Bhopal: The country’s largest bell weighing 3700 kg has been installed in the Pashupatinath temple near the Sahastra Shivling temple under construction in Mandsaur. It is the heaviest bell in the country and the world.
It has been made at a cost of Rs 36 lakh, and a team of 10 artisans has worked for 6 months day and night to create this Maha Ghanta. The figures of Lord Pashupatinath have been carved outside it.
Metal donations from devotees
They collected copper and brass from all over the district to make this Ghanta. The bell will be heard at festivals.
A bell of 1635 kg has already been installed in the Ratangarh Deviji temple in Madhya Pradesh. Dinesh Nagar, president of Shri Krishna Kamdhenu said that he got the idea for a bigger bell when he visited that temple.
The campaign started in 2017 to build the Ghanta. The committee had initially set a target of installing 21 quintal weighing bell. To fulfil the dream, the members of the temple committee took out a yatra in the district. They collected copper and brass from Mandsaur town and countryside through more than 150 visits. Devotees participated enthusiastically in donating the old utensils for the construction of the great bell. Along with the metal donation by the devotees, cash was also provided.
Gujarat company did construction in 6 months
The committee contacted a company in Ahmedabad, Gujarat to get the Maha Ghanta made. A team of 10 people worked day and night for 6 months to make the gigantic Ghanta. After the construction of the Maha Ghanta, it was kept in the ground for one and a half months to adapt to the natural coolness.
About 25 quintals of copper brass were found in donations from the devotees. Apart from the metal, an additional Rs 15 lakh was spent. The committee also paid GST of about 3.5 lakh rupees. Maha Ghante was brought from Gujarat to Madhya Pradesh in a special trolley.
Muslim technician installed Maha Ghanta
A Class III dropout Muslim mechanic, Naru Khan Mev, fitted the Maha Ghanta. Khan, 66, who runs a small factory, complete the difficult task free of cost and within 10-15 days. The bell was waiting to be installed for about two years.
According to Dinesh Nagar, the head of the Pashupatinath Temple Maha Ghanta Mandali, “It was Naru Bhai who, along with his men, completed the onerous task of lifting the bell to the temple and then installing it at a solid foundation, which is worthy of bearing three times more weight than the 3,-700-kg bell.”
Naru Khan’s association with Pashupatinath Temple (which houses possibly the world’s only eight-faced Shiva Linga) isn’t new. During the first Covid lockdown, he had got a sanitization machine installed at the temple, while in the second lockdown he had installed a bell fitted with a sensor, which would start ringing without touch by devotees.