Bharat
Mata Mandir or Bharat Mata Temple is one of its kinds in Varanasi.
Contrary to what most of the tourists believe, this temple is not
dedicated to any God, Goddess or certain deity for that matter. It is
dedicated to the human manifestation of India popularly called Mother
India or Bharat Mata in Hindi. And this temple even not houses the
statue or bust of Bharat Mata; instead it has a very big relief map of
India carved out of marble. The temple was inaugurated by non other than
Mahatma Gandhi, The father of the Indian NationThe map is said to be perfectly in scale both longitude as well as latitude wise. The map has been carved out of white marble bought out of Makrana. The construction of temple is unique in itself. It stands on 5 distinct pillars that converse in to one at the top. The five pillars signifies the 5 basic elements of creation namely earth, wind, fire, water and sky. There convergence in to a single pillar symbolizes that every element has to ultimately submerge into the supreme. The temple is a handiwork of two people namely Babu Shiv Prashad Gupta and Shri Durga Prashad Khatri. While the former was a nationalist leader, the later was a renowned numismatists and antiquarians.
