Yamraj Temple In Himachal Pradesh: A Detailed Look At The Mysteries

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At some point in time or the other, we would be reading the Garuda Purana that provides all the details related to the other world. Yama and his messaengers, the Chitraguptas who keep a record of our karmic acts, conjures a scary picture that makes anybody's heart shudder for a moment. Vaitarani river is the one which the soul has to cross on its journey towards allotted realms. It is a very cumbersome journey to pass through the Vaitarani for the soul according to Garuda Purana and hence cows are gifted to the needy and deserving to alleviate the difficulties faced during this travel as the merits of cow dana cannot be described merely in words.

Luckily or unluckily now we have a remote temple dedicated to Yamraj in Himachal Pradesh that matches all the above descriptions. We get to see a slice of the afterlife in the Chamba District, of Bharmour at the Yamraj or Dharmeshwar Mahadev temple, which is the only one of its kind in India that is supposed to have been constructed by Yama himself. There are temples for Chitraguptas built in other places but a temple for Yamraj is the first and the only one seen here in the Chamba district. This temple is located nearest to a river called Vaitarani and it is widely believed that any person whose final moments have neared, will be able to see Yama in this temple before breathing his last there.

Some people believe that this is an abode of the ghosts and vampires and hence anyone who visits this temple sees that he reaches back without much delay. No one enters this temple and goes away after taking the darshans from a distance. It is here that our sins and punyas are counted and decisions taken before we are given final permission by Yamraj to sojourn to the next destination. Before the final upward journey our souls travel through this station or temple, after which we leave with no traces or memories on earth.

Here Is The Chamber Where Our Next Destination Is Decided...

There is a room here specially built for Chitragupta who takes the final count of all our deeds for that lifetime. The soul, once separated from its body, arrives here to Chitragupta's chamber where in Chitragupta calculates the punya and papa quotient of the soul and then then sends the soul to Yamraj's room which is opposite to this room. There Yamraj decides whether this soul deserves heaven or hell. There are four doors for this temple with an equally mysterious significance. Depending on the kind of karma he has done, his passage through the gold, silver, copper and iron doors will be decided. A heinous sinner is sent through the iron door and the person who has led a perfectly austere blameless life goes out through the golden gate. There is a huge cave below the temple which is actually not open, but It is supposed to show the way out of the mortal world for the soul once it takes permission from Yamraj to leave the earth.
This temple has auspicious aspects too

There are certain good things too, about this place. Yama is worshipped here on Dhanteras by lighting a lamp for him. This would ward off chances for a premature death. People also perform pind daan in this temple for those people who have died prematurely. Cow gifts are given at the banks of this Vaitarani River. There is a burning pit of fire that is burning from primordial times here in the temple. Despite its scary background, people throng to this place from all corners of India.

Architectural Details Of This Temple

The architect of this temple was Manu Varman who built this upon the northern corner of Chaurasi temple complex. It is now called the Court of Yamraj and is enshrined in a temple made of stone and wood with pendent roof covered with slate. This is also referred to as two and a half steps or Dahi Podi by the locals. These steps are located below the temple now. This temple has a portico as well. This temple was renovated in the 6th century by the Chamba King only up to the pedestal limits of the temple and did not get the interiors renovated.

Mysterious Tales

There are mysterious tales surrounding this temple which the priests explain to you from their memory. Once the Raja of Chamba was seen standing in front of this temple, performing pradakshina around Chaurasi and proceeded towards Kailash on horseback. This was exactly the time they received the news of the Kings death in his palace at Chamba town.

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