Baku: In an old settlement of oil workers situated 30 km from this Azerbaijani capital is a rare Hindu temple dedicated to ‘Jwalaji’ or the Goddess of fire, forgotten for decades but now catching the attention of tourists.

The temple, called the ‘Atishgah’, in this predominantly Muslim republic of the former Soviet Union is a typical Hindu shrine with an iron ‘trishul’ (trident) on its roof with a dome.

Encircled by a stone wall, the Jwalaji temple stands in the middle of a courtyard, surrounded by cells for pilgrims coming all the way from India to worship the Fire Goddess in its hey day.

Built in 1713, a stone plaque in Hindi on the portal of the main gate says that this gate was built by one Ram Datt in 1866.

On the carved entrances of cells are stone plaques describing who built them and in which year. In all there are over 20 stone plaques, of which 18 are in Devanagri (Hindi), one in Gurumukhi and one in Farsi (Persian), text on which begins in Hindu tradition with "Om Shri Ganeshaya Namah."

The temple was built on the spot where subterranean gas leaking out of the rocky ground used to burn day-and-night.

Local records say that it was built by a prominent Hindu traders community living in Baku and its construction coincided with the fall of the dynasty of Shirwanshahs and annexation by Russian Empire following Russo-Iranian war.

PTI