| The religiosity
of the people in Bihar has found a recent expression in the Kaliji temple at Bettiah,
established by one of the Bettiah Maharajas a few decades back. This temple is very little
known outside Champaran district. The Maharaja had collected about 480 images of Hindu
deities from all over India. He had installed them in this temple. Each and every image is
duly worshipped even now by a large number of Pujaris. The Maharaja had made endowments
for the proper maintenance of this fine institution. This temple with its 480 images of
the Hindu pantheon is a marvelous institution. No student of ancient Indian history and
culture should fail to -visit this Kaliji temple at Bettiah. The legends associated with the temples- of Bihar make the temples all the more
interesting. Bihar is, verily, the confluence of different religious creeds. Various
currents of Hinduism like Saivism, Vaishnavism, Tantricism, and Buddhism in its different
phases, Jainism, Sikhism etc, had found millions of adherents in Bihar. |
