The ancient Shiva temple of Gogepur is the center of faith of Shiva devotees.

Jaitipur. The ancient Shiva temple located in Gogepur of the development block area is the center of faith for the people of hundreds of nearby villages. On the day of Mahashivratri, a large number of devotees come to the temple to worship and perform Jalabhishek on Shivalinga. A fair is organized at the temple eight days in advance. Crowds of people also gather here for shopping.

The priest of Gogepur temple told that the history of the temple is about 400 years old. Earlier there used to be a forest here. The surrounding villagers used to work like collecting wood and grazing animals. Once while digging, a laborer’s shovel hit the Shivalinga, from which milk started flowing. Then people informed about this to Thakur Saheb Singh, the landlord of Khamaria village of the area.

He decided to bring the Shivalinga to Khamaria and started digging the Shivalinga. Excavation was done till the ground level, but the end of Shivalinga was not found. The landlord tied the Shivalinga in chains and pulled it with elephants. Shivalinga could not move even with the force of elephants. Then he had a dream at night that he should build a temple here, then 400 years ago the landlord got this temple built.
Apart from the temple, the landlord had given Dharamshala, two rooms for priests, Yagyashala and 12 acres of land in the name of the temple. About six decades ago the then priests sold the land at throwaway prices. Worship started here 400 years ago. Shiva devotees had started performing Jalabhishek and worship. Gradually a fair started being held here. Today the fair of Gogepur has become a center of profit for wood traders. Hundreds of traders bring precious wooden furniture and do business here.
Devotees come from far away places for worship
Temple in Gadhiya Rangi, Khamaria Kheda, Rath, Bajhera, Bhagwanpur, Bhitara, Jaitipur, Karkaur, Bhanpura, Shankarpur, Pitarhai, Nawada Mode, Agaroli, Binaura, Surjupur, Banpur, Maganpur, Marena, Dabhaura, Prithvipur, Paharpur, Ghasa, Kalyanpur. People from villages like Dhubla, Karimnagar etc. come here for worship. Apart from this, people from far away places also come to perform Jalabhishek on the day of Mahashivratri. A day before Mahashivratri, Shiva devotees carry out Kanwar Yatra by bringing water from Ramganga. Who reach at 4:00 in the morning and perform Jalabhishek at the temple.