Ashapura Mata Temple, Mata no Madh

01Kuldevi of Kutch

Mata no Madh, the Mother’s abode, lies in the hills of Lakhpat taluka, more than 100 km north-west of Bhuj. The Kutch gazetteer records that two Karad Vania ministers, Ajo and Anagor, built the first temple in the 14th century. The Jadeja Rao of Kutch, and all the Jadeja clans, held her as their kuldevi, and the Rao came in person for the Navratri puja. The murti is a red-smeared form some six feet high, of which only the eyes stand out.

02Two earthquakes

The great Kutch earthquake of 1819 brought the temple down. In 1823 two Brahmakshatriya devotees, Sundarji Shivji and Mehta Vallabhji, rebuilt it, 58 feet long and 52 feet high. On 26 January 2001 the Bhuj earthquake struck again and the temple was badly damaged; it was repaired and worship resumed. At Navratri, thousands of pilgrims walk to Mata no Madh across the Kutch desert from as far as Ahmedabad and Mumbai, and the roadside is lined with camps serving them food.

The life of this place