Aranya Devi Temple

Aranya Devi Temple is situated in Ara town of Bihar in India. Aranya Devi, literally the Goddess of the Forest, is said to be the presiding deity of the Arrah town, the headquarters town of Bhojpur district. This is one of the important ancient temples of India.

The statue of Adi Shakti is established in the temple situated at the top of stone boulder. Another statue was established by the Pandavas, of the Mahabharata.

According to a tradition the king Mordhvaj of Arrah had no issue. He worshiped the Goddess Durga with intense devotion. The goddess appeared to him in a dream and granted him his desire. In due course of time, the king and the queen were blessed with a son. However, after some time, he had another dream in which the goddess asked him to sacrifice his son at the altar of the goddess, with the condition that both the king and the queen should perform the sacrifice without shedding tears and holding themselves the both end of the saw to be used. The kind, the queen, and the prince prepared for the sacrifice, and when they were about to run the saw on the head of the prince, the goddess appeared before them and blessed them for their devotion.

At that time the place was a forest area. Forest in Hindi is called Aranya. That is why the goddess is known by the name Aranya Devi.