About Dudhadhari temple

Thirty six in Hindi is Chhattis, garh is fort, house etc, and hence the region which had thirty six forts was known as Chhattisgarh. This region which was part of Madhya Pradesh was curved out and a new state in the name of Chhattisgarh with Raipur as capital of the state was formed on 1st November 2000. Though it a common belief that there are thirty six forts but there are forty eight forts in the region. This region has its historical importance and was part of Kosal. It was under Mourya Kingdom and also Haihaya Kings. But the name of Chhattisgarh is not given in any record or inscription and it is more probable that the name is a corruption of Chedishgarh, meaning the forts of the lord of Chedi.

Raipur

The city was once capital of Haihaya Kings, who were controlling the traditional forts of the Chattisgarh. Even today one can see the ruins of the old site and ruins of fort in the southern part of the city. It is believed that the King Ramachandra of Kalchuri dynasty has founded the city after his son Brahmdeo Rai as “Raipur” and subsequently his son made it the capital of his kingdom. There are historians who opine Brahmdeo Rai had established this city in his name and shifted his capital from Khalwatika (now Khallari). The traditional importance was never lost for the city when it was attached to Central Province during Raj or Madhya Pradesh after independence. Today it had regained the glory of the Capital of a State.

There lived a mahant by name Swami Balbhadra Das who was an ardent devotee of Lord Hanuman. He was worshiping a swayambuHanuman. He will offer milk as prasand to Hanumanji and the prasand he used to drink. As per the lore a cow by name “Surhi” will visit the Mahant daily and offer her milk for Lord Hanuman. In the course of time Mahant Swami Balbhadra Das was taking that milk only as food, hence he was called “Dudh-Ahari”.