Shree Kirateshwar Shiva Temple (Mandir), Legshep

I remember driving down through the enchanted tea gardens of North Tukver and Singla, contemplating deep inside my hollow self whether my mother had survived or not. Every time my mobile rung struggling inside my trouser pocket like an agitated fish, I silently closed my eyes and prayed, “Lord, please protect her, save her.” On the fateful month of January 2007, when the world celebrated a new year, I fought my way through emotions to reach Legshep, to prostrate myself before the Supreme Lord Kirateswara and beg for my mother’s life. My mother herself, in coma for more than a week, at the intensive care unit at Mitra’s Clinic in Siliguri was on the verge of losing her struggle for survivable. It was certainly, the gloomiest day of my life. We lost our direction, had to change tires and ultimately the car itself. I was wrecked but on advice of a friend’s mother some how found strength to carry on. I was heartbroken when I reached the temple but suddenly I felt relieved and at peace. It was as if some one had placed his hand on my shoulder and given me hope. Deep inside I was convinced that nothing would happen to my mother. We performed puja and at the end of the puja and prayers, I received a call from my father saying that Mom was now doing well and that there was nothing to worry about.

My faith in the temple and my reverence of the Lord changed my life for ever so can yours be, after you visit Shree Kirateshwar Shiva Temple (Mandir) at Legshep. In fact, there are many whose lives have changed miraculously and the divine aura of the temple upon the sacred banks of the Rangeet at Legshep grown over the years. Today, it attracts thousands of devotees from all over the world. The hallowed ‘Shiva Linga’ (the revered mark of Lord Shiva), the main idol of the sanctum sanctorum is believed to have originated ages ago lying revealed and concealed by the receding and growing waters of the Rangeet. Once there used to be a cowshed upon the flat of the bank and cattle grazed on the delicious green in the vicinity. The story goes that sometime in 1918 a cowherd had dreamt of the presence of the ‘Linga’ and was guided to revere it to usher in prosperity. The following morning he had searched and located it upon the base of an old ‘Duneri’ tree. Soon the neighbours had collected and prayers had begun. As time went by, news of the holy spot had spread and devotees flocked in to worship. Meanwhile the cattle had flourished and the people had prospered. Later a fair came to be held where people congregated to sing ‘Kirtans’.

Today, each year ‘Balachaturdasi mela’ (a religious fair) a month after ‘Diwali’ (the Hindu festival of lights) and ‘Mahashivaratri Mela’ in February are held thronged by devouts from Nepal, Bhutan and different parts of the country. In 1972 the local temple committee had raised a small temple on the spot which was revamped to the present one in 1984. The temple complex now has a ‘Hom Kund’, a Ram temple, a Devi temple and also a ‘Dharamsala’ where devotees spend a night for free. An escapade from the Mahabharata relates that Arjuna during their years in exile had a duel with Lord Shiva (in the form of a mortal) over the possession of a wild boar which had been struck by both their arrows. The contention had arisen on whose arrow had struck first and who would possess the beast, so the two had wrestled. Soon Arjuna had found that he was no match for this powerful stranger and had begun to wield his matchless skill on the bow. To his utter bewilderment, that too seemed ineffective and so he sought to wield his most powerful weapon, the arrow of his Lord Shiva called the ‘Gandiv Astra’. It was then that it suddenly dawned upon him that the person he was trying to defeat was none other than his very Lord Shiva. Arjuna immediately fell at his Lord’s feet seeking reprieve. It is believed that the spot where the present ‘Linga’ was discovered was the very spot where Arjuna had sat in deep meditation of his Lord Shiva before his famous duel with the Lord. It is also said that offering water from the sacred Khecheopalri Lake to the ‘Linga’ was most auspicious as the lake had been the one where Yudhisthira, the eldest of the Pandavas had revived all his brothers by his wise answers to the divine ‘Yaksha’ of the lake.

The temple had later been renamed the Kirateshwar Shiva Mandir by a visiting sage, Rishi Bhirgu Baba of the Kamakhya temple. Today, as the Hindu month of ‘Shravana’ sets in hundreds of devotees descend from afar to offer water to the ‘Linga’, an arduous journey undertaken each year since the age of the ancient, an act perhaps or a yearning that could somehow make a devout feel closer to this maker, the Lord.