Sheetla Mata Mandir, Gurugram (Gurgaon) is a temple dedicated to Mata Sheetla Devi, who is Kripi/Kripai/Lalitha, the wife of Guru Dronacharya.
Guru Dronacarya , according to the Indian epic Mahabharata was the teacher of the Pandavas and Kauravas.
The district Gurgaon, recently renamed Gurugam, takes its name from Guru + Gramme, signifying the guru’s hamlet.
The temple is located on Sheetla Mata Road in Gurgaon city, Gurgaon district, Haryana state, India. The shrine is well-known and a huge number of people visit it.
Sheetla Mata temple Mandir history
The Sheetla Mata temple is dedicated to Guru Dronacharya’s wife, Kripi/Kirpai, also known as Lalitha.
Kirpai, also known as Lalita and later Mata Sheetla, used to live in the nearby Union Territory of Delhi village of Keshopur.
Dronacharya, her husband, used to come to Keshopur every day from his Gurugram ashram.
She devoted herself to caring for ailing children, particularly those suffering from smallpox. People referred to her as Mata (Mother) with warmth and respect.
After her death, a temple was built in her honour, and she became known as Mata Sitla or Mata Masani, i.e. “the goddess of smallpox.”
Masani Mother is reported to have come in a dream to Chaudhri Singh Ram alias Singha, a fief-holder of village Gurgaon, more than three centuries ago.
She indicated a wish to relocate from Keshopur to Gurgaon.
She asked him to construct a home for her. Gurugram Bhim Kund is located to the south of Gurugram village, near the Dronacharya temple.
Sheetla Mata Temple is located just north of Gurugram village.
According to folklore, even after Singha brought and installed the goddess Masani, as her heart desired, in hamlet Gurgaon, the villagers of Keshopur continued to contest claims.
This disagreement was settled during the reign of Begum Samru, the Mughal Governor of Jharsa.
Her child, who had contracted smallpox, was cured after being consecrated before the goddess Masani in Gurgaon in the customary manner.
It was then determined that the goddess had moved to the village of Gurgaon.
The current temple was established in the 18th century by Jat monarch Jawahar Singh of Bharatpur in commemoration of his triumph over the Mughals, for which he had sought Sheetla Mata’s blessings.
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