Hadimba Temple Manali

Hidimdi Devi Temple, also known as the Hadimdi Temple which identified the female as di in Dimasa Kachari word,Hidimdi Devi is related to Dimasa Kachari living in North East India, who was a son of the soil of Nagaland,is located in Manāli,a hill station in the State of Himāchal Pradesh in north India.It is an ancient cave temple dedicated to Hidimdi Devi, sister of Hidimba,who was a character in the Indian epic, Mahābhārata.The temple is surrounded by a cedar forest at the foot of the Himālayas. The sanctuary is built over a huge rock cutting out of the ground, which was worshiped as an image of the deity. The structure was built in 1553. The most surprising feature of the temple or what believers could call the most reassuring feature of the temple is the fact that inside the temple the imprint of the feet of the Goddess carved on a block of stone are worshipped and if you go to Google Satellite and zoom into the area where the temple is located, you can clearly see the imprint of a giant foot spanning across the valley in the area near the temple. It's thumb starts from where Google shows the Manali Heights hotel to be located and the rest of the foot goes all the way down the slope. Hidamba Mata Ki Jai...



Mythology-

The Hadimba devi temple is build around a cave where devi Hadimba did mediatation "tapasya". Hadimba devi is supposed to be living here with her brother Hadimb not much is known about there parents. Born in the Rakshas family Hadimba vowed to marry one who would defeat his brother hadimb later supposed to be very brave and fearless. During Pandav's exile when they visited Manali Bhima one of the five pandva's killed Hadimb, thus hadimba marring Bhima and they gave birth to a son Ghatotkacha

Design-

The Hidimdi Devi Temple has intricately carved wooden doors and a 24 meters tall wooden "shikhar" or tower above the sanctuary.The tower consists of three square roofs covered with timber tiles and a fourth brass cone-shaped roof at the top. the earth goddess Durga forms the theme of the main door carvings. The temple base is made out of whitewashed, mud-covered stonework. An enormous rock occupies the inside of the temple, only a 7.5 cm (3 inch) tall brass image representing goddess Hidimdi Devi. A rope hangs down in front of the rock,and according to a legend,in bygone days religious zealots would tie the hands of "sinners" by the rope and then swing them against the rock.

About 70 metres away from the temple,there is a shrine dedicated to Goddess Hidimdi's son, Ghatotkacha who was born after she married Bhima. The most surprising feature of the temple or what believers could call the most reassuring feature of the temple is the fact that inside the temple the imprint of the feet of the Goddess carved on a block of stone are worshipped and if you goto Google Satellite and zoom into the area where the temple is located, you can clearly see the imprint of a giant foot spanning across the valley in the area near the temple. Hidamba Mata Ki Jai


A Mahabharat narration-

The Indian epic Mahabharata narrates that Pāndavas stayed in Himachal during their exile. In Manali, a strongest person named Hidimba,a brother of Hidimdi, attacked them, and in the ensuing fight,Bhima,the strongest Pandav, killed him. Bhima and Hidimba's sister, Hidimdi, then got married and had a son, Ghatotkacha, (who later proved to be a great warrior in the war against Kauravas).When Bhima and his brothers returned from exile, Hidimdi did not accompany him,but stayed back and did tapasyā (a combination of meditation, prayer, and penance) so as to eventually attain the status of a goddess..