Gopalganj. In the Thave Durga temple of Gopalganj district in Bihar, the wishes of the devotees and devotees who worship with a sincere heart are fulfilled. Special pujas are performed here during the nine days of Navratri. A special fair is also organized here during Navratri. Apart from this, special worship is done in this temple on Mondays and Fridays.
Special poojas are performed in the temple even in the month of Sawan. This temple is also known by the name of Thave Wali Mata Temple, Simhasini Bhavani. There is also a tradition of offering animal sacrifices during Navratri. People come empty handed in the court of the mother but with the blessings of the mother all the wishes of the devotees are fulfilled. Thave Durga Temple is considered as Siddhapeeth.
The story of the establishment of Thave Durga Temple is quite interesting. Raja Manan Singh of Chero dynasty considered himself a great devotee of Mother Durga, when suddenly there was a famine in that king’s kingdom. At the same time there was a devotee of Mata Rani Rashu in Thawe. Rice started coming out after Rahashu gave rosemary to Pater from the tiger. This was the reason that the people there started getting grains to eat. This matter reached the king but the king could not believe it. The king turned against Rahashu and started calling him a hypocrite and asked Rahashu to call his mother here. On this Rahashu told the king that if the mother came here, she would ruin the kingdom but the king did not agree. On the call of Rashu Bhagat, Devi Maa walked from Kamakhya and reached Thawe of Gopalganj via Patna and Saran. All the king’s buildings collapsed. After this the king died.
According to another belief, King Yuvraj Shahi Bahadur of Hathua established the Thawe Durga temple in the year 1714 when he was returning to Hathua with his army after losing the battle for the tenth time to the Zamindar of Champaran, Kabul Mohammad Barharia. Meanwhile, while resting under a huge tree in Thave forest, he suddenly saw Maa Durga in a dream. According to the facts in the dream, the king conquered Kabul by attacking Mohammad Barhariya and took Kalyanpur, Hussepur, Selari, Bhelari, Turkaha and Bhurkaha under his rule. After winning the victory, the king excavated that tree four steps north, where the idol of Durga was found ten feet below and the temple was established there.
