𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐓 𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐈𝐍 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐀 - 𝐉𝐀𝐒𝐌𝐀𝐋𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐉𝐈 𝐓𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞, 𝐆𝐮𝐣𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭

Hey guys, we are going to explore a very strange, ancient temple called Jasmalnathji temple. Wikipedia says almost nothing about this temple, but it is known for its weird secrets.

Who is the main God of this temple? What kind of secrets are hidden inside? Even before entering the temple, you can see these pillars outside. The newer entrance makes you think that only these two pillars are part of the entrance. Plus, this area is barricaded, so no one is going to look beyond this point.

But on this pillar, you can see a very strange carving. It is quite unusual to see such a carving at the very entrance of a Hindu temple. Who is she? Why does she look like that? Her eyes are popping out, and she has one finger in her mouth and appears to be smiling. But the smile is sending a chill down your spine, isn’t it?

Notice how she has put a skull on a pole and kept it by her side. And on her stomach, what is that? Is that a scorpion? Why did ancient builders decide to carve such a figure at the very entrance of this ancient temple? Can you guess the main deity of this temple?

As I walked towards the main chamber, I observed an interesting carving on top of the temple. A female goddess flanked by several women. Interestingly enough, both the guardians, the door keepers, are also females. Surprisingly, we can see a lingam in the main chamber, so the main deity of this temple is Shiva.

The priest has allowed me to take a closer look at the lingam. The lingam seems to be a little bit damaged on the top and in a few other places, and three eyes are placed on the lingam, including the third eye on the forehead. But these are recent additions, and the priest usually decorates the lingam and makes it look like a face.

If you observe carefully, you can see that the cylinder and the base are two separate parts assembled together, like a bolt and nut. You can see some gap between them, and there is also some patchwork done on top. But when you examine the base, you see these cups carved on it. They look like containers or bowls. Why would they carve these bowls or cups on the base of the lingam?

But there is a carving hiding behind this lingam. Most of the visitors will not notice it, but let’s take a closer look. This is a female goddess, and what is she holding in her right hand? Is that a lingam? Yes. This raises an important question – who is the main God of this temple? Is it the lingam or is it her?

Ninety-nine percent of the people would think that the main God is the lingam because this is the largest statue in terms of size. But this carving tells us the size of the goddess compared to the lingam. Here we see this giant-sized lingam, but behind it, she is casually holding this giant lingam in her hand, meaning she is many, many times larger than the lingam.

But see what is below her – this is what changes everything. A very rare depiction: on the left, you can see a figure called Kaala Bhairava. On the right, you can see another figure, one of the rarest Hindu Gods called Ruru Bhairava. Very rare, I have never mentioned his name in my channel before because it is nearly impossible to find his carving in any temple.

Who is Ruru Bhairava? Ruru Bhairava was a white-skinned, or fair-skinned, male God who was popular during Vedic times, and because of his strange features, he is not worshipped in most parts of India today. On the other side, you can see this little figure. He is Kaala Bhairava, who is black-skinned, or dark-skinned.

The symbolism of black and white on the left and right – this is actually a sign about the two paths of Tantra. But there are more interesting details to see. Her lower right hand is empty, while her lower left hand is not. What is she holding? Is she holding a pot? What is inside the pot?

But what’s even more strange: look on the top of her toes, you can see something. Can you tell me what this is? Is this a scorpion? What ancient goddess has a scorpion on her body? If we walk around the temple, you can see many carvings of various deities. But one carving is always kept covered up, and no one is allowed to touch it.

Who is it, and why are we not allowed to see her body? The priest is kind enough to show it to me, and again immediately, it is that bone-chilling deity. Her name is Chamunda. A very strange female god – archaeologists, historians, and religious experts are baffled by her and are not able to understand her. Why does she look like that?

On the right, you can see a human skull plugged on top of a pole. This is called a Katvanga in ancient Sanskrit, but this pole under the skull is not a wooden stick. If you look at the bottom of it, you will understand that it is a bone. It is the femur or the thigh bone, the longest bone of the human body, and according to ancient esoteric rituals, the Katvanga was to be made completely out of skull and bones.

Look below, and you can see a head. Yes, it is just a head. She is holding a head that she has chopped off, and she is holding his head by his long hair. Eventually, the skull from this head will also be added to her head. I mean, his skull will be added to her crown. You can see that her crown is made of skulls, or maybe the skull will be added to her garland.

If you notice carefully, you will see her garland made of skulls. There is definitely some connection between her and the end of life. The biggest fear humans have is about the end of life, and this is why carvings of Chamunda send a chill down your spine whenever you look at her.

Notice how she is portrayed as not healthy looking, severely emaciated. She almost has no fat or muscles in her body; everything has completely shredded off her body. But it is not just her; look at her attendants at the bottom. These two guys are also looking like skeletons, and you can see their rib cages.

And there is a poor guy, the only guy with muscles and fat, stuck underneath, begging for mercy. While the temple has several amazing, large carvings on the walls, only this carving is given special attention. Notice how they have placed the eyes on her, done in the last few decades to show her importance.

The priest told me that on the ninth day of the Navratri festival, she gets special rituals from locals. But there is one hidden detail here; nobody knows this detail. Her mouth is deliberately destroyed. This is not how the carving was originally made; some people have tried to disfigure her mouth area. But why?

And then look at her hand here. At first glance, you may think this hand is just holding the skull trophy, but there is a hand at the bottom holding it. So what was this hand at the top doing? Let me recreate this ancient carving and show you. Yes, the original carving would have had a finger, a little finger stuck in her mouth while she was smiling at you.

Someone had gotten so afraid of that smile that they have destroyed it. This is not a wild guess because I know Chamunda, and I have observed more than a hundred carvings, and they always show her with the pinky in her mouth, or someone has destroyed the arm or the little finger. If you see an ancient carving of Chamunda without her little finger in the mouth, you will almost always notice that her hand is destroyed or broken.

But why were people so afraid of such a simple gesture? What does this gesture mean? And why is she always shown with this gesture? The iconography clearly means something important; otherwise, ancient builders would not have put it specifically in all carvings of Chamunda. But it’s interesting that experts do not know what it means.

Normally, we understand such gestures with fingers immediately. This means silence, and this means no. But this one is a mystery. Some have claimed that she is trying to control her anger by biting her own finger. But if you notice these carvings carefully, you can see a smile, almost a naughty smile on all these carvings.

Look at this carving in the Delhi museum; does it seem like this Chamunda is angry? No, she is clearly in a very good mood, and she has an inviting smile. Imagine if she did not look emaciated, gaunt, and older; the same carving would have been thought of as an inviting young woman.

If you see ancient carvings of younger women called Madhanikas with a similar gesture, you would assume that this is an inviting or at least a coy, desirable woman. But in some specific carvings called the Visha Kanya, we can see this detail. Yes, a scorpion on her body. These women were considered honey traps, and they usually worked as covert assassins to kill the enemies.

According to some, these women practiced mithridatism; they would ingest venom regularly in small quantities and become immune to it, while anyone who got closer to them would die of the venom. What’s really interesting is that the same detail, the scorpion, is carved on Goddess Chamunda as well. In many carvings of Chamunda, you can see a scorpion, and usually, the scorpion is carved on her stomach.

In some carvings, you cannot find the scorpion on her stomach, but her stomach itself is carved completely empty, as though you can see into it, and she has ingested no food in a very long time. Perhaps the real reason we get this unsettling feeling while looking at her is the combination of details that don’t go together.

She appears to be smiling while holding a skull; she is depicted as an aggressor while extremely starved and emaciated. In the museum of Odisha, no one can walk past this statue without taking a second look. She looks extremely emaciated, and her face is covered in wrinkles. She does not have any eyelids, and you can see her eyeballs popping out.

It is said that staring into her eyes can give you nightmares or cause sleep paralysis. Strangely enough, she also seems to be woke; she seems to have a third eye on her forehead. Notice how her left hand is deliberately destroyed; her hand would have shown the pinky in her mouth.

On her head, she seems to be wearing a crown studded with a single skull. And on top of it, you can see the raging flames. In her lower left hand, she is holding a decapitated head. You can see every strand of hair on his head, but look at that face; he seems to be smiling, almost in relief. What was he relieved of?

Now, whose head is it? If you look below Chamunda, you can see a headless body. If you take this head and place it on this body, it would be a perfect fit. But the most important detail is the one carved all over her body. What are they? Nerves? Blood vessels? Tendons? Are they veins carved all over her body?

In this statue as well, you cannot see the scorpion on her stomach, but her stomach is shown completely empty. It is just not there at all, and it can make you get butterflies in your stomach. And notice that ball-like thing inside; is there a scorpion inside the sphere? What does this iconography specifically mean? Why is she going through such extreme starvation?

On the top left, you can see a weird detail. What is that? It appears to have two birds connected by a chain. Are they owls? What does this linking chain do? But there is something around this area; it seems a little bit vague, but look carefully, and you will see the outline of an elephant. You can see the trunk and its tusk here; it seems to be a young male elephant.

Why was that carved in the background? And at the bottom, there is something even more bizarre; I have never seen this carved anywhere else. This animal is shown putting its face near a human hand. But what is that animal? It is an anteater. This is the only animal with such a long snout and such a long, thick tail. India has scaly anteaters called pangolins.

There are multiple anteaters shown, and this is a very odd depiction. Why anteaters? This is the crazy part: after life is taken from a person, and his body is laying around in pieces and in a pool of blood, what would happen after a few hours? Ants would take over; you can see this happening over any kind of dead animal.

Now we understand why the anteaters have come to this site. This is a very advanced, complex thought process. Imagine the mindset of the person who carved this. Okay, let’s get back to the Jasmalnathji temple, and we can see several more carvings of Chamunda.

I did not spot one or two but about half a dozen carvings of Chamunda, not to mention many more that have been destroyed. Now, the question is, why is such importance given to Chamunda in this temple? The Hindu pantheon has thousands, tens of thousands of Gods, but why is she repeatedly carved in so many different places?

But I have overlooked one important detail in all these carvings. And this is what we are going to see now. This skeleton associate of Chamunda. At the back of this temple wall, you can see him hiding. And you can see that it is a skeleton standing alone. Notice this important detail. Yes, it is holding a container.

What is in that container? Previously, I had shown you the same detail; you would have seen this deity in the main chamber holding a container, and at the base of the lingam, we saw cups or chalices carved. Maybe you did overlook the fact that this Chamunda was also holding a cup. In fact, in some carvings of Chamunda, the cup or the chalice is the most prominent feature.

However, there are usually some skeleton figures underneath her, and they are clearly shown holding long-necked containers or simple cups. In this carving, again you can see the skeletal figures. On the top, you can see this figure trying to drink something from a cup, and because it is a skeleton, maybe everything spills below, and this skeleton below is trying to catch what’s trickling down and is drinking it.

And look at that face. This is not a happy face. Whether you are an alcoholic, or a chain smoker, or addicted to anything, you are not going to be happy, and your face is going to reveal that negativity. This is not only because of the addiction; it is mostly because of the cognitive dissonance you have to go through every day.

You are going to have two personalities who are going to fight with each other every day. One wants to drink, and the other wants to quit alcohol. And as long as you are addicted to something, you are going to be very unhappy, and you may eventually descend into the dark, shady world and prefer not to be seen by anyone.

Now, remember, when you entered this temple with me, you had no idea that I was going to lead you down this path. You probably assumed that this is just another regular temple with ordinary details. But what I have shown you so far can be noticed and understood only by people who are initiated into Tantra.

Now, what is Tantra or Tantrism? It is a secret, esoteric ancient tradition that contradicts the regular path of meditation or devotion to reach enlightenment. The word Tantra means to weave; think of a spider weaving its own abode. What does it do? It starts with nothing and builds an empire, makes it its home.

It becomes the source of its food and happiness. And where does it get the material? This is the key we have all forgotten. It does not use anything external; it uses its own body and its mind. And this is the core meaning of Tantra: to use your own body and mind to achieve the extraordinary.

The most important difference between Tantrism and the normal spiritual path is that Tantrism believes that the body is a tool that should be used for enlightenment. In a normal spiritual path, a person may become a monk to reach enlightenment, and he may ignore his physical needs.

So a person who is trying to elevate himself spiritually may start practicing celibacy, non-violence, and would refrain from any mind-altering substance. Tantra takes the opposite approach. It emphasizes the indulgence in such needs. While you would immediately recognize a monk on the street, you can’t identify Tantriks; they are practiced by “regular people” living amongst you.

Tantra, by nature, is shrouded in secrecy; some of the practices are considered taboo. And these practices and people practicing Tantra are hiding in plain sight. They are extremely low in number today, but you will never notice them unless you are initiated into Tantra yourself.

If you are not initiated, even if you lived in this village and visited this temple every day, you will never realize that this is a Tantric temple. I hope you liked this video. I am Praveen Mohan. Thanks a lot for watching. Don’t forget to subscribe, and I will talk to you soon. Bye!