Religious harmony at its best can be seen at its best in various parts of India. One such place is Khajani, a small town in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur district. There is a temple of Lord Bholenath in Saraya Tiwari village of Khajani locality where Hindus and Muslims congregate together to worship the Shivlinga and seek blessings.
Shiva is one of the favourite deities of the Hindus. Temples of Lord Shiva can be seen all across India. However, the temple is unique in the sense that both Hindus and Muslims gather there to seek god’s blessings.
The reason why Muslims also worship the idol is because of the words ‘La ilaha illa Allah Muhammed asul Allah’ scripted on the Shivlinga in Urdu. So in the month of Ramzan, the Muslims also visit the temple to worship the idol of Lord Shva.
Folklore has it that Mahmud Ghazni tried to destroy this temple when he plundered India. However, in spite of repeated attempts by his army, he was unable to uproot or destroy the temple. The soldiers of Ghazni tried to uproot the temple by digging under it. However, the more they dug, the longer the Shivlinga grew. Failing to uproot the Shivlinga, Ghazni carved the Urdu phrase on it.
Ghazni did so thinking it will prevent the Hindus from worshipping the idol and visiting the temple. However, his expectations have been dashed as now for centuries both Hindus and Muslims visit the temple as place of worship. The temple and the Shivlinga have become a great symbol of communal and religious harmony for people all across the world.