The ancient city of Varanasi is a land of surprises and bizarre things! Besides being an age-old city, the place is also renowned for its beautiful Ganga ghats, evening aarti and, of course, temples. Among many popular religious spots, there is one Bharat Mata Mandir that will leave you awestruck, as the temple features the map of an ‘undivided’ India as its prime deity and personifies ‘Mother India’.
The Bharat Mata Mandir is located in the Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth campus. It was constructed by Babu Shiv Prasad Gupta in pre-Independence India at a time when Mahatma Gandhi was taking charge of national movement for freedom from British rulers. The Gupta family still takes care of the building.
Bharat Mata Temple Specialty
Close look – Bharat Mata Temple Varanasi
The most striking aspect of Bharat Mata Temple is that instead of gods and goddesses, it has a relief map of undivided India, carved out of white marble that was brought from Makrana. The temple is a rare instance of something attributed to nationalism and a tribute to everyone who participated in the making of India.
20th century hindi poet Maithili Sharan Gupt, fondly called Rashtra Kavi composed a poem on the inauguration of the temple which is also put up on a board in the building. You’ll be impressed with the acuteness in terms of latitude and longitude of the map; when measured in scale, the map is absolutely perfect.
The Bharat Mata Mandir displays a map of Undivided India in the centre of the building showing Afghanistan, Pakistan including Balochistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar as Burma and Sri Lanka.
Further, adding to the distinctiveness of the temple are the five pillars inside symbolising five basic elements of creation, namely―fire, earth, wind, water and sky. These pillars finally meet at one point which further represents that all elements eventually unite with one ‘Supreme’.
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