Devi Talab Mandir (Tripuramalini), Jalandhar

01Jalandhara Peetha

Here the classical list agrees with the people. The Peetha Nirnaya Tantra names Jalandhara as the place where Sati’s breast fell, the Devi as Tripuramalini and her Bhairava as Bhishana; tantric texts count Jalandhara with Kamarupa, Purnagiri and Odiyana among the four great peethas. Lists differ on whether it was the left breast or the right. The old shrine of Tripuramalini stands in the complex beside the newer Durga temple with its gold-covered domes. There is an old Kali temple next to it, the tank itself, as old as the shrine, and a modern model of the Amarnath cave for those who cannot make the climb in Kashmir.

02Harivallabh’s music

Swami Harivallabh, a sadhu of Jalandhar, began a gathering of musicians at Devi Talab in 1875 in memory of his guru, Swami Tuljagiri. It has met every year since, near his samadhi by the tank, and is counted the oldest festival of Hindustani classical music in the country. For three or four nights in December the greats of the north have sung and played here, and the last session runs till dawn. The town calls it the Harivallabh, and families who have never been to a concert hall sit on the ground by the tank through the night.

The life of this place