The god who resides on the peak

Sanjeev V Sardesai

For the 100th article of ‘Unexplored Goa’, we take a journey to the Sri Chandranath-Bhutnath Temple at Paroda in Quepem Taluka, situated on the Chandranath hill, the third highest peak in Goa (about 350 metres above sea level).

While the exact origin of this temple is not known, it hosts one of the most revered deities, Sri Chandranath or the Lord of the Moon, one of the avatars of Lord Shiva. The temple may have been in existence for over 1000 years and was revered by the Bhoja Dynasty, who ruled the region from Chandramandala or Chandrapur or present day Chandor. Later, it became the family deity of the Kadamba kings. Nearby, is the Sri Bhutnath Shrine.

Quepem was a taluka added to Portuguese Goa around 1773 and the entire town’s architectural layout is credited to Deao Almeida, who was deputed here to set up the new locality. Today, the ‘Palacio de Deao’ or ‘the Palace of Dean’, located about 100 metres away from the town square, has been converted into a museum by Reuben da Gama. It still hosts the crest of the ‘Deao’ on its facade.

But what catches your eyes, on the drive to Quepem, is a huge masonry gate structure in the paddy fields. This is the ‘Mahadwar’ or the main gate that proceeds to the Sri Chandreshwar Bhutnath temple.

It is an almost 6 to 7 kilometres drive uphill to get to the 4 wheeler parking of the temple. From here, to reach the main temple, you still have to walk about 250 steep steps. There is another route for 2 wheelers which takes you a bit higher from where there are about 90 steps to climb.

Thinking of walking up? There are two sets of stairs to the top – the new stairway (about 900 steps) and the old traditional steps (almost 2000 of them), which has thick shrubbery and uneven topography, made by laying semi flat and a few cut granite stones. You can see this stairway while climbing up the new steps.

There are three main levels that comprise the Sri Chandranath Bhutnath Temple. Many a times, age and lack of transport facilities prevent people from going to the temple at the peak. Hence a provision has been made for them to seek blessings through an ‘oracle’ or ‘prasad’ at the Sri Shankh Bhairav Temple at the base.

At the mid-level, there is a temple office, an agarshala, hall, a big temple lake and a fresh water spring which is known for its medicinal value.

The house of one of Goa’s famous, but sadly forgotten, tabla player (late) Khaprumam Parvatkar who is credited with discovering a musical note, which was considered impossible to play, is also located here. It is almost in ruins today, and is crying to be preserved.

We now proceed upwards to the main temple. The temple committee has made parking facilities at three different levels to accommodate the rush during certain festivities – two towards the north and a huge one towards the south. As you climb the last few steps, you will see a huge boulder on your left; in the shape of a huge ‘nandi bull’ the official vehicle of Lord Shiva.

Once you reach the top, the area opens out into a small plateau where we can see the temple and another tall edifice, which hosts the various temple chariots and ‘raths’. The facade of the temple hosts a mythological scene of the ‘Samudra Maanthan’ made in relief.

It is important to note that the temple is open between 8.30 a.m. and 6 p.m., except on Mondays, when they have the palkhi procession at about 8 p.m. and on temple festivity days. The temple is shut from 1.30 p.m. to 3.30 p.m.

The temple has a very large, open ‘sabhamandap’ in front of the main temple ‘mandap’ and ‘garbhagriha’. The icon of this deity is in the form of a ‘Swayambhu Ling’ or an icon which has evolved from nature itself. The ceiling of this inner mandap displays old and beautiful wood carvings. The ‘aartis’ take place daily at 12.30 p.m.

Close by is another shrine dedicated to Lord Bhutnath, one of the bhairav’s of Lord Shiva. It is said that when Lord Shiva came here to pray, Bhutnath missed him. So, Lord Shiva invited Bhutnath to stay with him on this parvat. His icon is seen as spiky granite outcrop, which is a unique religious icon. Interestingly, since he always wanted to see his beloved Lord Shiva, there is a hole created in the wall, where, earlier both icons could see each other.

The most unique part of this temple is the circumambulatory, where devotees carry out the ‘pradakshina’. On either sides and at the rear, we find a huge rock which extends into the corridors. Also, as you enter the outer ‘sabhamandap’, we see two granite boulders – one small and one huge towards the south side. These are considered to be either meteors or boulders that fell from the sky.

Possibly the identity of this deity arose from these very stones – those that arrived from the moon (Chandra). It is said, that on full moon night, the moon’s rays fall on the icon and water oozes out from the ling.