Naina Devi temple is a hill top temple situated in the Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh. The hill top temple is dedicated to Maa Naina Devi, one of the form of Maa Shakti and also considered as one of the 51 Shaktipeeths. Naina Devi temple is build where the eyes of Mata Sati’s fell, The sight is a holy place for Hindu’s.

Shri Naina Devi Ji is one of the most notable places of worship in Himachal Pradesh. Located in Distt Bilaspur, it is one of the 51 Shaktipeeths where limbs of Sati fell on Earth. This holy place witnesses the huge crowd of pilgrims and devotees round the year and especially during Shravan Ashtami and in the Navratras of Chaitra & Ashwin.
Special fair is organized during Chaitra, Shravan and Ashwin Navrati, which attracts millions of visitors from Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and other corners of the country.

History

Shri Naina Devi Temple is located on an altitude of 1177 meters in Distt. Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh. Several mythological stories are associated with the establishment of the temple.
According to a legend, Goddess Sati burnt herself alive in Yagna, which distressed Lord Shiva. He picked the corpse of Sati on her shoulder and started his Taandav dance. This horrified all deities in the heaven as this could lead to holocaust. This urged Lord Vishnu to unleash his Chakra that cut the Sati’s body into 51 pieces. Shri Naina Devi Temple is the place where eyes of Sati fell down.
Another story related to the temple is of a Gujjar Boy named Naina. Once he was grazing his cattle and observed that a white cow is showering milk from her udders on a stone. He saw the same thing for next several days. One night while sleeping, he saw Goddess in her dreams who told him that the stone is her Pindi. Naina told about the entire situation and his dream to Raja Bir Chand. When Raja saw it happening in reality, he built a temple on that spot and named the temple after Naina’s name.
Shri Naina Devi Temple is also known as Mahishapeeth because of defeat of demon Mahishasur by the Goddess. According to the legends, Mahishasur was a powerful demon who was blessed by the boon of immortality by Lord Brahma, but the condition was that he could be defeated only by an unmarried woman. Due to this boon, Mahishasur started spreading terror on Earth and Gods. To cope with the demon, all Gods combined their powers and created a Devi to defeat him. The Devi was gifted different types of weapons by all Gods. When Mahishasur got mesmerized by the immense beauty of Devi and proposed her to marry him. Devi told him that she will marry him if he would overpower her. During the battle, Devi defeated the demon and took out both his eyes. This urged Gods to happily applaud “Jai Naina” and hence the name.
One more story is associated with Sikh Guru Gobind Singh Ji. When he left for his military campaign against Mughals in 1756, he went Shri Naina Devi and performed a Sacrificial Yagna to seek blessings of the Goddess. After getting the blessings, he successfully defeated the Mughals.

How to Reach

Temple of Shri Naina Devi Ji is situated on hill top in Bilaspur Distt. of Himachal Pradesh in India.
Nearest Airport is Chandigarh which is connected with New Delhi by Jet Airways and Indian Airlines Flights.
The distance of the shrine from Chandigarh is approx. 100 kms.

By Air The nearest airport is in Chandigarh and the distance from there is near about 100 km.

By Train The nearest railway station is in Anandpur Sahib and the distance from there is near about 30 km.

By Road This famous temple is connected with National Highway No. 21.

Temple is about 350 km from Delhi and 100 km from Chandigarh. Frequent State Transport bus services are available from all important cities of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh.
You can hire taxies from Anandpur Sahib and from Chandigarh to reach the temple. Temple is well constructed and come under Shrine Board. Distance from Kiratpur Sahib to shrine is 30 Kms of which 18 Kms is drive in the Hills. From Anandpur Sahib the distance is 20 Kms of which 8 Kms is drive in the hills.
Once you reach the bus stand of Naina Devi you will take Palkis to reach the destination. Most of the people will prefer pedestrians. In the past people used to trek from Kaulan Wala Toba near Anandpur Sahib to the shrine.