The Deepdevi at Baba Shumbheswarnath Dham

-By Rajeeva Nayan Pathak 

Deep within the dense forests, long before the age of electricity, stood temples veiled in silence and mystery, where only the wind, the rustling leaves, and the chants of devotion filled the air. Among these sacred sanctuaries, Baba Shumbheswarnath Dham holds a treasure unlike any other — a bronze lady, standing gracefully with folded hands, upon which rests a sacred deepak, a lamp that has witnessed centuries of worship and prayer.

The statue is solid, cast in a single piece of bronze, about sixteen to eighteen inches tall, proportionate in width and depth, weighing over ten kilograms. The oval deepak, capable of holding nearly half a litre of ghee, rests delicately on her folded palms. Each morning, at the beginning of the pujan, ghee is poured, cotton wicks are placed or replaced, and the lamp is lit. Its gentle flame often glows steadily through the day and night, illuminating the 'garbha griha' of the temple and inspiring the hearts of devotees with its quiet radiance.

The writer believes that the artisans of that time employed the ancient lost-wax casting technique, achieving a statue of remarkable balance, proportion, and anatomical precision. Though solid and unbroken, it exudes life - a living embodiment of devotion captured in molten metal, a witness to the ceaseless flow of faith through generations.

In times past, when the temple was surrounded by thick forests, the pandas would carry mashals in hand to perform the sandhya aarti, their flames warding off wild animals and serpents as they walked along shadowed paths. In such moments, the deepak was far more than light; it was guidance, protection, and a sacred presence, holding the essence of devotion steady through darkness inside the garbh griha.

What makes this statue truly rare, perhaps even unique in India, is that no other temple is known to possess such a solid, one-piece bronze figure holding a lamp in folded palms. In most temples, lamps are separate from idols, or female figures support lamp plates in front of them. Here, the lamp rests naturally within the hands of the figure, as though the goddess herself offers the divine light to the devotee. It is a living symbol of the intimate union between devotion and illumination, matter and spirit, earth and the divine.

Through countless years, this deepak has stood as a silent witness to prayers, meditations, and offerings, seeing the rise and fall of generations, the shifting seasons, and the passage of time. Its flame does more than light the temple; it illuminates the soul, and destroys the darkness of ego, illusion, fear, laziness and procrastination from the lives of devotees energizing them to follow the right path to their own individual destinations. 

At Baba Shumbheswarnath Dham, the bronze lady and her deepak continue their sacred vigil. In her folded hands rests not merely a lamp, but the living essence of divine grace — rare, luminous, and eternal.

Asato ma sadgamaya, 
tamaso ma jyotirgamaya, 
mrityor ma amritam gamaya.

Jai Baba Shumbheswarnath 🙏 

Har Har Mahadev 🙏