Balaji Through My Lens

Mystery of Mehandipur Balaji Temple

Balaji temple is dedicated to deity Hanuman.The name Balaji refers to the childhood avatar of Hanuman as in Sanskrit bala means child.The temple is situated in Dausa district of Rajasthan.Unlike any other temple across India; This temple is renowned for witchcraft, demons, evil possession and for live exorcism.

Ritual

It was 5 in the morning when I reached there, in one hour the ritual of arti was about to began. The huge crowd was present to attend the morning arti.The ceremony of arti was continued for 15-20 minutes as the priest finished the arti they came out of the temple with charanamrit (holy water) and sprinkled that on the crowd. It is believed that when the water sprinkled on the crowd it activates those people who are possessed by the demons .During the arti the possessed ones started acting strangely; screaming is one of the most common.They screamed and cried the hell out and I agree it was scary. After arti those are possessed were taken inside the temple for exorcism and rest of the others were headed towards the queue to pay their devotion and prayer to Sankatmochan Hanuman.

Inside the Temple

There are two complexes inside the temple , one complex is for the waiting queue and the other is the main temple. The temple of Pretraj Sarkar is next to the Balaji temple;Inside the temple possessed men and women were chained at the corner, some of them were banging their heads with full force, beating themselves, shouting, talking to themselves,while some of them were quite as an ocean .As per the legends goes Pretraj Sarkar holds his court and awards punishment to the demons, ghosts,spirits or any other kind of supernatural.

People suffering from demonic possessions and black magic or spell come here in search of their cure from supernatural powers.

Exorcism

Shri Bhairav baba temple is the ground for performing the exorcism.Generally, 4 to 5 exorcism are performed there at a time.During the exorcism, the dance of devil begins it is the most dramatic and tantrum; full of loud mantra enchainments with dhool , nagada and khadtaal. As the process of exorcisms ends, they all get back to the normal being.Sometimes the exorcism takes a nasty turn ,pundits even beat victims with the stick.

Possession comes with the fear of losing

Do's and Dont's

Do not eat or take the parsad (sacrament)with you.
Once you leave the temple do not look back.
Do not buy anything from the market.
Should pray constantly while stepping inside the temple.

As every coin has two sides, possessed or mental disorder who knows.There every story is a riddle.These are the grounds where doubts and questions born, for believers, it's a land of exorcism where the supernatural is a part of daily routine for non-believers it's an old myth whose roots are bigger and stronger to tear apart.Who are you !

The World is made up of light and darkness.You can't have one without another cause darkness is half of everything

How to reach

Explore the road trip of 255kms from Delhi to Mehandhipur Rajasthan.The roads are smooth and straight also the transition from one state to another state is quite observable as you enter from Delhi to Uttar Pradesh and then Rajasthan, there is a prominent change in language ,architecture,food ,culture,dress,soil and much more .

Yamuna expressway