Sheetala Mata Mandir

Sheetala Mata Mandir is found at Gurugaon village, a suburb of Gurgaon (Guru Dronacharya’s birth place), in the state of Haryana. The presiding deity of this temple is Mata Sheetala Devi, which is also referred to as Shakti Peeth.Mata Sheetala Devi is also called as Bhagat Lalita Maa and Masani Maa. In fact the word Sheetala refers to the disease smallpox. And it is believed that if this deity is invoked with faith, she dispels the disease. Situated near a pond, this temple witnesses hordes of pilgrims throughout the year, except during the month of Shravana (July-August). During the month of Chaitra (March-April), this place resembles like Kumbh-Mela.A section of the visitors come for the mundan ceremony ( the first hair cutting ceremony) of their children and offer the crop of hair at the altar of goddess. Among other visitors married couples also come to invoke the blessings of the goddess for a happy married life.

sheetala mata temple guargan haryana

About Temple – More than three centuries ago two brothers, Padarath and Singha lived in the village of Gurgaon. They were fief holders and owned thousands of acres of land. Singha was a calm, good-natured person who spend most of his time in singing Bhajans. Impressed by Singha’s devotion, Sheetala Devi appeared in his dream and granted him a boon. The boon was that, Singha’s mere touch would free a person from all pains. Singha thus left his luxurious abode and started meditating near the pond. He also made a crude temple like structure and started worshipping the Devi there. One day it seems, while collecting mud from the pond, Singha found the idol of the Devi and consecrated it in the crude structure. This structure later on became the Sheetala Devi temple.

According to another legend, a poor carpenter living in Farukh Nagar had a beautiful daughter of marriageable age. On hearing about her beauty, the Mughal ruler expressed his desire to get married to the girl. The carpenter resented giving away her daughter to a person from a different religion and so appealed to King Surajmal of Bharatpur. The matter being outside his jurisdiction, the king refused to interfere. The disappointed carpenter met Prince Bharatpur, son of King Surajmal while returning home who tried to talk it out with his father but to no avail.Consequently, the prince revolted against his father. On his way to attack Delhi, he passed through Gurgaon and he pledged to the Shri  Mata Sheetla Devi that if he returned victorious, he would build a proper temple. The prince won and upon his return, he built the temple.

There is another version of the same temple. It is said that when prince of Bharatpur was proceeding towards , he and his army rested at Ballabhgarh. But the horses refused to move further from here. The court astrologer was summoned to explain the strange behaviour of the horses, whereupon it was found that since obeisance was not paid the goddess after entering Gurgaon on their way, this had angered her. Thus an elaborate worship of the goddess was arranged and the horses started moving. The prince pledged that he would build a temple on his victorious return