Shri Mata Sheetla Devi Mandir - Gurugram

Sheetla Mata temple, Gurugram is a temple dedicated to the Mata Sheetla Devi, she is Kripi/Kripai/Lalitha wife of Guru Dronacharya who was the teacher of the Pandavas and Kauravas according to Indian epic Mahabharata. The district Gurgaon, now renamed as Gurugam derives it name from Guru + Gram or the village of the guru.[1] The temple is located on Sheetla mata Road in Gurgaon city of Gurgaon district in the state of Haryana in India. The shrine is very famous and is visited by large number of people.

HISTORY SHEETLA MATA MANDIR GURGAON

The Sheetla Mata temple is dedicated to the wife of Guru Dronacharya, Kripi/Kirpai, also called Lalitha. Kirpai, also called Lalita and later Mata Sheetla, used to live in Keshopur village located in the nearby Union Territory of Delhi. Dronacharya her husband used to visit her daily at Keshopur from his Gurugram ashram. She devoted herself to look after the sick children, specially those suffering from the smallpox. People called her Mata (Mother) out of affection and respect. After her death a temple was built in her honour by the villagers and she began to be remembered as Mata Sitla or Mata Masani, i.e. 'the goddess of smallpox'. It is said that more than three centuries ago, Masani Mother appeared in a dream to Chaudhri Singh Ram alias Singha, a fief-holder of village Gurgaon. She expressed her desire to leave Keshopur and come to Gurgaon. She made him build a place for her. Towards the south of Gurugram village lies Gurugram Bhim Kund near the temple of Dronacharya. Sheetla mata temple lies to the north of Gurugram village. The legend goes that even after Singha had brought and installed the goddess Masani, after her own heart's desire, at village Gurgaon, the residents of Keshopur continued to dispute the claims of Gurgaon folks. This controversy was put at rest during the time of Begum Samru, the Governor of Jharsa under the Mughals. Her child who had contracted smallpox was cured after being consecrated in the prescribed manner before the goddess Masani at Gurgaon. It was then finally established that the goddess had begun to live at village Gurgaon. The current temple was built in the 18th century by the Hindu Jat king Jawahar Singh of Bharatpur, in memory of his victory over the Mughals, for which he had invoked the blessings of Sheetla Mata.