Muchhal Mahavir Temple

Muchhal Mahavir temple is a Jain temple dedicated to Lord Mahavir, at Ghanerao, in Pali district in Rajasthan state in India . The place is on the route from Falna to Kumbhalgarh.The fair is held here every year on the thirteenth day of the month of Chaitra.

Legend

The story goes that once, when the Rana of Mewar was on a hunt, he came to the temple where he was offered refreshment by the priest. The priest offered him the Prasad of the Lord, and the Rana was amused to find a strand of white hair in the Prasad, which must have fallen from the priest’s head. As a joke, the Rana asked the priest “what! Does your Lord have a moustache?” the scared priest, without realizing what he was saying, replied in the affirmative. Carrying the joke further, the Rana refused to pay his respects to the Lord that day, and told the priest that he would return after 3 days, and wanted to see the moustache of the lord! The priest didn’t know what to do and spent the next two days in prayer. When he did not see any results, he decided to commit suicide rather than be killed by the king. When he picked up the dagger of Bhairon at the temple to kill himself, the Lord appeared before him and advised him to cover the face of the idol with a piece of cloth and ask the king to remove the cloth himself after offering prayers. When the king arrived the next day, the priest welcomed him warmly and asked the king to have a bath and offer prayers to the Lord himself. Seeing the cloth covering the face of the idol, the king got angry and demanded an explanation. The priest repeated to the king what he had been ordered to do by the Lord. The king agreed and offered his prayers to the Lord, and when he opened the cloth, Lo and Behold! The idol of Mahavir not only had moustaches, but also a beard!! The king repented for having made such a joke and asked forgiveness from the priest. He was, needless to say, forgiven, and the beard and moustache disappeared. But the name has stuck. The Lord has, since then, been called ‘Mucchal Mahavir’, or the Mahavir who had a moustache.

References

• Jain tirth