A huge crowd of devotees gathered at Shaya, the birthplace of Shirgul

On the holy festival of Deepawali, thousands of devotees visited the birthplace of Shirgul Devta Shaya and got blessings of their deity. It is worth noting that since time immemorial, there is a tradition of seeking blessings and darshan of Shirgul Devta on the holy festival of Deepawali and Padwa i.e. Pratipada, in which thousands of devotees from Sirmaur, Shimla and Solan come and get blessings of Shirgul Devta, whereas in this fair, apart from Dev Darshan, there are no entertainment activities for the devotees. In this ancient temple, rice grains are given to the devotees as prasad, for which the devotees wait impatiently by standing in lines.
It is noteworthy that Shirgul, an incarnation of Lord Shiva, was born about a thousand years ago in the house of Raja Bhukaru, the ruler of this region, on the sacred land of Shaya. After the death of their parents in childhood, Shirgul and his brother Chandreshwar started living in their maternal uncle’s house in Manaun. One day Shirgul Dev and Chandreshwar were grazing cattle in a field in Fagu and some Haldhars were also planting hay in the field. Shirgul’s aunt brought food for Haldhar and also brought Sattu balls for Shirgul and Chandeshwar, in which flies and other insects were mixed. They refused to eat the Sattu balls. Tired of the torture of his aunt, Shirgul kicked the Fagu field and brought out a stream of water and after drinking the water, he himself left for Chudhar. The stream of water brought out by Shirgul through his penance in the Fagu field is still present today and this water is considered as sacred as the Ganges. Chudhar is emerging on the international map as a religious tourist destination due to the Tapoasthal in Shirgul.
Great devotee and writer Sherjang Chauhan told that Shirgul Devta is the favourite deity of people of nine areas of Sirmour, Shimla and Solan district who are called Notbin. People of these areas come to visit Shirgul Devta on the occasion of four big Saje in a year and if a family is unable to come on four Saje due to any reason, then they definitely come on Padwa, the day after Diwali. It is said that by visiting Dev on Padwa, one gets the fruits of four Saje. He told that for the past few years, the temple committee has been organizing a feast on this auspicious occasion in which thousands of devotees visiting the temple take the prasad. This year, about 20 to 25 thousand devotees took the prasad in the feast of Shirgul Devta.