Good morning.
This temple of Chitai Almora is dedicated to Gollu or Goljyu Devta an incarnation of Lord Shiva in the form of Gaur Bhairav. There are many more temples in Almora but this is the most famous and sacred one. It is situated at 8kms from Almora on Jageshwar Dham road-Uttarakhand.
It is reputed to make every wish come true, provided the worshipper ask for it with a clear conscience.
The temple is identified by a large number of bells hanging in the premises. These bells are hung by the devotees as offerings making a wish or in thanksgiving on the fulfillment of one’s wish. This is an important religious attraction on the tourist map. It is the most sacred temple for the people of Almora and the neighboring villages. The walls of the temple are covered with court stamp papers by those who did not get justice in the court. Around the temple are hanging thousands of bells, which have been donated by those people whose wishes have been fulfilled.
According to history, Golu devta is considered as the brave son and General of Katyuri king, Jhal Rai and his mother Kalindra and grand-father Hal Rai. Historically the origin of Golu Devta is accepted at Champawat. His mother is believed to be the sister of two other local deities Harishchand Devjyun and Sem Devjun.
Another legend suggests that, once a king went to the forest for hunting when he felt thirsty and asked his servants to fetch water for him. For the purpose, the servants disturbed a lady deep in meditation. The king became fond of the lady and married her. The other queens became jealous of her and threw the newborn baby into a well and a fisherman found it. They replaced the baby with a stone. Years later when the prince realized about his true identity, he took a wooden horse and tried to make the horse drink water from the lake. When the king notices this, he tells him that the horse wouldn’t drink water. To this the kid retorts that if a woman can give birth to a stone, then why can’t a wooden horse drink water. Realizing the truth, the king punished the other queens and his son went to be crowned and was known as the Gwalla Devata.
There are other tales that say Golu Devta was killed by the king of Binsar due to some false doubt and he was beheaded by the king. His head fell at Kaparkhan and his body fell at Gairad at Dana Golu where the temple now stands.
