Chhapaiya

Chhapaiya छपिया Chhapaiya छपिया
Village
Chhapaiya Location in Uttar Pradesh, India
Coordinates: 26°57′57″N 82°23′23″E / 26.96583°N 82.38972°E / 26.96583; 82.38972Coordinates: 26°57′57″N 82°23′23″E / 26.96583°N 82.38972°E / 26.96583; 82.38972
Country	India
State	Uttar Pradesh
District	Gonda
Elevation	320 m (1,050 ft)
Population
• Total	3,000
Language
• Official	Hindi
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
Nearest city	Maskanva
Sex ratio	900:1000 ♂/♀
Literacy	50%%
Lok Sabha constituency	Gonda
Vidhan Sabha constituency	Mankapur
Website	www.chhapaiya.com

Chhapaiya is a village in Gonda District in the state of Uttar Pradesh about 50 km from district headquarters Gonda and 40 kilometers from the major city of Ayodhya.

Geography

Chhapaiya is located at 26°57′57″N 82°23′23″E / 26.965833°N 82.389722°E / 26.965833; 82.389722.

Points of interest

Shree Swaminarayan Mandir in Chhapaiya, The Birth Place of Shree Swaminarayan

Birth location of Shri Swaminarayan

Its singular claim to fame is that it is the birthplace of Swaminarayan.^[1] Swaminarayan (1781 - 1830 CE) was born here on 3 April 1781 as Ghanshyam, making this village a pilgrim place for his followers worldwide. There are places where Swaminarayan played with other kids, climbed a tree that is part of the faith's folklore, the lake where he revived fish from a fisherman's catch.

The Swaminarayan temple at Chhapaiya is currently undergoing renovation, scheduled for completion by 2016.^[2]

Place of pilgrimage

The following are the different holy places in Chhapaiya.

1 Ghanshyam Bhavan: the beautiful monument on the birthplace of Swaminarayan. A temple on this place was erected by Acharya Shree Ayodhyaprasadji Maharaj in 1863, after passing away of Swminarayan in 1830. Later, after 47 years another big temple was built by Acharya Shree Purushottamprasadji Maharaj in 1910. This is being reconstructed in marble, a project started in 2004 by Acharya Shree Tejendraprasadji Maharaj.

2 This marble decorated room is on the ground floor of Ghanshyam Bhavan. This is the exact location of Dharmadev’s house where Ghanshyam was born.

3 Shri Swaminarayan Mandir: This mandir is near Ghanshyam Bhavan.

4 Narayan Sarovar: This is the sacred water pool where Ghanshyam often bathed. It is just outside the mandir complex.

5 Trikonyu Khetar (Triangular Farm): Where Ghanshyam sent birds into samadhi.

6 Meen Sarovar: This is a small lake (dry during the summer) where Ghanshyam brought dead fish back to life and instructed the fisherman not to kill fish for a living.

7 This shrine is at the place where defeated the demon Kalidutt, who came to kill Him.

Notes

References

• Williams, Raymond (2001). Introduction to Swaminarayan Hinduism. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-65422-7.