A Pehowa temple with a difference

Vijay Sabharwal

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Across India there are various places of worship where the entry of women is barred. One such place is the Kartekeya temple situated on the banks of the ancient Saraswati river at Pehowa, 22 km from Kurukshetra. This temple celebrates the Brahmacharya (celibacy) of Lord Kartekeya (son of Lord Shiva) and women are not allowed to enter here. This ancient structure is situated near the Pehowa tirath and said to be from the 5th century. 

A legend goes that any woman who enters the shrine will attract a curse. It states that when Kartikeya was meditating, Lord Indra got jealous that Lord Brahma might give Kartikeya more powers than him. So, he planned to distract Kartikeya by sending the most beautiful ‘apsaras’. Kartikeya got angry and pronounced a curse that any woman who comes to this place of worship (to distract him from his meditation) shall turn into a stone.

However, Subhash Polsatya and Ashish Chakrapani, eminent 'purohits' of the Pehowa tirath, narrate an alternative legend to clarify the prohibitory edict: When Ganesha was declared the winner of the their father’s empire by riding a rat around Lord Shiva, Kartekeya got angry with his mother, Parvati.  In the fit of anger he declared that his father was the donor of his bones, while he drew only his skin from his mother. Being upset over the help Parvati provided to Ganesha, Kartekeya removed his skin here and pronounced a curse that any woman who sees him in this form will get widowed in her next seven births.

Asked whether any woman had ever objected to the gender-specific practices at the temple, the priests say that women themselves believe in the old traditions and do not enter the temple premises. So, none has ever questioned the practice of prohibiting the entry of women into the temple.

Subhash says that, in accordance with the Hindu traditions, after offering the ‘Pind-dan’ of a dead male family member at the Pehowa tirath, men are taken to the Kartekeya temple nearby to offer mustered oil to cool the deity, while the accompanying women wait outside.  

Pooja Chanwaria, Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Pehowa, confirms that she has never received any complaint relating to the restriction on women's entry into the Kartekeya temple. It may be that devotees coming here have the knowledge about the cultural and religious belief relating to the temple. 

(The writer is a 

journalist based at Kurukshetra)