Temple of Lord Shiva which our team visited is located in Papad Khind, near Papad Khind dam in Virar (east). The temple is managed by the Jivdani Trusts. The temple is mysterious in its own way, no one knows when the temple was made. It’s expected to be very old. Papad Khind Shiv temple is popular for its fair, the fair which takes place every once a year on the day of Mahashivratri.
Usually, many people visit Papad Khind Shiv temple every day, however, the number of devotees skyrockets during the time of Mahashivratri. Hundreds of people from all across Mumbai and Palghar visit the mysterious temple of Lord Shiva.
Our news team visited this mysterious temple on 18th February 2023, on the occasion of Mahashivratri. The crowd was booming and various stalls were being prepared for the popular Papad Khind Shiv Mandir fair.
The entrance of the temple begins from the Papad Khind dam, the temple is deep inside the mountain areas. It’s a long walk of around 1.1 km. However, dirt roads have been made for the transport facilities and comfortable walking facilities.
As we begin our long walk of 1.1 km to Papad Khind Shiv temple, we came across charitable trusts like Swami Vivekananda Seva sansthan who were offering free water drinking facilities for thirsty devotees. “People visit Papad Khind Shiv temple from all across small villages of Virar and other parts of Virar, so we are here to provide free drinking water facilities to those devotees every year on the occasion of Mahashivratri” said advocate Abishek Dubey, member of Swami Vivekananda Seva sansthan.
As our news team continued heading towards the temple, we came across many street food, lemonade, toys and various other stalls. The owners of those stalls were preparing for the fair of Papad Khind Shiv temple.
We even got to know that the area is extremely dangerous as the leopards roam around during the night, which makes it difficult for stall owners to operate their stalls.
While heading towards the temple we came across a small book stall, the owner of that book stall was selling books like Bhagwat gita, Gyan ganga and all other books for only 10 rupees.
There were various other good stalls, but our news team decided to continue the journey and finally reached the mysterious temple of Lord Shiva.
There were dozens of devotees waiting in the queue to get into the temple. There was Bhajan (holy religious song) going on in the temple. The environment of the temple was truly calm and peaceful.
Papad Khind Shiv temple was also offering free food (Bhandara) to the people who visited the temple on the occasion of Mahashivratri.
While asking more about the temple, we got to interview the trustee of Jivdani temple. Hemant more said “We don’t know when Papad Khind Shiv temple was built, no one does”. “This temple is old, however, according to some people it was built during the period of Chimmaji Appa” he added. “Papad Khind Shiv temple is very old, i used to come here every time in my childhood” said Hemant more pointing out that the temple is extremely old.
There were many other people whom we met, they said “we’ve been coming here for 12 years, this temple is very old”.
Papad Khind Shiv temple was mysterious in its own way, while it’s peaceful and calm most of the time in the year. It gets fun and energetic due to the fair organized here every once a year on the occasion of Mahashivratri.
