The most amazing discovery was finding the star of David symbol on the whitewashed walls of the Tara Devi Temple in Mirzapur. These five stared symbols I had previously seen in the few Jewish Synagogues I visited in Azerbaijan. The star of David is also an ancient symbol in the Sanatana Drama, and it is also a tantric symbol closely associated with tara Devi. There was also a tantric mantra written on the wall with the five-star symbol on either side.
Tara Devi Temple
The Devi and the power of the Devi is worshipped and revered in the smaller towns and villages of eastern UP. This is because Devi is associated with fertility and prosperity and the people here are involved in farming for them fertility is very sacred.
I even managed to take a tuk tuk inside the villages of western Uttar Pradesh. Pope was sitting outside their huts some tended to their cattle and buffaloes the other chopped wood. The women combed their hair and gossiped around charpoys. Old men smoked pukka and sat under tress as children played around the streets. This was the typical village life around the small towns of Uttar Pradesh, this was a part of India which I still had not explored. Poverty mingled with God and spirituality in this land. I managed to get some great snaps and was able to capture the mood of the place.
At the Tara Devi Mandir I performed prayers and even maned to see a tantric Pooja being performed by a Kali Bhatt, the man looked fierce and was meditating and praying to Kali Ma. This was under a huge Pipal tree near the banks of the Ganga.
The story dates back over 250 years although a king called Bhupendra Sen had a dream and vision of the goddess Tara who instructed him to build a temple in her honour so that she could bless her devotees. There are he brass bells that adorn the temple and the sculpture of Nandi as well. I managed rot mediate in-font of the idol of the Devi and did the Parikrama of the temple as well.
What fascinated me was the tantric rituals which were being performed to please the fierce goddess, Kali. I stood the priest perform the Pooja’s and recite the powerful mantras. It’s as all very magical and spiritual.
Today I got the real feel of Mirzapur and the daily lives of its people. I have also developed a taste for Poori Aloo, Barfi and Lodoo. The other fact that the temple priest told me was that it was the toe of the goddess that fell where now the Vindyavasani temple was built that is why it was a Shakti Peth.
