There is no dearth of mysterious and ancient temples in our country India. One such temple is in Rajasthan, where people fear to stay post evening. Nobody wants to stay in this temple at night. The reason behind this is quite interesting. People believe that whoever stays in this temple at night turns into a stone.
Located in the Barmer district of Rajasthan, India, this temple is known as Kiradu temple. Built in South Indian style, this temple is famous worldwide for its architecture. It is said that the place was named Kiratakupa.
The ruins of at least five temples exist at Kiradu. Of these, the Someshvara temple, dedicated to Shiva, is the best-preserved structure. Epigraphic evidence suggests that the temples were constructed during the 11-12th century by the vassals of the Chaulukya (Solanki) monarchs.
It is often called as ‘The Khajuraho of Rajasthan. No one knows who built these temples, but by looking at the design of the temples, it is estimated that they may have been built during the time of Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty, Sangam dynasty or Gupta dynasty of the south.
The local legend is that King Someshwar of the Parmar dynasty, who ruled Kiradu in the 12th century.
The belief about the Kiradu temple is that many years ago a monk came with some of his disciples. One day he left his disciples there and went for a tour. Meanwhile, a student’s health deteriorated. The rest of the disciples then sought help from the villagers, but none helped them. Later, when monk came to know about the same, he became angry and cursed the villagers that after sunset, all the people should become stone.
At the same time, there is also a belief that a woman had helped the monk’s disciples, so that monk asked woman to leave the village before sunset and also asked her not look back, but the woman out of curiosity looked back and she turns to stone. Her statue is still visible in the outskirts of the town.