RAM MANDIR- LORD VISHNU'S CHATURBHUJ AVATAR'S

Lord Ram is worshipped as Ram Lalla in Ayodhya, Ram Raja in Orchha and in the form of Chaturbhuja Vishnu in Mandav. The statue of Lord Ram in Mandav with a forest dwellers appearance is in the form of Lord Vishnu-controller of the world. When the Parmar dynasty fell, the temple with this statue was also demolished. All the statues were moved from the temple to the basement to keep them safe and they stayed there for more than 350 years. Shree Raghunath Dasji Maharaj- a saint from Pune came to Mandav in 1825 and around this time, the city had scant population. He was resting under a banyan tree and Lord Ram visited him in a dream. The Lord told him that his statue was in a basement under a cluster fig tree and should be taken out for people’s welfare. During that time, Dhar was under the rule of Rani Sukma Bai from Panwar Dynasty. The saint told Rani Sukma Bai about the dream and the Rani took her minister and soldiers to the tree and digging was started. After the digging, statues of Lord Ram, Sita, Lakshman, Suryanarayan and Lord Shantinath were found. Looking at the captivating statues Rani Sukma Bai decided to build a temple there.

As soon as the statues of God were placed on the back of an elephant, it could barely move for 10-12 steps and sat down. When the elephant could not rise from that place even after many attempts, then Saint Raghunath Dasji told the Rani that God wanted to be right here. It is said that as soon as the statues were taken off the elephant’s back, it stood up. Rani considered it as God’s will and ordered for a magnificent temple to be built on the spot, where Lord Shri Ram was seated with Sita and Lakshman. Statues of Hanuman and Suryanarayan were also placed in the temple premises. Lord Shantinath’s statue was given to the Jain society.