The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c5.s8.24

c5.s8.24

Jvālāmukhī—A celebrated place of pilgrimage (*Devī-Bhāgavata*, vii, 38), 22 miles south of Kangra and 10 miles north-west of Nadaun in the Kohistan of the Jalandhara Doab in the Dehra sub-division of the Kangra district, being one of the Pīṭhas where Satī’s tongue is said to have fallen *Tantra-chuḍāmaṇi*. The town is thus described by W. H. Parish in *JASB.*, vol. XVIII: “The town of Jvālāmukhī is large and straggling, and is built at the base of the western slope of the Jvālāmukhī or Chungar-ki-dhar. The town with the wooded slopes of Chungar forming the background, and the valley spread out before it, has a very picturesque appearance from a distance.” The celebrated temple has been cut out of the volcanic rock. It possesses no architectural beauty, nor anything worthy of notice except natural jets of gas which are ten in number, five being within the temple and five on its walls. The temple contains the image of Ambikā or Maṭeśvarī, but General Cunningham says that there is no idol of any kind, the flaming fissure being considered as the fiery mouth of the goddess whose headless body is in the temple of Bhawan (*Arch. S. Rep.*, vol. V, p. 171). According to an ancient tradition, the flame issued from the mouth of the Daitya Jālandhara. It is evidently the Bāḍavā of the *Mahābhārata* (Vana. ch. 82). The Jvālāmukhī mountain is 3,284 feet high, the temple being at a height of 1,882 feet.