7th Century Hawan Kund (Fire Altar) of 13 hast (166.38 cubic feet) capacity at Jageshwar Temple in Kumaon Range of Himalaya

Abstract

From Vedic times to even modern times, Yagya is an essential part of social and spiritual life in India. All kinds of worship in temples have Yagya as an essential portion. This was true even in the medieval time of India. Jageshwar Dham is a place 34 kilometers away from Almora, in the Kumaon Range of Himalaya in Uttarakhand state of India containing 125 big and small temples and 174 sculptures, dating back to circa century and having Shiva as the main deity of the temple complex. Among them, 100 temples are dedicated to Lord Shiva; the oldest of them are Jageshwar Temple and Maha-Mrityunjaya Temple. The temple complex contains Hawan Kund which is still being used by temple Brahmins. There was much of literature describing the construction time of Jageshwar Dham, however, no direct literature was available to find the specific time of the construction of Hawan Kund in the temple complex. The present study attempted to analyze Hawan Kund’s structure, construction, and ritualistic details in order to find its importance and probable time of construction. The study inferred that Scriptural, traditional, and archeological facts of Hawan Kund at Jageshwar temple indeed revealed its importance in Shiva worship and maintaining spiritual ambiance. Besides the strong utilization of Hawan Kund in temple ancient traditions and rituals, the study also found that Hawan Kund was Thirteen Hast (hand as a unit) large, where 13 is the number of Shiva worship. Also, the Ishan (north-east) direction of Hawan Kund’s position with respect to Mrityunjaya temple indicated the following of proper scriptural protocol for Shiva worship indicating well-thought construction by original builders. Thus, though there was no direct literature available to find the specific time of the construction of Hawan Kund in the temple complex, it was clear that the Hawan Kund of Jageshwar temple was associated strongly with the temple’s main deity worship. Hence, the existence of Hawan Kund had to be to that of the Jageshwar and Maha Mrityunjaya temple i.e. circa the century.