Birbhum hot springs
The word Bakreswar Means lord Shiva. Birbhum hot springs means to us Bakreswar of Birbhum. At the marriage ceremony of Lakshmi and Narayana, Ashtabakra Muni or Subrata Muni was insulted by Indra in the Satya Yuga. Muni was so enraged that he developed 6 cripples in his body. He was blessed by Lord Shiva after doing meditation here for many years. This is one of the 51 Shakti Piths.
The Bakreshwar Temple of West Bengal lies on the banks of the Paaphra River in the district of Birbhum, around 24 km from the town of Siuri and 240 km from Kolkata. The temple is renowned for its Oriya-style of architecture. Inside the temple premises are the Mahishmardini and the Vakranath temple. The former has ancient paintings of the goddess, preserved well by the Archaeological Survey of India.
The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and goddess Kali. In fact the main temple was surrounded by small shrines of the lord Shiva. Most people come here only for seeing the hot springs. There are 8 hot springs of varied temperature and the hottest is called Agni Kund with a temperature of almost 95 degree.
The nearest rail station is Dubrajpur, time take almost 3 hours from Howrah staion. The first spot you should visit here is Mama Bhagne Hill. There is a Strange balancing rock which is very popular. Mama Bhagne hill is a small hill although you cannot see any other mountain around it. The natural beauty of this place you will definitely like. Viswakarma was once assigned to build a second Kashi near present day Dubrajpur and the construction was supposed to be complete in just one night. However, all Viswakarma could do was collect the stones, which still remains to this day. Even today, the rocky outcrop seems totally out of place in the plains of Bengal and does have a “drop from the sky feel” to it.
