Devta Sahib Jishar at Kharahan, Shimla

Geographical situation and its history :

Temple in full view

There is an ancient temple of Jishar (Jeehar) Devta at Khadhan / Kharahan. It is located in the district of Shimla, Uptehsil Nankhari, Tehsil Rampur, Distt Shimla in the state of Himachal Pradesh in India at Latitude 31.23N and longitude 77.44E. It is about six kilometers from Kotgarh Valley. Jishar is an elder brother of Devta Chaturmuk, situated at a place about three kilometers from Kotgarh. Another Devta Ishar, younger of these two brothers, also resides here with Jishar Devta. These three brothers are Naag devtas but believed to be the divine appearances of Shiva. This temple is situated at the confluence of two pahari khuds in Kharahan village which has population of about 355 persons living in about 87 households.

More than 2,000 years ago, it is believed, people of the area obeyed one eyed Kana Devta. He demanded human sacrifice, male or female, on every Sankranti.  Each family was obliged to arrange for sacrifice.

Temple complex

Legend say that when it was a turn of the only remaining fifth daughter of an old woman, Khachli Naag, a lesser god in forest of Jarol, near a pond in Khaneti below Sidhpur, saved her daughter from slaughter. It is said that black clouds appeared over the Jarol forest, and spread over the village of Melan and the temple of Kana Devta. A storm of iron hails and lightning destroyed the temple of Kana and the village of Melan and they were swept away. 

Since there was no Devta left people decided Devta Naag of Kachli should be the next god. But Naag declined the offer and guided them to seek one at Kharahan, where there were three brothers residing as devtas in a single temple. Naag advised them to go to Kharahan and beg these devtas to agree as their lords.

Shiva temple

The Kharahan Devtas came in their raths for a mela at Jao, Kumarsain. While the three Kharahan brothers were dancing in their rath, the people prayed in their hearts that whichever of them chose to be their god, might make his rath as light as a flower, while the other raths might become too heavy to turn. When Chatar-mukh caused his rath to be as light as a lotus flower, eighteen men volunteered to carry it away from the mela, and dancing bore it home on their shoulders. This way Shadoch people amidst persuasions, fights and other resistances carried the palki of Devta to Mailan at Kotgarh. Later some of the Kharahan pundits and pujaris also settled there.

Bhunda Narmegh festival  :

Palace of Devta Jishar. Ropes used for Bhunda sacrifice can be seen hanging around. 

In Simla District Gazetteer it was mentioned that ‘Bihunda Sacrifice’ the symbolic remnant of human sacrifice was done at following places in ‘Bashahr State’:

Basherah at the temple of god Basheru; Devthi at Kangleshwar temple; Manjheoli at Lachmi Narayan temple; Shingla, Shaneri, Larsa & Dansa at temples of Devi and Balram; Nagar at the temple of Datatrah and Balram; Kirat at temple of Suraj and Balram; Kharahan at the temple of Kharanu devta; Sholi at Palthan devta temple; Dalgaon at temple of Bakralu; and at Sarahan at Bhima Kali temple. 

In Jubbal State sacrifice was carried at Brahl in the temple of Thari devta.

In Kullu at Nirmand at the temple Devi.

It is celebrated once in every 12 years, believing that it will make local deity happy and thence the god will shower prosperity and goodwill on the villagers. A man from specific tribe is designated to perform the ritual, starts taking meal once in a day when only one month is left for the festival. He starts weaving the sacred rope by collecting the 'Munji' grass, on which he is going to slide on the day of the ceremony.

On the final day of Bhunda festival all the local deities are invited to the place of event where priests and a large number of audience gather to witness the traditional Bhunda celebration. The Beda man takes bath, wears a white dress (kafan) and worship the local deity after which he is accompanied to the site of the event with drum beats. The sacred rope is tied to a high point on a hill at one side and at another side it is tied to a point across a ravine deep down on the ground. The Beda then sits on a wooden sliding saddle tied to the rope with his hands pointing upwards and slides down the ropeway, where his wife sits like a widow. If the man is able to survive and perform the event successfully, he and his family become rich as they are bestowed with huge amount of money and jewelry from the temple fund and is carried to the temple on a palanquin where multitude of goats are sacrificed by the villagers in the name of local deity. But if the man is not able to survive, then his family is taken care of by the villagers.

Nowadays, special precautions are taken by the local authorities during Bhunda festival like tying of sand bags on both the legs of the Beda man sliding down the rope so as to maintain the balance and putting of nets and mattresses below the rope to avoid any unusual happening.




Thousands of visitors witness this three days long Bhunda festival ceremony. Though for localities it is a usual affair but for the visitors from outside, it is nothing less than an event where a human being is forced knowingly into the mouth of death. ‘Human sacrifice’ in Himachal as here at Jishar Devta exists today only as a ritual.

The Devta’s Masks (Traditional Mohras) :

Mohra of Jishar Devta

Palki of Ishar Devta

Decorating palki of Jishar Devta

The palkis of Jishar and Ishar Devtas seldom come out except on some special religious occasions and on invitations from the believers to their home for seeking blessings. These occasions are celebrated with festivity and religious fervor. 

  The temple Architect :

Carved wooden pillar

Richly decorated entrance 

The present temple of Jishar Devta is situated in quite a large. This is a temple of extreme historical and cultural importance since time immemorial. The temple is constructed using huge logs of deodar wood and grey stone slabs. The entire campus has two temples dedicated to Shiva. Inside the garbhagrihas of each temple there is an ancient, about four feet high, stone shiva-lingas with their yoni pedestals. Shiva temple’s main entrance has beautiful, colorful and richly carved wooden panels depicting characters from Purans, Ramayana and incarnations of Vishnu. Its roof is also an example of excellent craftsmanship using floral designs.

Wooden panel Mahisasurmardini

Ancient stone Shivlinga

 
Another temple has a beautifully carved wooden panel at the top of its entrance door depicting Devi killing the demon Mahisasur. 

Both the temples have round and conical chatri / umbrella style roof covered with slates of grey stone over their central and main sacrosanct areas / garbhagriha. 

Musicians of Devta

There is a multistoried high structure with big hall where mohras (masks), rath / palkis of Jishar and Ishar devtas are kept. Usually no one is allowed to enter this premise except the kardaars and priests. 

There also is a covered place providing holy pit for performing yajya, havan and other religious sacrificial rituals.

The remains of Nagara Architectural style :

Ancient ruins in Nagar style

Shiva and Parvati in stone carvings

The temple complex is littered with the ancient remains of the stone carvings done in Nagara style. The old temple was also dedicated to Shiva and Shakti. This Nagara style is typically characterized by the architectural wonder, which ideally portrayed the craftsmanship of the artists. 

Small Shivlinga temple

A study of the temples of Himachal Pradesh reveals two distinct features, in Planning and in Elevation. In plan, the temples were basically quadrangle with graduated projections in the centre. In elevation, resembles a tower gradually inclining inwards in a convex curve. According to the plan the projections are carried upwards to the top of the Sikhara, and thus there is strong emphasis on vertical lines in elevation. The Nagara style is spread across various parts of India. Such plans and the curvilinear tower are, however, common to every medieval temple of northern India. It seems the style of carvings here at Kharahan must be influenced by the Orissa temples.