Chhapaiya

Chhapaiya Swaminarayan Chhapaiya
—  village  —
Chhapaiya Location of Chhapaiya in Uttar Pradesh and India
Coordinates	26°57′57″N 82°23′23″E / 26.96583°N 82.38972°E / 26.96583; 82.38972Coordinates: 26°57′57″N 82°23′23″E / 26.96583°N 82.38972°E / 26.96583; 82.38972
Country	India
State	Uttar Pradesh
District(s)	Gonda
Nearest city	Maskanva
Parliamentary constituency	Gonda
Assembly constituency	Mankapur
Population	3,000
Sex ratio	900:1000 ♂/♀
Literacy	50%%
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
Area • Elevation	• 320 metres (1,050 ft)
Website	www.chhapaiya.com

Chhapaiya is a village in Gonda District in the state of Uttar Pradesh about 50 km from district headquarter Gonda and 40 kilometers from the major city of Ayodhya.

Geography

Chhapaiya is located at 26°57′57″N 82°23′23″E / 26.965833°N 82.389722°E / 26.965833; 82.389722.

Points of interest

Shree Swaminarayan Mandir in Chhapaiya, The Birth Place of Shree Swaminarayan Bhagwan

Birth location of Shri Swaminarayan Bhagwan

Its singular claim to fame is that it is the birthplace of Bhagwan (God) Swaminarayan.^[1] Swaminarayan (1781 - 1830 CE) was incarnated here on 2 April 1781 as Ghanshyam, making this village a pilgrim place for his followers world wide. There are places where Swaminarayan played with other kids, climbed a tree that is part of the faith's folklore, the lake where he is said to have revived fish from a fisherman's catch.

Place of pilgrimage

The following are the different holy places in Chhapaiya.

1 Ghanshyam Bhavan: the beautiful monument on the birthplace of Bhagwan Swaminarayan. A temple on this place was erected by Acharya Shree Ayodhyaprasadji Maharaj in 1863, after passing away of Swminarayan in 1830. Later, after 47 years another big temple was built by Acharya Shree Purushottamprasadji Maharaj in 1910. This is being reconstructed in marble, a project started in 2004 by Acharya Shree Tejendraprasadji Maharaj.

2 This marble decorated room is on the ground floor of Ghanshyam Bhavan. This is the exact location of Dharmadev’s house where Ghanshyam was born.

3 Shri Swaminarayan Mandir: This mandir is near Ghanshyam Bhavan.

4 Narayan Sarovar: This is the sacred water pool where Ghanshyam often bathed. It is just outside the mandir complex.

5 Trikonyu Khetar (Triangular Farm): Where Ghanshyam sent birds into samadhi.

6 Meen Sarovar: This is a small lake (dry during the summer) where Ghanshyam brought dead fish back to life and instructed the fisherman not to kill fish for a living.

7 This shrine is at the place where defeated the demon Kalidutt, who came to kill Him.

Notes

1. ^ Raymond Brady Williams (2001). An Introduction to Swaminarayan Hinduism. Cambridge University Press. p. 13. ISBN 052165422X. http://books.google.com/?id=tPkexi2EhAIC&pg=PA36&lpg=PA33&dq=tejendraprasad. 

References

• Williams, Raymond (2001). Introduction to Swaminarayan Hinduism. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521654227. http://www.amazon.com/dp/052165422X