rare hindu temple in muslim

October 6, 2003

Rare Hindu Temple in Muslim

AZERBAIJAN, September 28, 2003: In an old settlement of oil workers situated 18

miles from this Azerbaijani capital is a rare Hindu temple dedicated to Jwalaji

or the Goddess of Fire, forgotten for decades but now catching the attention of

tourists. The temple, called the Atishgah, in this predominantly Muslim republic

of the former Soviet Union is a typical Hindu shrine with an iron trishula on

its roof. Built in 1713, the Jwalaji temple stands in the middle of a

courtyard, surrounded by rooms for pilgrims coming all the way from India to

worship the Fire Goddess in its heyday. On the carved entrances of the rooms

are stones plaques describing who built them and in which year. There are over

20 stone plaques, of which 18 are in Devanagari, one in Gurumukhi and one in

Farsi (Persian) text. The temple was built on the spot where subterranean gas

leaking out of the rocky ground used to burn day and night. Local records say

that it was built by a prominent Hindu traders community living in Baku, and

its construction coincided with the fall of the dynasty of Shirwanshahs and

annexation by the Russian Empire following the Russo-Iranian war.end

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