The temple of Yama’s right hand man Chitragupta
He keeps tabs on you and judges you because according to traditional knowledge, he is the God of justice. Chitragupta Maharaj decides whether you go to heaven or hell, depending on your actions on earth. He is the Kula
Devatha of Kayasthas and the accounts keeper of our deeds as you and I know him. There are obviously not many temples dedicated to Chitragupta, but Hyderabad has a Chitragupta temple near the Kandigal Gate and near Uppaguda Metro station. The other Chitragupta temples are in Lucknow, Kancheepuram and Ujjain; the Ujjain temple is supposedly the oldest. Chitragupta in Sanskrit means ‘rich in secrets’ or ‘hidden picture’.
A broad Uppaguda flyover diminishes the magnitude of the temple, with continuous noise and hum of traffic. Also you might simply miss the fact that you have to go below the flyover. Both entry and exit are from one side and that too is a narrow bottleneck. Earlier the temple was built on seven acres of land, but quite a bit has been taken away for the flyover. Some part of the land has also been handed over to build an Ayyappa temple.
While the Ramalayam and Shivalayam and a temple are dedicated to Shirdi Saibaba and are within the Chitragupta temple complex, seamlessly attached to the 350-year-old temple, there is a tall and handsome Hanuman statue just outside the temple with another building which houses the Navagrahas and another temple under an old peepul tree, housing a Dakshinamukhi Aanjaneya.
Chandrakant Joshi, who has been looking after the temple and has been here for the past 15 years says, “Chitragupta Maharaj is the right hand man of Yama. Worshipping him and performing abhishekam on a Wednesday helps. It helps remove the
Rahu/Ketu ‘dosham’ in a person’s life.” According to him a lot of people from various parts of the state visit the temple. And that is the grouse which Brajkumar Karna, founder of Kalam Dawat Kayasth Samaj, has. Kalam Dawat literally meaning pen and inkpot, because Chitragupta was a data collector anyway. He founded this samaj in 2006. “I have no idea why
Kayasths do not visit this temple, in large numbers since this is their kula
devatha. And a lot of miracles have happened in this temple including people getting married, getting jobs and getting back their good health. Chitragupta is a motivational god,” says Karna.
“We celebrate a few days including Makar Sankranti when we hold a fair and exchange til and gud and hope that we will all mix and merge like the til (gingelly) and gud (jaggery). We also celebrate Chitragupta’s birthday which is on Bhai Duj day, two days after Diwali,” adds Karna. Karna says that eating of
til and gud has nutritional value and when the
Rahu/Ketu dosha is talked about, it only means that there is thinning of the blood. “These are all deficiencies in the body and
mantras, stotras and havans help even as the person changes his diet pattern,” he says. While it might sound strange that the aide of Yama has a temple to his name, he is also the patron saint of the Kayasth community. In fact at the temple, which could be 300 to 350 years old, Chitragupta, of the Surya Vamsha, stands on white marble steps with his two consorts Iravati (on his right) and
Dakshina (on his left). He had twelve sons from his two wives. And thus the 12 divisions were formed of the Kayasth community.
This old temple has retained some of its oldness, while additions have been attached to it. The Chitragupta temple has 16 stone pillars and a centre opposite the sanctum santorium which has the tortoise, which is also worshipped. The pillars are simple in style without any decorations and all original stone and while the door to the sanctum is ancient and painted a bright orange. The inside of the sanctum has been tiled by devotees and this was done last year.
While the original idols in the temple are still intact, the utsava murthis made of panchloha (iron of five kinds) were stolen way back in 1990.
“This temple has been built as per vaastu and a visit here restores energy,” says Karna. It is also believed that at this temple there is a remedy for ‘doshas’. “There are special pujas for those affected by ‘ketu graha dosha’ which is ‘rahu kethu puja’, says temple priest Ch Rangacharyulu.