Shila Devi Temple

Shila Devi temple is an Important temple of Goddess Durga in India, Shila Devi is famous idol of Durga the temple is located in Amber fort. Maharaja Mansingh brought the statue of the goddess Shila Mata from Jessore “Bangladesh” in 1604. It’s a reality The Goddess appeared in the Maharaja's dream and ordered him to recover her statue lying under sea near Jessore (now in Bangladesh) and install it in a Temple. The idol of goddess was recovered from sea in the form of a Shila (Slab) and it was brought to Amber Fort when cleaned and washed, the present idol appeared. This is why the goddess is named as Shila Mata. It took ten years to build the temple. Shila Devi Temple has ornately carved silver doors at its entrance.
On the nine-day Navratra festival the Shila Devi temple has special prayers, which are offered to this goddess. Thousands of people from Jaipur and surrounding areas come here to pay offerings to Shila Devi. Especially on Navratris there is a very high light decoration available.

History of the Shila Devi temple- Amber Fort
The temple was built by Raja Man Singh of Amer and it was established in 1580 AD. He was truly devoted to Durga Mata. The king was depressed by his defeat by King Kedar so he started praying Goddess Kali to give him the strength to fight back then it is said that Goddess Durga appeared in the King’s dream and asked to recover the statue lying in the sea in some place of Jessore(now in Bangladesh). So the king recovered the ‘Shila'(slab) in 1604 from the sea when he won a war over there and it was then bought to the Amber Fort and then cleaned and polished and then the idol was installed in the temple. It took nearly 10 years to build the temple completely. It is said that the king uses to worship the Shila Mata for the victory in the wars. It was also said that even the three Gods Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh also had done the worship of this goddess. Shila Mata is also known as “Kuldevi of Jaipur”. At that time an astrologer also said to the king that if he worships to this goddess then he will never have to face defeat in his wars.

Temple was built with white marble. But the idol of the Devi is black in color. The idol of Lord Ganesh was also there which was carved from a single piece of coral. The temple has beautiful architecture and the ancient designs and paintings on the walls give a beautiful look to it. The entrance gate is made up of silver and covers various characters of Durga Mata. A silver made ‘Nagada'(a type of Dhol) is also there which is mainly used in the aarti time.