Gufa Mandir



Temples are one of the important parts of the Hindu mythology and in the life of Hindu. Among all the gods in the Hindu Granthas, Lord Shiva is among the most powerful gods and known as the destroyer of the universe. Gufa temple situated in Bhopal is one of the oldest temple present in India which has caves and some of the oldest carved statues of Lord Shiva. The Gufa temple is located on a hilltop near the Neori temple in the area of BDA colony, Nayapura, Idgah hills which is near the military base. It is around 10 km away from Bhopal station. This temple contains several caves with natural running water in them, this water is so cold and pure that many visitors used to drink this water as it is the symbol of faith, unity, and pureness present in that divine place. Earlier there is only single temple which is carved in a hill with some statues of Lord Shiva present in it, but now, that place has one more newly constructed temple which has been created by the Board of that temple, so that the devotees may not face any problem while worshiping the lord. There are around 2 caves which contain Shivling but one of the cave is so deep inside. In one of the cave, Shivling is been placed and the whole opening is covered with water around 1 feet. People used to circle that opening of the gate around the Shivling which is a ritual in worshiping the lord. The other cave is present in the newly constructed temple which is currently being closed by the committee as many of them earlier died on reaching the other end of the cave by suffocation or by trapping in that cave. The other cave is not so deep and placed another big Shivling of Lord Shiva just opposite to that of the cave present in the newly constructed temple, people used to go there and worship that old Shivling of Lord Shiva. By the committee, statues of other gods have also been placed like Lord Krishna and lord hanuman with the ram Darbaar and Lakshmi Narayan statue present in that temple. There are total 7 caves, one contains lord shiva Shivling and other 6 are available for the students who live there and used to get knowledge in that gurukul school. Many devotees believe that all their problems and their tension gets over only just by worshiping lord shiv in that cave where the statue of shiv is placed on the natural running water. A big fare is been organized by the committee in the month of Saavan and on Shivratri. All the devotees used to visit here in this months usually on the Monday of this Saavan month. The scene is just beautiful when one observes the devotees in such a large number at a single moment, all the devotees are in a great flow of devotion to Lord Shiva in this month, that scene is just awesome. The best time to visit here is in the monsoon especially in the month of Saavan from the Hindu calendar more precisely on Mondays of that Saavan month. The best time to visit here is in the noon where one can see the most beautiful structures in the natural sunlight.it is said truly that "Lord Shiva is in me and I am in Lord Shiva, yes we are the same"