Monday, 19 AUGUST 2024 | PNS | JOSHIMATH
In latest news from Uttarakhand, the State-reverently called Devbhumi-houses a host of temples which have been standing for millennia of time cradled in the Himalayas and people keep thronging them all the year round to pay obeisance. But there is a peculiar temple nestled in a remote corner of Chamoli district which opens for the devotees only once in a year and that is on the full moon day of Raksha Bandhan. This temple is called Banshi Narayan Mandir.
The temple has a legend attached to it. The preserver Lord of the universe Vishnu once assumed the form of Vamana (Dwarf) to humble the demonic king Bali who was notorious for his pride and arrogance. Humbled by the Vamana incarnation, the king went into the netherworld (patala) to do a rigorous sadhana to please the Lord. Finally, the Lord was pleased and asked the king to seek a boon. Bali appealed to the Lord to stay with him as his gatekeeper. Lord Vishnu granted the boon. Meanwhile the goddess Laxmi could not find Lord Vishnu anywhere and asked the Sage Narad about the Lord’s whereabouts. Then, acting on the Sage’s suggestion, the goddess went into the netherworld on the day of full moon in the month Shravana and tied a Rakhi or sacred thread round the wrist of the king and beseeched to him to set the Lord free. The king acquiesced. He took the Lord with him and let him unite with the goddess Laxmi. And the divine union happened at the same place where the Banshi Narayan temple stands.
On the auspicious occasion of Raksha Bandhan, the sisters first go to this temple, offer puja and then tie the protective thread around their brothers’ wrists.
