Kevaladev Mahadev/Keoladeo Shiv Temple Ghana Swamps, Rajasthan

The ancient temple of Lord Shiva, located in Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, is situated amidst dense trees. This temple is considered to be about 350 years old and was built by the king of Bharatpur. One can see greenery and movement of birds around the temple. Due to its location in the park, tourists and passers-by come here to fulfill their wishes by having darshan of Lord Shiva.

This Shiva temple is built in the world famous Keoladeo National Park of Bharatpur. This temple is quite ancient. A large number of devotees come here during Mahashivratri and the month of Sawan. The story of this temple is also quite amazing. The priest of the temple told that this ancient Shiva temple which is built here used to be a forest where people around here used to come to graze their animals. One day the cattle herder’s cow went under a banana tree in the forest and started giving milk. Milk was flowing from her udders on its own.

One day a cattle herder followed a cow and witnessed an important incident himself, he immediately informed the incident to Maharaja Surajmal of Bharatpur. Maharaja Surajmal got the excavation done at the place where the incident took place. During the excavation, a Shivalinga was recovered from there. After this incident, Maharaja Surajmal installed Shivalinga at the same place and built a temple, which was called Keoladeo Shiva Temple, hence the area was named Keoladeo National Park.

This ancient Shiva temple is situated about four to five kilometers inside the Keoladeo National Park. After that, this park was established as a national park with a high level conservation status in 1981 and in 1985, the park was declared a World Heritage Site. The status of the site was given. Since then, the name of this park based on this temple is Keoladeo National Park. The priest of the temple says that many generations of his family have served in this temple. People from nearby villages and many people come to visit this temple during Mahashivratri and the month of Sawan.