Gilahrajji

Pracheen Sidhpeeth Shri Gilahraj Ji Mandir Aligarh.

There is a very interesting anecdote behind the construction of this temple.This story takes us back to the the era when the Rama bridge, better known as, "Rama Setu" was under construction by the army of monkeys. In those times, Lord hanuman was already constructing bridges of huge hills on the seas all over the world. At that very time, Lord Rama, who was observing the whole scene closely, came to hanumana and advised him to take some rest so that the remaining deities could also be involved in the construction work as hanumana was doing his job conveniently faster than the rest of the army. Hence, Hanumana obediently followed the request of Lord Rama and left the site of construction so that the army could as well contribute towards the noble cause. But, since, Lord Hanumana cant ever take rest, being a devotee of Lord Rama, he disguised himself as a squirrel and resumed his work. The squirrel started transferring bits of sand by wallowing in it and then diving in water, serving Lord Rama with all its heart and soul. The squirrel repeated this same process several times. It didnt take much time for Lord Rama to recognise the squirrel as Lord Hanumana. He immediately lifted the squirrel in his palms, slowly caressing it. Even today the three lines present on the back of the squirrel serve as a symbol of love and caressing offered by Lord Rama to it.Hence, this disguise of squirrel is situated only in this ancient temple in Achaltaal in Aligarh.He has laddu in one hand and nine planets (navgrah) suppressed underneath his feet, and therefore by serving chola and offering laddu as the holy sacrament shall provide the liberation from navgrah and hence, gilahraj ji is also known as grah-har-raj, i.e conqueror of planets.