Chhinnamastika Temple dedicated to Goddess Chinnamasta is a

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

pilgrimage centre located in

Rajrappa Rajrappa is a waterfall and a pilgrimage centre in the Chitarpur CD block in the Ramgarh subdivision of the Ramgarh district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. Geography Location Rajrappa is located at . Rajrappa stands at the confluence of t ...

, in

Ramgarh district Ramgarh district is one of the 24 districts in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It was also a military district during the British Regime, referred to then as Ramgarh district. Introduction and geography Ramgarh was made a district on 12 Sep ...

of Jharkhand, India. The place attracts devotees from all parts of

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . It ...

, and also from the neighbouring states of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

and

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

. The Chhinnamasta temple is popular for its Tantric style of architectural design. Apart from the main temple, there are ten temples of various deities such as the

Surya Surya (; sa, सूर्य, ) is the sun as well as the solar deity in Hinduism. He is traditionally one of the major five deities in the Smarta tradition, all of whom are considered as equivalent deities in the Panchayatana puja and a m ...

Hanuman Hanuman (; sa, हनुमान, ), also called Anjaneya (), is a Hindu god and a divine '' vanara'' companion of the god Rama. Hanuman is one of the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He is an ardent devotee of Rama and on ...

and

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 ...

History of Rajarappa

It was this place where the Raja of

Ramgarh Raj Ramgarh Raj was the major ''Zamindari'' estate in the era of the British Raj in the former Indian province of Bihar. Territories which comprised the Ramgarh Raj presently constitute districts of Ramgarh, Hazaribagh, Chatra, Giridih, Koderma, ...

gave 3 acres of land to the people in the

Bhudhan Movement The Bhoodan movement (Land Gift movement), also known as the Bloodless Revolution, was a voluntary land reform movement in India. It was initiated by Gandhian Vinoba Bhave in 1951 at Pochampally village, Pochampally The Bhoodan movement attempted ...

in Jharkhand.

Etymology

Chhinnamasta ( sa, छिन्नमस्ता, , "She whose head is severed"), often spelled Chinnamasta and also called Chhinnamastika and Prachanda Chandika, is one of the

Mahavidya The ''Mahavidya'' ( sa, महाविद्या, , lit. ''Great Wisdoms'') are a group of ten Hinduism, Hindu Tantra, Tantric Devi, goddesses. The 10 Mahavidyas are usually named in the following sequence: Kali, Tara (Devi), Tara, Tripura Su ...

s, ten Tantric goddesses and a ferocious aspect of

Devi 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 ...

, the

Divine Mother. Chhinnamasta can be easily identified by her fearsome iconography. The self-decapitated goddess holds her own severed head in one hand, a

scimitar A scimitar ( or ) is a single-edged sword with a convex curved blade associated with Middle Eastern, South Asian, or North African cultures. A European term, ''scimitar'' does not refer to one specific sword type, but an assortment of different ...

in another. Three jets of blood spurt out of her bleeding neck and are drunk by her severed head and two attendants. Chhinnamasta is usually depicted standing on a copulating couple.

Geography

''Chhinnamasta temple'' is located at

, 28 km away from

Ramgarh Cantonment Ramgarh Cantonment, usually referred to as Ramgarh Cantt or just Ramgarh is a cantonment town, belonging to the Ramgarh district of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Historically, a subdivision of the larger Hazaribag district, Ramgarh was fin ...

along NH 20 in the

of the State of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It is situated on a hillock at the confluence of the Damodar and Bhera (Bhairavi River) rivers near the Rajrappa falls. This location has a special significance. It is at the union of Bhairavi nadi (female) coming from top, meeting Damodar nada (male) signifying the ("opposite copulation") pose as described in Devi Chhinnamasta's (). Here Bhairavi is active shakti and Damodar is the male passive member of rati action. Damodar is very calm and Bhairavi is the active member.

Description

A natural rock covered with an ''ashtadhatu'' (eight-metal alloy) ''kavacha'' (cover) is worshipped as the goddess Chhinnamasta. Though well-established as a centre of Chhinnamasta by the 18th century, the site is a popular place of worship among tribals since ancient times.

Kheer Kheer, also known as payasam, is a sweet dish and a type of wet pudding popular in the Indian subcontinent, usually made by boiling milk, sugar or jaggery, and rice, although rice may be substituted with one of the following: daals, bulgur whe ...

and animal sacrifice are offered to the goddess. Many smaller temples have been built around the main temple such as the temples of Ashtamatrika and Dakshina

Kali Kali (; sa, काली, ), also referred to as Mahakali, Bhadrakali, and Kalika ( sa, कालिका), is a Hinduism, Hindu goddess who is considered to be the goddess of ultimate power, time, destruction and change in Shaktism. In t ...

. The temples of Mahavidyas built in a series nearby are Tara,

Shodashi Tripura Sundari (Sanskrit: त्रिपुरा सुन्दरी, IAST: Tripura Sundarī), also known as Rajarajeshwari, Shodashi, Kamakshi, and Lalita is a Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of supreme goddess Mahadevi m ...

Bhuvaneswari Bhuvaneshvari (Sanskrit: भुवनेश्वरी, IAST: ''Bhuvaneśvarī'') is a Hindu goddess. She is the fourth amongst the ten Mahavidya goddesses in Shaktism, and one of the highest aspects of ''Mahadevi''. She is identified as Adi Par ...

Bhairavi Bhairavi ( sa, भैरवी) is a Hindu goddess, described as one of the Mahāvidyas, the ten avatars of the mother goddess. She is the consort of Bhairava. Etymology The name ''Bhairavi'' means "terror" or "awe-inspiring". She is the ...

, Bagla, Kamla,

Matangi Matangi ( sa, मातङ्गी, ) is a Hindu goddess. She is one of the Mahavidyas, ten Tantric goddesses and an aspect of the Hindu Divine Mother. She is considered to be the Tantric form of Saraswati, the goddess of music and learning. ...

Dhumavati Dhumavati ( sa, धूमावती, , literally "the smoky one") is one of the Mahavidyas, a group of ten Hindu Tantric goddesses. Dhumavati represents the fearsome aspect of Mahadevi, the supreme goddess in Hindu traditions such as Shaktis ...

. The temple is very old and is flocked by devotees from

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

and

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

for worship of Goddess Chinnamastika. Vedic book Durga Saptashati also mentions the temple. The art and architectural design resembles the design of temples of Tantrik importance. The temple is considered as notable as the tantrik site of

Kamakhya Temple The Kamakhya Temple at Nilachal hills in Guwahati, Assam is one of the oldest and most revered centres of Tantra, Tantric practices. The temple is the center of the ''Kulachara Tantra Marga'' and the site of the Ambubachi Mela, an annual fes ...

of Assam which has a similar architecture. The temple is one of the 10 Mahavidhyas.The ancient temple of Goddess was destroyed and later a new temple was constructed and the original idol of Goddess was placed in it.

Animal sacrifice Animal sacrifice is the ritual killing and offering of one or more animals, usually as part of a religious ritual or to appease or maintain favour with a deity. Animal sacrifices were common throughout Europe and the Ancient Near East until the spr ...

is still practised in the temple. The sacrificial animals are killed on Tuesdays, Saturdays and during Kali puja. A large number of pilgrims arrive here throughout the year. Large congregation of people takes place here during the

full Moon The full moon is the lunar phase when the Moon appears fully illuminated from Earth's perspective. This occurs when Earth is located between the Sun and the Moon (when the ecliptic coordinate system, ecliptic longitudes of the Sun and Moon opp ...

and

New Moon In astronomy, the new moon is the first lunar phase, when the Moon and Sun have the same ecliptic longitude. At this phase, the lunar disk is not visible to the naked eye, except when it is silhouetted against the Sun during a solar eclipse. ...

nights. Owing to the religious importance of the place, it is also popular among the disciples for marriage and ritual of ''Mundan'' or shaving the head. Vehicle owners come here to get blessings for their new vehicles as they believe that the first worship of vehicles here multiplies the life of vehicles and brings luck to the owners. Tantriks look upon this place for Tantric accomplishment. Rajrappa also is a pilgrim centre for the

Santal The Santal or Santhal are an Austroasiatic speaking Munda ethnic group in South Asia. Santals are the largest tribe in the Jharkhand and West Bengal state of India in terms of population and are also found in the states of Odisha, Bihar and A ...

s and other tribals who come for immersion of the ashes of their loved ones in the Damodar. They come mostly during the month of December, in groups known as ''yatri''. As per their mythology it is their final resting place. In their folk songs Rajrappa is referred to as "Thel Kopi Ghat" (Water Ghat) and they use oil after bathing. They come in significant numbers from the southern parts of Jharkhand state such as East and West Singhbhum and Saraikela districts. Maa Chinmastika devi is also known as Manokamna devi due to the belief that it fulfils the wishes of the devotees. Devotees tie a red thread around a rock in the temple for the fulfillment of their wishes. In the month of January a special fair is held here on the festival of

Makar Sankranti Makar(a) Sankranti (), also referred to as Uttarayana, Maghi, or simply Sankranti, is a Hindu observance and a festival. Usually falling on the date of January 14 annually, this occasion marks the transition of the Sun from the zodiac of Sag ...

and attended by lakhs of people. A fair is also organized during the festival of

Vijaydashmi Vijayadashami ( sa, विजयदशमी, Vijayadaśamī, translit-std=IAST), also known as Dussehra, Dasara or Dashain, is a major Hindu festival celebrated at the end of Navaratri every year. It is observed on the tenth day in the Hindu ...

Vijayadashami Vijayadashami ( sa, विजयदशमी, Vijayadaśamī, translit-std=IAST), also known as Dussehra, Dasara or Dashain, is a major Hindu festival celebrated at the end of Navaratri every year. It is observed on the tenth day in the Hindu ...

and attended by large number of people. Visitors can take a holy bath in the river. Besides religious importance, the place is also a picnic spot owing to its natural environment. The hilly landscape covered with lush forest and rivers are some of its features. The hot water spring located here increases the popularity of the region. The Bhera River joins the

Damodar River Damodar River (Pron: /ˈdʌmoˌdaː/) is a river flowing across the Indian states of Jharkhand and West Bengal. Rich in mineral resources, the valley is home to large-scale mining and industrial activity. Earlier known as the Sorrow of Bengal bec ...

from a height of 20 feet creating a waterfall. The location has boating facilities and visitors can take boat rides in the locality having various rock formations along the river bank. The place also attracts many foreign tourists due to its natural and religious importance.

Notes

References