Bahucharaji Temple, Becharaji

Becharaji, a temple town in Mehsana district that takes its name directly from the goddess enshrined there, is one of Gujarat’s most visited Shakti shrines and the principal seat of Bahuchara Mata — a goddess of chastity and fertility uniquely revered across India as the patron deity of the hijra (transgender/eunuch) community. According to the Bombay Gazetteer, a shrine first stood here in 1152 CE under a King Sankhal Raj, with the earliest surviving inscription dated to 1280 CE; the temple was substantially rebuilt in the 18th century by Manajirao Gaekwad of Baroda, who is said to have commissioned the work after being cured of an illness through the goddess’s grace. Those historical claims sit alongside the devotional legend that actually explains the goddess’s following: Bahuchara and her sisters, travelling by caravan, were attacked by a bandit named Bapiya at nearby Shankhalpur; performing the Charana practice of trāgā (ritual self-mutilation in protest), they cursed him with impotence. When Bapiya repented, Bahuchara relented, instructed him to build her a shrine beneath a varakhada tree, and declared that “naturally emasculated” devotees who worshipped her in women’s dress would find her blessing in life and refuge after death — the founding story behind her enduring status as patroness of the hijra community.

That legend continues to shape the temple’s living character: worship and ritual duties are shared among three historically distinct groups — Solanki Rajput landholders, a Muslim community called Kamaliyas who serve as musicians and attendants, and the hijra (Paviya) community, who though not formally priests play a central and publicly recognized role in conferring the goddess’s blessings on pilgrims. The temple now draws an estimated 1.5 million pilgrims a year, chiefly Rajputs, Kolis, Charanas, and Bhils from Gujarat and Rajasthan alongside transgender devotees from across India, with the Chaitra Purnima fair forming the single largest annual gathering. The Gaekwads of Baroda later extended their state railway to the town specifically to support this pilgrim traffic, an investment that helped Becharaji grow from a rural shrine into the substantial pilgrimage town it remains today.