In addition to serving as the guardian of Lord Shiva and Goddess Chhinnmastika and being an incarnation of "Shakti" (power) and "Gyan," "Lankapati Ravana" is worshipped here (knowledge).
Digital Desk: With the exception of Shivala in Kanpur, which has
a revered shrine devoted to Ravana and reverberates with the chanting of
"Jai Lankesh" and "Lankapati Naresh ki Jai ho" on the
occasion, the effigy of Ravana will be set ablaze on Wednesday, Vijay Dashami
Day, throughout the nation.
On Vijay Dashami, when the demon king escapes incarceration and
is worshipped, the temple, also known as Dashanan temple, is briefly opened
before being sealed up till the following Dussehra.
A ten-headed, five-foot-tall idol of Ravana is placed in the
courtyard of the Chhinnmastika Devi Temple in the Shivala neighborhood of the
city, where thousands of worshippers congregate every Dussehra day to
commemorate the triumph of good over evil as represented by Lord Ram and Ravan,
respectively. In addition to serving as the guardian of Lord Shiva and Goddess
Chhinnmastika and being an incarnation of "Shakti" (power) and
"Gyan," "Lankapati Ravana" is worshipped here (knowledge).
There are seven temples dedicated to Ravana located all over the
nation, including one in Kanpur, where he is revered as a great devotee of Lord
Shiva. Other temples in the region include the Ravana Mandir in Bisrakh,
Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, the Ravana Temple in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh,
the Ravangram Ravana Temple in Vidisha; Madhya Pradesh; the Mandsaur Ravan
Temple in Madhya Pradesh; the Mandore Ravan Temple in Jodhpur; and the
Baijanath Temple in the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh.
On the day of Dussehra, the puja and aarti for Lankadhiraj
Ravana begin at nine in the morning and continue till late in the evening, when
Lord Ram kills him. According to Ramji, one of the locals of the area home to
the rare temple, "remaining in captivity for 364 days of the year, the
devotees take darshan of Lankapati Ravan on the day of Dussehra, making a
beeline at the temple right from early morning until late at night, believing
that it would mitigate all the negativity present in their lives and sharpen
the brain as Ravan was believed to be all-powerful and learned."
The temple was built in 1868. It is only turned off on the day
of Dussehra when the effigies of Ravan, Kumbhkaran, and Meghnad are set on
fire. It is a widely held belief that Ravan spends 12 hours in this temple on
the day of Dussehra. According to Dhanajay Tiwari, the head priest and convenor
of puja at the Dashanan temple, Guru Prasad Shukla, a local of the close-by
Unnao region, established this temple. According to Tiwari, the shrine receives
more than 30,000 pilgrims on the day of Vijay Dashami.
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