History

History of the Shri Jugal Darbar Temple

            There have been two similar type of tales found providing a descriptive information about Shree Jugal Darbar. The first story was given to us by Sh. Prabhu Narayan Panda, a member of Akhil Bhartiya Bagda Samaj and a renewed senior citizen of Bagru and the other one was told by Sh. Mohan Lal Panda, the present priest of Shree Jugal Darbar Temple. The first story goes as follows…

            The temple was established about four and half centuries ago. The story started in the reign of the well known mughal empror Akbar. The people were very scared of his insane and cruel orders. One day a perfume seller visited the court of Akbar. But the emperor didn’t like the perfume given by that perfume seller and thus the emperor declared a sentence for those who buy the goods of that perfume seller. Unknowingly a Lord Krishna devotee saint bought some of the perfume from the same vendor and as expected Akabar ordered the arrest of that Lord Krishna devotee saint. When the saint got the news of Akabar’s order he managed to escape and save himself being killed and flee to a small village of Bagru situated about 45 km from the then city of Amer in Rajputana (now called Rajasthan). In Bagru he met a Lord Ram devotee called Prahlad Rai Pradhan who worshipped Bhagwan Ram and Sita near a pond. Leftovers of that pond can be seen even today as slopes which stretch from the areas of Mori Ka Moonda to Jhag Bus Stop and from Jugal Darbar Temple to Cheepon ka Mohalla. the two devotees of Lord Ram and Lord Krishna became friends. After some time Akbar got the news of the saint being hidden in Bagru which forced the saint to get away even from there. Before leaving, he handed over his sacred idol of Lord Krishna to Prahalad Rai and ordered him to worship Shri Krishna regularly with devotion and left for an unknown place.

            After some time Sh. Prahlad Rai got a thought that the pair of Lord Ram and Sita was complete but Lord Krishna was alone so he emplaced an idol of Shri Radha with Lord Krishna and complete the other pair too and started worshipping Radha – Krishna along with his own Ram – Sita idols. Since then the establisment was named as ‘Yugal Darbar’; which was later known as ‘Jugal Darbar’.

            When the mughal reign was at a verge of end, it was the time when the thakur saahab of Bagru started construction of a fort in Bagru. Because the temple resided in the fort premise area, the outer wall was constructed taking the temple inside the fort premise. But within a few hours the wall collapsed and it happened many a times when ever the wall being built. One night the thakur saahab dreamt that the lord of Jugal Darbar ordered him to keep the temple out of the fort premise. Then the wall of the fort was built with a curve to keep the temple out and open for the common people and then only it became possible to complete the construction of the fort.

            The similar other story has been informed to occur between 1635 AD to 1645 AD according to which Sh. Prahlad Rai, used to serve a saint who came from Mathura with his idol of lord Krishna in a village called Bagdawat. After a few years Sh. Prahlad Rai shifted to Bagru along with the saint and his idol of lord Krishna on the order of the saint. They built a temple made of wood and grass for lord Krishna at the same place where the fest is being organised presently and started praying lord Krishna there.

            After few years the idol of lord Krishna was emplaced in a temple situated at the same place where the temple is today after which the saint ordered Sh. Prahlad Rai to serve lord Krishna with devotion and left for a pilgrim.

            During the same time span the raj purohit (chief priest) of Bagru who served lord Ram and Sita emplaced in his house. Due to his old age he asked Sh. Prahlad Rai to worship his lord Ram-Sita idol along with Prahlad Rai’s lord Krishna idol together. Thereafter Sh.Prahlad Rai emplaced an idol of shri Radha with lord Krishna along with the idols of lord Ram-Sita and completed the pairs which is present in the same scenario even today.

History of Shri Jugal Darbar Mela (the fest)

            After the Jugal Darbar was emplaced, it became so famous that the Kings of Bagru started organizing a ceremony during which the Jugal Darbar was taken to a trip as a procession in a garden and keep it there for three days where the general public and devotees could come and pray to the Jugal Darbar. As years passed the number of devotees increased so much that the event started looking like a fest (mela). Later the king of Bagru got a notion due to the reverence of the large number of devotees and ordered to build a small palace at the worship place of the Jugal Darbar to worship for the three days every year during the fest. This palace is present even today at the place where the fest is being organized since then.

            Once there occurred that the fest was not organized at a time. The whole city faced sudden and abrupt fire events at many random places. After which a regular committee called ‘Jugal Darbar Mela Samiti’ was formed to organize regular fests every year.

What is the prasaad (bhog) during the fest?

            The main ingredient of the prasaad during the fest is Jalebee made of pure desi ghee. During the fest local as well as the outsider confectioners (halwai) sells big sized jalebees displayed in stalls in front of their shops. These jalebees made during the fest are so popular due to their taste that they are being exported to other areas during the fest time.