Do you know about Bear temple
There are many videos where monkeys can be seen offering prayers to god or monkey blessing saints or trained dogs praying to god or elephant paying their respect to god or snake worshipping the shiv lingam. But you may not know that villagers of ghunchapali in Chhattisgarh claims that a family of wild bears have been worshipping the Chandi Mata goddess since the last five years. In this video, we will see a strange temple where the wild bears from the nearby forest arrive daily at evening just before prayers time to meet devotees.
Content of this article is explained beautifully in the below video
Location of the temple
This chandi mata temple is located in ghunchapali village of the Mahasamund district of Chhattisgarh state. Locals has named this temple as "Bhalu temple", meaning temple of bears. Being situated on a small hill surrounded by beautiful forest and rocky knobs, this temple attract people from the entire District and also from the nearby cities of Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh
Bears- the star attraction of Chandi mata temple
Family of Bears usually arrives daily at 4 PM and roam in the temple premises for 3 hours. Devotees adore the bear family by offering them food, Prasad, juices, water etc. Favorite food of these temple bears are sweets, bananas, coconuts and frooti. Local villagers believes these bears as the incarnation of goddess and therefore, they feed them and love them like their own family members. In fact, villagers have given them family names like "Luv, Kush, Choti". After eating all the food offerings, bears move back to their natural habitat in the nearby forest. These wild bears have been arriving at the temple daily since the last 5 years and have never attacked any devotees
Feeding bears is illegal according to law
This temple is situated in the forest area and hence the wildlife acts applies to devotees visiting the temple. According to forest officers, due to the absence of food in the natural habitat and the laziness of bears, they visit the temple in search of easy food from devotees. Under the Indian Wildlife Act 1972, feeding and teasing wild bears are prohibited. Still, devotees feed these hungry bears without any fear of law. As feeding bears is considered as a pious act by the villagers, forest official's acts cautiously and don't interfere in the devotees unlawful act of feeding the bears as long as they are not teasing or troubling the bears.
Places of attraction in temple and nearby places
Let us see why this temple attract large number of visitors.
This temple has a historical connection as it is believed to be constructed by the King of Malkangiri whose castle remnants are still found on the Hill, just in front of the temple. Inside the temple complex, Main temple is of Goddess Chandi and there are also small temples of lord hanuman and lord bhairavnath. There is also a cave temple of Goddess kali in the temple premises. The temple complex is big and beautiful. Visitors can easily spend 2-3 hrs. In the temple complex, there is also a rest house for outstation devotees.
Temple is a must-visit for nature lovers & wildlife photographers
This temple is located inside the Malkangiri forest, which is well- known for its rich flora and fauna. Spread over 3,364 hectares, the dense forest area is also home to leopards, spotted and barking deer, wolves and wild pigs. So, even if you are not a religious person, you will have plenty to explore around this temple.
Best time to visit the temple
Best time to visit the temple is 4 PM as you can not only enjoy the beautiful hill view & sunset but also see the family of bears who usually arrives at this time. If you are not interested in seeing or feeding bears, then you can come early morning at 7 AM to enjoy the wonderful view of nature. This temple is at its best during 9 days navratri festival, when thousands of devotees throng the temple to worship the goddess and attend spiritual events.
How to reach Chandi mata temple?
Chandi mata Temple is situated at a distance of 3 Kms. from the Malkangiri Town. So, the people travelling from Jeypore to Malkangiri usually halts at this temple and pay respect to the hill goddess before embarking on the safe journey to Malkangiri.
The town is connected to rest of the country by state highway and railways. If you are coming by road, take the Raipur-Mahasamund-Visakhapatnam route(National highway 353). Bus service is available from Mahasamund to major cities like Raipur, bhubaneshwar etc at specific time. Mahasamund is the nearest railway station which is well-connected to major cities of India.
Nearest Airport is swami Vivekananda airport, Raipur, 110 km away approximately
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