer Institute & Research Centre, Mahavir Vaatsalya Hospital and Mahavir Arogya Hospital and other several hospitals and

orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or abusi ...

in the agricultural and rural state of

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

. The Mahavir Mandir Trust has the second highest budget in

North India North India is a geographical region, loosely defined as a cultural region comprising the northern part of India (or historically, the Indian subcontinent) wherein Indo-Aryans (speaking Indo-Aryan languages) form the prominent majority populati ...

, after that of the Maa Vaishno Devi shrine.

Publications

The temple started the publication of ''Dharmayan'', a magazine focusing on

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

, and

nationality Nationality is the legal status of belonging to a particular nation, defined as a group of people organized in one country, under one legal jurisdiction, or as a group of people who are united on the basis of culture. In international law, n ...

in 1990. Since then the magazine has continuously been in publication. They recently celebrated a Diamond Jublee with the publication of its 100th issue. Dignitaries such as Acharya Sitaram Chaturvedi, Sahitya Vachaspati Shriranjan Suridev, Dr. Kashinath Mishra have been associated with this esteemed magazine. Currently Acharya Kishore Kunal graces the position of Chief Editor and it is being edited by Pandit Bhavanath Jha.

References

External links

* Mahavir Mandir published an ebook on Ayodhya debate written by Acharya Kishore Kunal that was at this lin
www.mahavirmandirpatna.org/prakashan/ebook/bookindex.html

Mahavir Mandir Patna official website

http://mahavirmandir.com/

धर्मायण – धार्मिक, सांस्कृतिक एवं राष्ट्रीय चेतना की हिन्दी मासिक पत्रिका
Dharmayan Magazine
Mahavir Mandir Patna
{{Portalbar, India Hanuman temples Hindu temples in Bihar Religious buildings and structures in Patna Rebuilt buildings and structures in India