Kaila Devi Darshan – The deity of Durga Ma

From where to start… the silly question always strikes in my mind, whenever I get done with my tremendous trip & try to pen down something, especially when I try to write something about my travel, its experiences etc. How could I express how it felt then? Should I follow a story telling method or write a simple experience note? Or should I go for some other modern method. Naah… !!!! But whatever method I adopt (you are critic for my write-ups), I always try to be informative rather than talking about my enjoyment. So that my readers, the fellow travelers, can plan their trip accordingly. It doesn’t mean if I like something then the others may have same feeling and vice versa…

For many days, my wife was after me to plan for Kaila Devi (Karauli, Rajasthan), their family’s Kul Devi. Due to the pressure of a same-day return and the hectic journey of 700KM, I kept delaying with  lots of excuses. Next thing is I don’t like to go to any temple due to the pandas and their racket of fooling people. She requested me several times that we need to go for a blessing for our daughter. It is not a point of having faith or not, but as the Kul Devi of their family, it is my duty to respect their feelings. The request came into full force when the father-in-law bought ad new XUV. So, we decided to go on 14^th June.

Large bell at the entrance of the temple – donated by someone

Early morning of the said date, we left our home and took towards Yamuna expressway. I was excited with my 1^st SUV driving. With our cruise control XUV, it took a few minutes over an hour to reach Mathura. After the expressway, I handed over steering to my father-in-law. We crossed the Mathura town and moved towards Bharatpur. After crossing Bharatpur, we turned right towards Jaipur in Agra-Jaipur highway. Due to new construction of Agra-Jaipur highway and missing of signboards, we missed the turn of Hinduan/Karauli. We were back onto a long stress and took the right path. This road is a state highway, not in bad shape. New construction is going on, so you may face some traffic jam due to that.

Kasili river

Hill roads

Kasili River

After crossing the Karauli town, you will get the picturesque location of hills on left and the Kalisil River on the right side. Karauli is now extended sanctuary of Rathambore and is renamed as a Kaila Devi wildlife sanctuary. Your tiredness of 300KM journey vanishes from the picturesque location.

Finally after a journey of 330KM and 6 hours, we reached Kaila Devi. The temple is dedicated to the tutelary deity, Goddess Kaila Devi of the erstwhile princely Jadaun Rajput rulers of the Karauli state. Gupta, Mathurs and Vaishya and all found in North India and Pakistan regard the Goddess as their Kul Devi.

People waiting in Queue- door close at 12 PM for half an hour

The temple is not like other Hindu temples of India. Where the pandas come and force you to do something and ask for donations. The temple was quiet and didn’t have much rush due to peak summers. As per the shrine management you will not get a place to rest during Navaratri of Chaitra month (March-April). That time a 15-days long festival is celebrated with joy and devotees come from across India. Thank god, we didn’t go in that time, so our darshan was peaceful. We were not in the long queue, but the stunning heat was burning us. The temple management puts carpet in all ways; else you can’t think of walking barefoot.

We 3 at the temple

View of the temple

DHWAJA – The flag

After a beautiful darshan of Goddess Kaila Devi (there are two statues in the temple, one is of Kaila Devi and one is of Chamunda Devi, both sitting together. The bigger one is of Kaila Devi and head of the statue is slightly bent.) we came out and thanking Mata Ji for her blessing.

Just outside of the premises, there was langar serve by devotees and we enjoyed delicious kadi-chawal and aloo-puri. Thanking Mata Ji again, we back into our car for the return journey.

Waiting for the business to begin

Colorful

Ma ka Abhushan

Our return journey was the same way, the only difference being that this time behind the steering was my wife. We stopped on the beautiful banks of Kasili river for some time and capture some beauties in cameras for the memories.

Travel trip:
Kaila Devi is 330 to 370 KM from Delhi –NCR, 170 KM from Jaipur. So the nearest Air station is Jaipur and rail station is Hinduan town. Temple is open round the year, but in every three month, the Kaila devi idol is brought out by Karauli king for Ganga snan (for 3 days). So, you have to be aware of that time. There are only dharmasalas around Kaila Devi. Depending on the visitors’ requirement, you can arrange accordingly. Maximum people prefer to do day trip from Mathura/Jaipur (170KM).