PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Nainital
The religious and cultural heritage of the picturesque lake town Nainital is now set to receive national recognition with the Postal department deciding to issue a special picture postcard featuring the iconic Maa Pashan Devi shrine. The postcard will be formally released during the two-day district-level postal exhibition slated on October 11-12.
Informing this, a temple priest Jagdish Chandra Bhatt said that a team from the Indian Postal department had recently visited the shrine following the nod from the Central government. “The team inspected the temple and sought consent to include the image on the postcard. After the temple committee agreed, things are now settled,” he added.
Notably, Pashan Devi temple has been a symbol of faith and devotion for centuries. The idols are carved from a single stone, giving the place its name Pashan Devi. According to folklore, the goddess is the guardian deity of Nainital, protecting the people living there. The devotees believe that if one drinks the water used to bathe the goddess many ailments like speech disorder called stammering and skin diseases are cured.
Located on Thandi Sadak, this temple houses nine forms of Goddess Durga which is why it draws a large crowd of devotees every festival and religious occasion, particularly the Navratri festival.
The locals sounded happy with the initiative taken by the Postal department. “It will promote the glory of Mother Pashan Devi throughout the country while preserving the heritage for generations to come,” said one of them.
The members of the tourism fraternity also hailed the initiative, saying that aside from glorifying Nainital’s religious and cultural heritage, it would bring in more tourists and pilgrims from across the country.
