Bahuchar Mata Temple, Becharaji

01The Charan daughter

Bahuchara was born in a Charan family, the Detha clan, and is counted a form of Hinglaj Mata. The katha of Chunval: she and her sisters were travelling with a caravan when the robber Bapiya fell on it at Shankhalpur. Rather than be touched, the sisters gave up their lives in the Charan way, and Bahuchara cursed Bapiya to lose his manhood. When he begged forgiveness she told him to build her shrine and worship her there, and promised that those who came to her in that state, dressed as women, would have her blessing. Bapiya built it under a varakhdi tree. That spot is the Adyasthan, the first seat, still worshipped in the complex.

02Three temples and a garbo

The complex has three shrines: the Adyasthan under the tree, the Madhyasthan, and the main temple, where the Devi is worshipped through the Bala yantra rather than a murti. The Gaekwads of Baroda took the villages around into their state, paid an annual allowance to the temple and built the main shrine; the temple’s own records give a vow made by a Gaekwad ruler during a grave illness. Gujarat counts Bahucharaji with Ambaji and Pavagadh as its three Shakti Peethas, the local tradition saying Sati’s hand fell here. The Peetha Nirnaya Tantra’s list does not name it, so traditions differ. The great fair is on Chaitra Purnima, and the 18th-century poet Vallabh Bhatt’s garbas to her are sung through Navratri.