Jivdani Temple Virar

Today I visited Maa Jivdani Temple in the vicinity of Virar , a suburb of Mumbai and it was a wonderful journey of faith and adorable clicks. 

The temple is located on the Jivdani hill. It is the most significant landmark in Virar. In 17th century there was a fort by the name of Jivdhan on this hill. Within the fortifications there are some ancient looking caves and water cisterns, most of which have now practically dried up.

The deity Jivdani Mata is believed to be an avatar of goddess Adi Shakti and is almost 150 years old. 

The temple offers panoramic 360 degree view of Virar suburb as well the surrounding Satpura hills . The name of the suburb Virar is itself derived from Eka-viraa. It is just similar to Tunga Parvat which becomes Tunga-ar, likely Vira turns Vira-ar. On the banks of Vaitarna River and on the top of the hills, there is a big temple of Eka-vira Devi. 

Many people also link existence of this temple to the Mahabharata era . It is believed that during their exile , Pandavas came to Shurparaka. They visited the holy temple of Vimaleshwar consecrated by Lord Parashuram and on their journey to Prabhas halted on the banks of Vaitarni river. There they worshipped the Bhagavati Ekaveera on the banks of Viraar Tirtha and seeing the serenity and lofty nature decided to carve caves in the nearby mountain. They did so on the hills nearby and installed and worshipped Ekaveera devi in one of the caves. They called her Bhagavati Jeevadhani. Doing so Pandavas also made a set of small caves now known as "Pandav Dongri" about a mile from Shirgaon for the hermits. Many yogis used to stay in Pandav Dongri and have darshan of Jeevdhani Devi.

Folklore apart one thing is certain that people of nearby area have immense faith in Jeevdani Mata. 

There are roughly 1400 steep steps from the foothill to the temple. The Temple Trust has installed rope way and very efficient hill train. Which is an added attraction to the temple.