Kunj Bihari Temple Jodhpur, Rajasthan
The famous Kunjbihariji temple of Jodhpur is 229 years old, the festival of Teej is celebrated with pomp and show.
The city’s most famous temple, Kunjbihariji, associated with the Pushti Margiya tradition, is 229 years old. In Vikram Samvat 1847 (1790), Kunj Bihari Temple was built by Gulab Rai, Paswan (deputy wife) of the then Maharaja Vijay Singh of Jodhpur.
The famous Kunjbihariji temple of Jodhpur is 229 years old, the festival of Teej is celebrated with pomp and show.
Jodhpur. The city’s most famous temple, Kunjbihariji, associated with the Pushti Margiya tradition, is 229 years old. In Vikram Samvat 1847 (1790), Kunj Bihari Temple was built by Gulab Rai, Paswan (deputy wife) of the then Maharaja Vijay Singh of Jodhpur. Every Teej festival is celebrated with great pomp in this temple managed by the Devasthan Department. On Janmashtami, Thakurji is specially decorated and anointed and tableaus are decorated.
On Sharad Purnima, the idol is placed in the temple square and Sankirtan is performed. The sixth day of Bhadve Teej and Radhashtami festival is unique. Special rituals are organized in the temple on Holi and Diwali. Aarti is performed six times daily in the temple including Mangala, Shringaar, Rajbhog, Uthapan, Sandhya, Jhanki and Shayan. Unique artistic murals of Nathdwara painting style are made on the walls of the sanctum sanctorum of the temple.
In the paintings made with natural colors, Devaki-Vasudev marriage, Krishna Raas incident, Geeta Upadesh, Krishna-Sudama Sakha Bhav, Gajendra Moksha etc. Bhagwat incidents are beautifully depicted on the walls. All the pictures show the glimpse of the pastimes of both Ram and Krishna. Mahant Bhanvardas Niranjani of the temple told that the main form in the temple is of Shrinathji. It is said that the statue of Kunj Bihari was brought from the Sitaram temple located at Pigeon Square and installed.The huge shikhara and archway of the temple are excellent examples of architecture. The specialty of the archway is that it has been carved out of a single stone. The temple also has statues of Mahalakshmi, Gayatri, Ganapati, Saraswati, Santoshi Mata, Ram, Nimbacharya, Ajneshwar, Ramanujacharya and Guru Ramanand and Hari Purush Dayal, the originator of the Niranjani sect.
