India is a country of religion, faith and religious shrines. You will find hundreds and thousands of ancient holy shrines in every city of country. It is the best example of people of India who strongly believe in the power of almighty God and worship different forms of god. One such ancient temple is situated on a small hill at the end of Marine Drive and south of Malabar Hills close to Girgaum Chowpatty in Mumbai in the state of Maharashtra. This ancient temple is known as Babulnath Temple. The shrine is dedicated to Lord Shiva and said to be one of the oldest temples of Mumbai city because its history dates back to the period of Raja (King) Bhimdev.The temple’s name Babulnath has some connection with the fact that in this temple Lord Shiva is in the form of tree Babul. As the temple situated on a small hill the devotees either climb up to pray & worship the Lord Shiva or use elevator to reach the temple. The special occasion at the temple is Mahashivaratri when thousands of devotees come to the shrine to get the blessings of lord Shiva.If you go into the details of the history you will be amazed to find that the temple was originally created in the twelfth century by a famous Hindu King Raja Bhimdev. The temple of Babulnath and the idols and the Shiva Linga were sanctified during that period but something uneventful happened that resulted in the temple buried under the debris and no signs of the shrine and the idols were found since then for centuries. But later on in the early eighteenth century the holy images of the temple were unearthed.There were five idols unearthed but one of them was slightly broken that is why one idol was immersed in the water as it is the Hindu belief that a broken idol is not worshiped and immersed into the water. The remaining four idols were of Shiva Linga, Ganesh, Hanuman and Parvati. It was the time between 1700 and 1780. Then the temple was built and the idols were installed in the temple after 1780. At the time of building the temple a lot of resistance came from Parsi Community because the land where the temple was to be built belonged to Parsi community and there were five Dakhma’s were there in the close vicinity. It took quite a long time but at the end the court had given the decision in favour of building the temple at the place.The current temple is the bigger version of the temple which was built in the eighteenth century. The initial temple with rediscovered idols was built by a Hindu Merchant along with the support of Gujarati Community. Later on in the year a bigger temple was built in the year 1890 with the funds of Gujarati merchants along with Maharaja Sayajirao Gaikwad of Baroda state. At the time of building the temple the temple had a real good height but due to a lightening in 1960 the upper portion of the temple spire got damaged and since then the height of the temple is not what it was once considered the tallest structures of city.On Mondays, Mahashivaratri and during Shravan month the temple is visited by hundreds of devotees as these dates are important in relation to lord Shiva. The temple of Babulnath is one magnificent structure with white carved dome and beautiful intricately carved entrance. This shrine is also frequented by some celebrities of film industry. The beautiful shrine is worth paying a visit and experience the serenity and spirituality amidst the crowds of city.AccessibilityThe temple can be easily reached by using autos, taxis or local transport buses and trains from any part of city. The nearest railway station is Marine Lines on Western Railway.Contact number: +91– 22- 2367 – 8367/ 3602RUCHI MAHAJAN