Giridih temple set for Shivratri celebrations

DHANBAD: The state’s tallest Shiva shrine, Harihar Dham in Giridih, is ready to celebrate Shivratri on Friday.

Situated at the confluence of the Jamuniya river and an unnamed stream flowing from the nearby hills, about 2km from NH2, the temple is spread over 23.78 acres area with the

Shiva Lingam

reaching up to a height of 62 feet.

The temple was founded by a retired

Calcutta High Court

judge, Justice Amarnath Mukhopadhyaya, around 40 years ago. But its pran pratishtha was performed in February 1988.

Mukhopadhyay, who was respected and regarded as ‘baba’, had thought of building the temple when he took a pause during his padyatra to famous religious sites between 1960 and 1961.

The head priest Vijay Pathak when asked about the concept behind the unique construction and uncommon name of the temple, said, “As per his plan, Mukhopadhyay initially founded a Radha Krishna temple which is also called Hari temple and two-to-three years later he founded a Shiv temple which is also called by another name of Lord Shiva — ‘Har’. Since both the temples of Hari and Har are in the same campus, together they are known as Harihar dham.”

“Mukhopadhyay quoted his view behind the construction of the temple through a Bengali poem — ‘Kathay kaje bhinno jara, sabai tara shanti hara; kathay kaje ek koro tobe shanti pete paro’ (No one can achieve peace and tranquillity, unless one acts or appears as what he or she speaks). He also known to have installed a similar Shiva Lingam inside the temple to show that Lord Shiva has similar inner and outer faces,” Pathak added.

“We do not have any concrete information regarding the total expenditure in building the temple but according to the records, the initial cost came to around Rs 10 to 12 lakhs. Besides, several new constructions were also set up with the help of donations by renowned persons,” said

Bhim Prasad Yadav

, the manager of the Harihar Dham trust.

“Despite being famous all across the state for its unique construction and majestic height the development of the temple is still not up to the mark as it is being ignored by the district authorities and the government,” said Dhirendra Kumar, a local Vishwa Hindu Parishad activist, who claims to have informed the concerned authorities regarding this numerous times.

Prity Kisku, the block development officer, who is also the ex-officio chairperson of the

Harihar Dham temple

, could not be contacted for her comments.