Chountra Mata Temple, Ram Nagar

One of the most famous shrines in Udhampur is the shrine of Chountra Mata located at a distance of about 60Kms from Udhampur and 22 kilometers from Ramnagar. Located atop a hill amidst the coniferous trees, it presents a panaromic view of Ramnagar and adjoining villages from one side and Thial, Khoon, Gujroo Nagrota and Ramkot from the other side. One can visit this shrine either from the route of Ramnagar or from Udhampur.
According to the pujari of the shrine Mukesh Sharma, the legend has it that once Sagar yogi, a local farmer was grazing his buffaloes on the hills, he was struck by the sight of an extremly beautiful young girl having divine aura and grace. As she appeared, lightening crackled and the lion roared divinely. Sagar, who had seven sons, asked the girl to marry his tall, healthy and handsome sons. The girl promised to visit his home after seven days and asked him to give this message to his sons and she would meet him after seven days and thus, live a comfortable marital life. Saying this, she disappeared mysteriously. As he reached home in the evening,he found, to his shock that one of his sons had died suddenly. After this incident,it so happened that every evening one of his sons and she would meet him after seven days and thus, live a comfortable marital life. Saying this, she disappeared mysteriously. As he reached home in the evening,he found, to his shock that one of his sons had died suddenly. After this incident,it so happened that every evening one of his sons died with the result that in a week, Sagar lost all his sons. However, the girl reached his home on the eighth day and asked Sagar where his seven sons were. Sagar now knew that the girl had miraculous divine powers. He fell on her feet and urged her to forgive him. He said that with all his sons having been dead, his lineage had come to an end and invoked her to bless him with a son. He promised to be her devotee and entreated her to have her abode at his home where Heru Ram would be the priest. The girl asked Sagar to have courage and patience and told him that he would have everything including food, milk etc provided he didnot disclose to anybody about her presence in his home and would never visit her abode without coughing and giving her the signal that he was coming.As days passed, Sagarbecame happy and rich and was also blessed with a son.His crops gave him good produce and his buffaloes produced good milk and they grew in numbers.Seeing all this, his neighbours became jealous of him and thought of an evil plan to find out the secret behind his prosperity and riches.So they asked him to go and see the girl in her abode without coughing and find out the secret.Sagar fell to their evil plan and one day foolishly visited the girl without informing her and found face to face with the goddess.He came out and started coughing.The Goddess became furious, sat on the lion and disappeared leaving him awestruck and perplexed.Sagar was ashamed of himself;he made many entreaties to the Goddess to reside in his home for ever but in vain.Sagar was repentant but it was too late.On the same night, theGoddess appeared in a dream to Targu and made him fell down from his cot.As he recovered and slept, he fell down again.It happened the third time too.He became cautious and now Goddess appeared again in his dream and told him that she wished to remain in his home.She asked him to prepare an iron trident without being hammered, tie it to the back of a goat having grey colour and establish herat the place where the trident falls down from the goat’s back. She also advised him to consult Sagar Yogi in this plan at the house of whom she had stayed for twelve long years. Targu did as he was told and went to Sagar’s home.Both of them tied the trident to the back of grey coloured goat and it fell on the spot where the present shrine is located. Another Diety Sundraj also lived on these hills about two kms away from that site.One day both Sundraj and Chountra Mata encountered each other and decided to establish their supremacy by playing the game of ‘chouser’. Sundraj was defeated .That was how the Goddess came to be known as ‘Chountra Mata’.Sundraj urged the Goddess to make her presence in his abode too.The Goddess agreed to his entreaty and there is a pindi at that site.As there was little water there,Mata also asked Nagraj, the snake God to bring water to her abode upon which Nagraj himself came there with water and started living there happily.But one day as Mata’s Chadi reached with the devotees dancing happily in excitement and gur (jaggery),wheatgrains and halwa being offered to the Goddess, it so happened that the snake god happened to sit on the heap of grains.The ‘gardi’ or the drum beater, with a view to scare away the snake and collect the grains, happened to hit the snake with a stick slaying the snake God. The drum beater too died after ten minutes.After some days, the water brought by the Snake God too spread to the villages of Drabrran and Mattu instead of the villages of Rang and Valand. An idol of the snake God was made and the devotees have Darshans of both the Sandraj and the snakegod alongwith the Mata too when they visit the shrine. There is a pond near the shrine, which never dries up.This water is used to bathe the Mata everyday.