Maa Tara Chandi Temple

Getting there

• By air

  Gaya is the nearest of the three major airports, and Varanasi and Patna are the other two.

• By road

  The temple is on NH2, with road connections from Patna, Ara, New Delhi, Kolkata and Ranchi.

Why devotees come here

Maa Tara Chandi Temple stands in Sasaram, Rohtas district, Bihar, and is dedicated to Maa Shakti or Maa Durga. It is also called Tarachandi, and it is one of the 51 Shakta pithas. Maa Tara is worshipped inside a natural cave.

Maa Tara Chandi is worshipped as a form of Maa Shakti, or Maa Durga. The temple is one of the 51 Shakta pithas, the sacred seats of Shakti. It is described as the oldest and one of the most sacred temples of Sasaram. The Sasaram city region is the administrative headquarters of Rohtas district, which was carved out from Shahabad district in 1972.

Devotees believe the right eye of Maa Sati fell at this spot, and that is how the name Tarachandi came about. Legend also says Gautama Buddha received darshan of Maa Tara here in the form of a girl child, after his enlightenment. These are legends, not settled history.

Maa Tara is in a natural cave on the Kaimur hills, part of the Vindhya range. The statues of Maa Tara and Surya in the complex belong to the late or later Gupta period. A twelfth century Kharwar king, Pratap Dhavaldev, had a large inscription written beside the statue of Maa Tara.

Tips for your visit

• Look for the statue of Surya in the complex, and the fragmentary statue of Agni placed outside.
• Beside the Maa Tara statue is a large inscription by the twelfth century Kharwar king Mahanayak Pratap Dhavaldev, written by his son Shatrudhan.

Questions people ask