Chhatarpur Temple (Officially: Shri Aadya Katyayani Shakti Peetham) is located in a down town area in

Chhatarpur Chhatarpur is a city and a municipality in Chhatarpur district in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Chhatarpur District. Chhatarpur is a city and a municipality in Chhatarpur district in the state of ...

, Delhi, India. This temple is dedicated to Goddess,

Katyayani ''Katyayani'' (कात्यायनी) is an aspect of Mahadevi and the slayer of the tyrannical demon Mahishasura. She is the sixth among the Navadurgas, the nine forms of Hindu goddess Durga who are worshipped during the festival of Navar ...

. The entire complex of the temple is spread over a wide area of 70 acres. It is located at Chhatarpur, on the southwestern outskirts of the

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

and is just from

Qutub Minar The Qutb Minar, also spelled Qutub Minar and Qutab Minar, is a minaret and "victory tower" that forms part of the Qutb complex, which lies at the site of Delhi’s oldest fortified city, Lal Kot, founded by the Tomar Rajputs. It is a UNESCO Worl ...

, off Mehrauli-Gurgaon road. The temple was established in 1974, by Baba Sant Nagpal ji, who died in 1998. His samadhi shrine lies in the premises of the Shiv-Gauri Nageshwar Mandir within the temple complex. This temple was considered as the biggest temple in India and second largest in the world, before the Akshardham Temple was created in 2005 in Delhi. This temple is totally constructed from marble and on all the facets there is ''

jaali A ''jali'' or jaali (''jālī'', meaning "net") is the term for a perforated stone or latticework, latticed Window screen, screen, usually with an ornamental pattern constructed through the use of calligraphy, geometry or natural patterns. T ...

'' (perforated stone or latticed screen) work. It can be classified a

vesara Vesara is a hybrid form of Indian temple architecture, with South Indian plan and a shape that features North Indian details. This fusion style likely originated in the historic architecture schools of the Dharwad region. It is common in the survi ...

style of architecture. Surroundings are an important

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

area within the Northern Aravalli leopard wildlife corridor stretching from

Sariska Tiger Reserve Sariska Tiger Reserve is a tiger reserve in Alwar district, Rajasthan, India. It stretches over an area of comprising scrub-thorn arid forests, dry deciduous forests, grasslands, and rocky hills. This area was a hunting preserve of the Alwar ...

to Delhi. Historical place around sanctuary are

Badkhal Lake Badkhal Lake was a natural lake situated in Badkhal village near Faridabad, in the Indian state of Haryana, about 32 kilometers from the national capital of Delhi. Fringed by the hills of the Aravalli Range, this was a man-made embankment. Owin ...

(6km northeast), 10th century ancient

Surajkund Surajkund is an ancient reservoir of the 10th century located on Southern Delhi Ridge of Aravalli range in Faridabad city of Haryana state about 8 km (5mi) from South Delhi. Surajkund (literally 'Lake of the Sun') is an artificial Kund (' ...

reservoir and

Anangpur Dam The Anangpur Dam is an Indian hydraulic engineering structure built during the reign of the King Anangpal I of the Tomara dynasty in the 8th century. It is located near the Anangpur village in Faridabad district, Haryana, India. History The k ...

Damdama Lake Damda reservoir in Sohna, near Gurugram city in Gurugram district in the Indian state of Haryana.Rajiv Tiwari"Delhi A Travel Guide" . Damdama Lake is a small lake in Haryana and was formed when a stone and earthen dam constructed by the British ...

Tughlaqabad Fort Tughluqabad Fort is a ruined fort in Delhi, built by Ghiyasuddin Tughluq, the founder of the Tughlaq dynasty, of the Delhi Sultanate of India in 1321, as he established the third historic city of Delhi, which was later abandoned in 1327. It l ...

and Adilabad ruins (both in Delhi).ASOLA BHATTI WILD LIFE SANCTUARY
, Department of Forest, Delhi Government It is contiguous to the seasonal waterfalls in Pali-Dhuaj-Kot villages of Faridabad, the saсred

Mangar Bani Mangar Bani, a paleolithic archaeological site and sacred grove hill forest next to the Mangar village on Delhi-Haryana border, is in the South Delhi Ridge of Aravalli mountain range in Faridabad tehsil of Faridabad district in the Indian sta ...

and the

Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary Asola-Bhati Wildlife Sanctuary covering 32.71 km2 area on the Southern Delhi Ridge of Aravalli hill range on Delhi-Haryana border lies in Southern Delhi as well as northern parts of Faridabad and Gurugram districts of Haryana state.

. There are several dozen lakes formed in the abandoned

open pit mines Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock (geology), rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a Borrow pit, b ...

in the forested hilly area of Delhi Ridge.

The complex

Nandi at Shiva temple, Chhatarpur temple, Delhi

The main courtyard of Chhatarpur Temple, Delhi

The entire temple complex spread over , has over 20 small and large temples divided in three different complexes. The main deity in the temple is Goddess

, a part of

Navadurga Navadurga ( sa, नवदुर्गा, translit=Navadurgā), also spelled Navdurga and Navadurgas, are nine manifestations and forms of Durga in Hinduism, especially worshipped during Navaratri and Durga Puja. They are often considered collec ...

, the nine forms of

Hindu goddess Devī (; Sanskrit: देवी) is the Sanskrit word for 'goddess'; the masculine form is ''deva''. ''Devi'' and ''deva'' mean 'heavenly, divine, anything of excellence', and are also gender-specific terms for a deity in Hinduism. The conce ...

Durga Durga ( sa, दुर्गा, ) is a major Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars. Durga's legend centres around co ...

Shakti In Hinduism, especially Shaktism (a theological tradition of Hinduism), Shakti (Devanagari: शक्ति, IAST: Śakti; lit. "Energy, ability, strength, effort, power, capability") is the primordial cosmic energy, female in aspect, and rep ...

, worshipped during the

Navratri Navaratri is an annual Hindu festival observed in the honour of the goddess Durga. It spans over nine nights (and ten days), first in the month of Chaitra (March/April of the Gregorian calendar), and again in the month of Sharada. It is ob ...

celebrations. A side shrine within the main temple houses a shrine of Goddess Katyayani (Durga), which opens only during the bi-annual

season, when thousands of people throng the premises for darshan. One nearby room has been made as living room with tables and chairs made in silver, and another regarded as the ''Shayan Kaksha'' (Bed Room), where a bed, dressing table and table are carved in silver. This shrine opens on a large

satsang A satsanga (), also rendered satsang, refers to the practice of gathering in the company of good people for the performance of devotional activities. It also refers to an audience with a Satguru for yogic instruction. Satsangas are group events, o ...

or prayer hall, where religious discourses and

bhajan Bhajan refers to any devotional song with a religious theme or spiritual ideas, specifically among Indian religions, in any language. The term bhajanam (Sanskrit: भजनम्) means ''reverence'' and originates from the root word ''bhaj'' ...

s, (religious songs) are held. Just at the entrance to the main temple, stand an old tree, where devotees tie holy threads for wish fulfillment.Chhatarpur temple
durga-puja.org. Another shrine of Goddess Durga is open to devotees morning to evening, it lies above the shrines dedicated to

Radha Krishna Radha-Krishna (IAST , sa, राधा कृष्ण) are collectively known within Hinduism as the combined forms of feminine as well as the masculine realities of God. Krishna and Radha are the primeval forms of God and his pleasure potenc ...

, and Lord

Ganesh Ganesha ( sa, गणेश, ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped Deva_(Hinduism), deities in the Hindu deities, Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in Ganapatya sect. His image is ...

Apart from this the complex also has other temples dedicated to

Lord Rama Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular ''avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Being ...

, Lord Ganesha and

Lord Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

. The temples have been built in both South and North Indian style of temple architecture.

References

External links

Chhatrapur temple complex
at

wikimapia Wikimapia is a geographic online encyclopedia project. The project implements an interactive "clickable" web map that utilizes Google Maps with a geographically-referenced wiki system, with the aim to mark and describe all geographical objects ...

The complex

References

External links

See also