Jwalamukhi Temple
Jwalamukhi is famous temple Temple, 30km south of Kangra valley of the goddess Jwalamukhi with flaming mouth. In this temple there is a copper pipe through which natural gas comes out and the priest of the temple lights this. This flame is worshiped as a manifestation of the goddess Jwalamukhi.
The nine flames have been named after goddesses - Mahakali, Unpurna, Chandi, Hinglaj, Bindhya Basni, Maha Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ambika and Anji Devi, continuously burning without any fuel, or assistance,may be seen erupting from a rock-side. Now housed in the shape of nature is worshipped as a goddess ,know as JWALAMUKHI. It is one of the 51 Shakti-pitha temples. The great Mughal Emperor Akbar had visited this place to test its originality. Jwalamukhi is one of the fifty one Mahashakthi pithas.
The Legend:
The temple belongs to the golden period when the gods roamed the Earth. Ancient legend speak if a time when demons lorded over the Himalaya mountains and harassed the gods. Led by Lord Vishnu, the gods decided to destroy them, they focused their strengths an huge flames rose from the ground. From that fire, a young girl look birth. She is regarded as Adishakti the first 'Shakti' known as Sati or Parvati, she grew up the house of Prajapati Daksha and later became the consort of Lord Shiva. Once her father insulted Lord Shiva and unable to accept this, she killed herself. When Lord Shiva heard of his wife's death his range knew no bounds and holding Sati's body he began stalking the three worlds. The other gods trembled before his wrath and appealed to lord vishnu for help. Lord Vishnu let fly a volley of arrows which struck Sati's body and severed it to pieces. At the Places where the pieces fell, the fifty-one sacred 'shaktipeeths' came into being. Sati's tongue fell at Jwalaji (610m) and the goddess is manifest as tiny flames that burns flawless blue through fissures in the age-old rock. Even the Pandavas are regarded to have visited this sacred place.
Some people believe that Jwalamukhi represents the flaming mouth of Jalandhara, the demon whom Lord Shiva crushed to death by placing on him a huge mass of mountains. Popular beliefs and history are often intertwined at Jwalamukhi. For instance, it is a fact that Akbar the great Mughal Emperor visited the temple. The water course which today drips into a tank in the temple premises is said to have been constructed by Akbar in an attempt to douse the jets of flames in the temple.