Kanpur temple dedicated to Ravan opens only on Dussehra

In a unique tradition, a temple dedicated to Ravan in Kanpur’s Shivala area opens its doors to devotees only once a year on Vijaya Dashami.

Worshippers offer prayers at the temple from 6 am till 8.30 pm, just before effigies of Ravan are consigned to flames across the city — a symbolism for the victory of good over evil.

“Devotees light mustard-oil diya here and women offer torai (ridge gourd) flowers for marital blessings. In the morning, we celebrate Ravan’s birthday. At night, Lord Ram grants him salvation and Ravan departs for Vaikunth Dham (heaven),” priest Chandan Maurya told PTI.

Locals said thousands of people visit the temple on Vijaya Dashami, paying respect to the very figure who, by evening, is symbolically destroyed through the burning of effigies.

“It is not Ravan himself who is burned, but his effigy. The reason is that he gained great power and wisdom and ruled over the world, but he misused those qualities. He became egoistic and when someone becomes egoistic, it leads to wrongdoing,” a devotee, Rajinder Gupta, said.

The Kanpur shrine is not the only temple dedicated to Ravan in India. Communities in different parts of the country also venerate the demon king, with some even regarding him as an ancestor, like in Bisrakh village in Noida — believed to be the birthplace of Ravan. Bisrakh also has a temple dedicated to Ravan where devotees throng throughout the year. The western Uttar Pradesh village does not burn Ravan’s effigy, instead it worships him.