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Probably the martial spirit of the people of this district (a large
number of Bilaspur men always join the Police and the Army) and the Princely house
popularized this particular deity.
Lord Siva in His many manifestations has also a
very great hold on the people of Bilaspur. There are a large number of Siva temples with
symbols of the different manifestations of Lord Siva. The usual is, the lingam in a yoni
and with the vehicle Nandi. Most of the popular Siva temples are at Tikri near Panjgain,
Dhuni Paujail, Makri, Kheri, Saloa, Malokhar and Tobassangwana (all in tahsil Sadr).
The Devi cult is also very popular and the
Goddess is known as Naina Devi, Badol Devi, Hari Devi, Bhagwati Devi etc. There is Devi a
temple distributed all over the district as mentioned before. The Naina Devi temples in
Sadr tahsil are the most popular.
There is a legend about the Devi temple at Jamthal which may be
mentioned here :-
A weaver was working in a field when he
suddenly struck an idol with his hoe. The idol started bleeding. The weaver was terrified
and felt pangs of inner pains for what he had done. The Devi then appeared and asked him
not to worry and, as an atonement, to build a temple to her in this village.
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