The formation of the temple
The construction work of Thakur Satyanaryan Kapuria temple was initiated in 1923 by Late Kapuria Mal, who by occupation was a cotton trader and came to Rampur from Punjab in 1900’s. In that time Rampur Bushahr was the capital of Bushahr Dynasty. Maharaja Padam Singh was the ruling king of Bushahr Dynasty in that time. Seth Kapuria Mal started his trade of cotton in Rampur Bushahr and requested Maharaja Padam Singh to provide him a little piece of land to construct a beautiful temple. Maharaja Padam Singh provided him a piece of land in the heart of Rampur Bushahr where the temple was built.
The construction of the temple took approximately 4 years and it was completed in 1927. Seth Kapuria Mal and his wife were very religious that is why they invested huge pile of money in the construction of this beautiful temple. The best masons were hired from Jaipur and Jodhpur to made the temple, the sculptures of gods and goddesses were also brought from Jaipur and Jodhpur of Rajasthan. The materials used in the temple were collected from different parts of North India and were brought to Rampur Bushahr with the help of mules.
Lack of maintenance of the temple after the death of Seth Kapuria Mal
The temple and its sarayein or dharamshala were under the maintenance by Seth Kapuri Mal and his wife. The couple had no children. Soon after the death of Kapuri Mal in 1945 Muni Lal his brother in law took over his business and the maintenance of the temple were also handed over to him.
Muni Lal only had daughters so they had to leave their father’s home after they got married. When Muni Lal passed away there were no one to do the maintenance of the temple. There were no management systems left in the temple. The local priests were keeping the money for their personal use which was donated to the temple by devotees. The sarayein or rooms made inside the temple campus which were originally made for pilgrims and tourists to stay were possessed by the local inhabitants.
After decades passed away these rooms started to falling off due to the lack of maintenance. Around 55 families were possessing these rooms of the temple campus. Some of the rooms were being used for the store purposes by the local shop owners. The whole temple campus was falling off, it was slowly starting to transform into the ruins.
The formation of the trust by Vishava Hindu Parishad
In 1998 the structure of the temple was completely ruined, the sculptures of the gods and goddesses were damaged and the Shiva linga was also broken. The rooms inside the temple campus were also starting to fall, due to which some people who later became the part of trust found the current position of temple very shameful. That is why they started to look for someone from Muni Lal’s family who was Seth Kapuri Lal’s brother in law.
Smt. Svarna Khullar was contacted who was the descendant of Muni Lal’s family. She was told the whole story of the temple and after that she contacted Vishva Hindu Parishad to form a trust to maintain and manage the temple.
On 14th October 1998 it was announced by Smt. Svarna Khullar that she wants to form a trust to maintain and manage the temple work. After her announcement a small trust was assembled by Vishva Hindu Parishad Himachal Pradesh.
Originally the trust was made with 21 members, some of the members of the trust were from Smt. Svarna Khullar’s family and remaining members were localites.
The formation of the trust and the changes it brought
Soon after the formation of the trust, all the members of the trust started to sort out the ways to indulge people in renovation of temple. Initially there were no money to spend in the renovation of the temple. That is why the members of the trust started to visit every single family in the town and asked for their financial help. Most of the families donated some amounts for the renovation.
A small office was made to do meetings regarding the renovation and maintenance of the temple. It was decided in the early meetings of the trust that the temple need to have some regular source of income so that the renovation of the temple could be done efficiently. The idea of forming a hall where several events could be done was brought. The idea was accepted by all the members of the trust.
Sh. Maheshwar Singh who was the member of parliament in that time was contacted and the concept of the hall was presented to him. He was convinced and donated 10 lakhs rupees to the trust.
Sh Suresh Bhardwaj who was also the member of parliament donated 5 lakhs rupees as well. With the money collected from the donation both from the political bodies and the localites of Rampur Bushahr beautiful hall was made. After that the renovation of the temple started with the donation as well as the money that came from renting out the hall.
As the time passed by the trust started to have regular income from the temple as well as the hall, due to which 11 rooms were made along with a dormitory. Those people who had the illegal possession of the temple property was convinced to leave the possession, some of them were convinced while some of them still possess the temple property. The trust is constantly working out to convince them to leave the property legally.
Beginning of social activities and healths camps by the trust
The temple trust is also active in the various social activities such as
- Health Camps – Several health camps had been organised to help poor villagers to remove cataract from their eyes. Hundreds of cataract surgery had performed successfully for free. Read more by clicking here.
- Paying for the entire marriage of poor women – hundreds of marriages have funded by the trust to helpless and below the poverty line women. Click here to read more.
- Blood Donation Camps – Several blood donation camps have been organised by the trust to serve the mankind. Click here to read more.
- Cheap Ambulance service – Temple trust has started very cheap ambulance service and has served more than hundred patients. Click here to read more.
There are several new social activities that trust do every year and the details of each upcoming activity or event can be seen on our activity page. Click here to see our activity page.