01A soldier’s vow
The temple’s account says that Apa Gangadhar, an officer in the Maratha service, was badly wounded in battle and vowed to build a temple to Shiva if he lived. He recovered and in 1761, the year of Panipat, raised this temple on Chandni Chowk, the great street of Shahjahanabad, with the Lal Mandir of the Jains and the Sis Ganj gurdwara of the Sikhs as its neighbours. The pujaris hold the linga itself to be some eight hundred years old.
02Shravan in Old Delhi
On Mondays of Shravan, and above all on Mahashivratri, the queue runs out into the bazaar, as kanwariyas bring Ganga water from Haridwar to pour on the linga. On ordinary mornings the traders of Chandni Chowk stop here on the way to open their shops, ring the bell, offer water and bel leaves, and walk on into the crowd of the old city. Few temples in Delhi are so much a part of the street around them.
The life of this place
- 1761Apa Gangadhar builds the temple to fulfil his vow.
At the Red Fort end of Chandni Chowk; the nearest Metro is Chandni Chowk or Lal Qila. Go on foot or by cycle-rickshaw.
