Chintpurni Temple visit

 CHINTPURNI MATA KI JAI

Our journey to the center of the soul begins with the temple of MA CHINTPURNI. Chintpurni Mata is known by many native names two of them being, Chinnamastika Devi and Chinnmasta Devi.

The temple, also known as The Chintpurni shakti peeth (Chhinnamastika shakti peeth), is located at Amb Tehsil in the district of Una, Himachal Pradesk. The temple, located 3 km west of Bharwain village, is a serene place surrounded by the Western Himalayas from the north and east. The divinity of the place is inexplicable. It is a part of the 7 major and 44 other Shakti Peeths of India.

THE START

We started our journey from Old Delhi Station. One of the oldest buildings in Delhi. The nearest metro station is Chandi Chowk metro station.

We were to board the Himachal Express, with daily departure at 10:55 P.M. We boarded the train safely and took our leave with consciousness till next morning. We headed for Amb Andura, our next destination and terminal point of Himachal Express.

AMB ANDURA

We reached Amb Andura by at 8:35 A.M. next morning.  The train journey got us a happy encounter with a lovely couple, Anil Jetwar and his wife Neeru Jetwar. They belonged to Delhi and were also frequent visitors to chintpurni. After exchanging our travel experiences, we planned to tag along with them for the rest of the trip. From there we were to reach Chintpurni. We had multiple options from there. Public transport is easily available outside the station at Amb Andura. There are Auto Rikshaws that charge Rs. 10 per person for a drop to the bus stand. From there we could have boarded a bus which charged around Rs. 25 per person for Chintpurni. The four of us chose to share a taxi which charged us a decent Rs. 400 for the trip.

CHINTPURNI

On reaching Chintpurni, we started searching for a roof over our heads. We took a simple room in Hotel Vishwamitra. Being an off-season visit they charged us around Rs. 300 per day. We rested till 1 P.M. in the afternoon and then resumed our journey. We rounded all the items we brought from Delhi to offer to the goddess. We also bought some prasad(halwa), a coconut, mala and some ghee from the local sweet shop, Soodan Di Hatti, near the temple. We left our footwear there, under the owner's care. We saw the waiting line from there. It wasn't very long and hence, we hoped for a quick admission inside the temple.

THE CHINNAMASTIKA TEMPLE
We were able to move along the line and reach the temple within half an hour. We climbed the stairs and entered the temple. We then saw the statue of the goddess and prayed for our, as well our family's well being. 

We then offered our gifts and requested the Pandit for parsad and holy snan water. We waited in the langar bhavan, after some time the pandit brought us a water bottle filled with the snan water. As we moved further into the temple, we were awe struck by its beauty and magnificence. 
While we were waiting for the pandit to return, we saw another goddess right beside Chintpurni Mata. This was a statue of Durga Mata installed in a glass box. The beautiful white marble statue was enough to mesmerize the viewer for hours. 

Right beside the statue there is a big brass bell. It is said that once that brass bell was established there, by Emperor Akbar, in the temple, nobody was able to move it from its place from there.

Just in front of the Durga Ma statue we saw a peepal tree inside the premises of the temple. The pujari told us that people tie a cloth piece around one of branches of the tree and wish for something they desire. Their desires may be fulfilled by the goddess in near future and once they are fulfilled, the people have to re-visit the temple to untie their knot. This marks the completeness of the ritual.

We then proceeded to do the same. We hoped, we might soon get a chance to untie our knots as well.
After Completion of puja, we retuned to Soodan di Hatti  once again. We then offered prasad and gifts to nine kanjakas. A kanjak is a girl child below the age of ten, representing one of the nine deities of Navdurga. We then ate our share of the prasad, wore our footwear again and started to exit the place. 
It is said that prasad from Chintpurni mata is not carried to other mata temples, so it is supposed to be finished there. The reason behind this is said to be that Chintpurni mata is youngest of all nine deities, and hence, her prasad is not carried to the temples of Jwalamukhi devi, Chamunda devi, Kangra devi, and Naina devi etc.

Now it was time to exit the temple with peace of mind and soul. We said our goodbyes and left for our merry ways.

Left Corner : Me, Left : My Husband (Mr. Naveen Jhanjee), Right : Mr. Anil Jetwar, Right Corner : Mrs Neeru Jetwar

After we left the temple, we looked for a place to sit and relax for a few minutes, by luck, we found ourselves one.

Me

My Husband

It was right in front of the police booth. There we tried Laddu and Urad Daal Halwa. The Laddu there were pretty different from the ones that we find in Delhi. It was a sweet and chilly dish. After that we tasted Chana Bhatura. It was pretty good as well.

At around 5 p.m., we took a bus to Amb from Chintpurni bus stand. At Amb bus-stand we went to a sweet shop named sharma sweet shop. There we had some very delicious Pakoras, Besan barfi, Rasgulla and Gulab Jamun. The prices of every dish there, were also 40% less than the prices of the same in Delhi. Then we took an auto rickshaw and set for the railway station which was around 2 km from bus stand.

AMB ANDURA(TAKE 2)

We reached the station and had to board the Himachal express, again, which was already ready to depart @ 8.10 P.M. Himachal Express is the last train from that station. We reached just in time.

WHAT GOES AROUND COMES BACK AROUND

We reached Old Delhi station by 5:35 A.M. next morning and took a rickshaw for the Chandani Chowk Metro Station. 

Our overall experience of the trip was pretty amazing. It turned out to be a happiness trip rather than a holy trip.