200-Year-Old Hilltop Temple of Maa Karela Bhavani

In the Khairagarh region of Chhattisgarh, Maa Karela Bhawani sits atop a hill surrounded by greenery. The temple's history dates back 200 years. Located in Bhandarpur village, 14 km north of Dongargarh, on the road leading north, devotees must climb 1,100 steps to reach the shrine.

This sacred site, also known as Bhawani Dongri, is named Karela Bhawani because bitter gourds sprout spontaneously from the soil without seeds. This gives rise to one village, Chhota Karela, and another, Bada Karela. This sacred site, filled with natural beauty, is home to Maa Karela Bhawani. A fair is held here during Navratri, attracting large crowds of devotees. According to the Maa Bhawani Mandir Seva Samiti, the wishes of devotees facing obstacles in their marriages are fulfilled in the goddess's court.

Learn about the legend

It is believed that about two hundred and fifty years ago, a cowherd named Narayan Singh Kanwar lived in this village. He was sitting outside his house with some villagers. It was the month of Jeth Baisakh. In the middle of the afternoon, a girl approached him. Her face was radiant and she was dressed in white. She asked Narayan Singh for a place to rest. Narayan Singh thought that she might have come from a nearby village and was tired from the heat. With this thought, Narayan Singh invited her to stay in his house, but she began walking towards the forest. Seeing this, Narayan Singh and the other villagers became worried.
Everyone followed the girl. The girl walked out of the forest and sat under a makoiya bush on the top of the mountain. When Narayan Singh and the others asked her who she was and why she had come to the forest, she replied, "I will stay here now. Please build a temple for me here." With that, the girl disappeared. This was nothing short of a miracle for Narayan Singh and the villagers. When excavations were carried out to build a temple at the site, believing the girl to be a manifestation of Goddess Bhavani, a stone statue was discovered, which was installed in the same hut-like temple in the form of Goddess Bhavani.

Over time, this place gradually faded from public memory. This incident occurred two hundred and fifty years ago. Over the years, the Goddess Bhavani temple on the hill had become overgrown with trees, plants, and weeds. People rarely visited the forest and mountains. Gradually, the temple faded from the villagers' memory, but as they say, "A child may forget his mother, but a mother never forgets her children." Twenty-five years ago, a Gorakhnath devotee came to live on the same hill. A well is located on the hill, which Gorakhnath Baba used to use. Baba used to meditate on the hill itself. One day, while Gorakhnath Baba was sitting in meditation, a bright light emanated from a stone slab covered in weeds. When Gorakhnath Baba looked at the source of the light, he couldn't understand why. He cleared the area and saw that the divine light was emanating from a stone shaped like a statue.

Gorakhnath Baba informed the villagers of this and urged them to build a temple for Mother Bhavani, who had been residing in their village for so many years. The villagers heeded Baba's advice and constructed a temple. The temple is now known as Mother Karela Bhavani. The village at the foot of the mountain is named Karela, where a small village named Karela and a large village named Karela are located on either side of the road. Based on this, Mother Bhavani became known as Karela Bhavani.