''Saturn'' resides here - houses without doors!! - Shani Shingnapur, India-strange places 06


House without doors.Shani Shingnapur,India. www.tumblr.com
People in this remote, but strange village  have deep faith in god almighty-Lord Saturn or ''Saneeswara.'' Houses and buildings here do not have entrance doors at all, only curtains adore the houses. Shani, the 'Lord of Justice' is the protector here and no body dares to break into the houses and takes other's belongings. Houses have windows and curtains attached to the door frame.Unlike people in other places, here they at night  sleep in peace and there is no fear of burglars and house break- ins. May be  a safe people for hoarders of money and filthy rich people who are living in cities in perpetual fear of being robbed, mugged and burglarized. Definitely, it is a weird place in this world ridden with nasty people who are ever ready to steal others' money  sometimes under their very nose.

House without door,Shani Shingnapur,India. shanidev.com
Where does such a place exist in this mad world? This heavenly, safe place is located in Nevaska  taluk of Maharastra, about 35 km from  Ahmednagar city. Here the presiding deity is Saneeswara - the Hindu God of planet Saturn who is responsible for our miseries in lives.
Despite a couple of burglaries happened here in the past, people are still living and going out of their home  with out doors in the belief that the God will take care of the culprits who indulge in thievery. Their face shows no semblance of anxiety or worries about leaving their door-free homes. The burglars who struck in the past, it is believed, were punished by the Lord before crossing the village boundary.
The stone idol of Lord Saneeswara has been here for centuries and is ''swayambu'' - meaning self- evolved. Several generations ago the villagers saw a strange stone bleeding and many people had experience a sort of apparition in the form of mystic,celestial voice (''ashariri'' in Sanskrit) asking the villagers to build a temple for Saneeswara. Since then the 'shani' temple has been woven with the local peoples' lives, and their faith in the power of god is incredible. After all faith keeps us moving and helps us achieve what we aspire for.

There is a famous Saneewara temple near Karikal, Pondycherry state, one a French territory where Sanipeyarchi festival is celebrated with  on a grand scale every two and half years with devotion abhisekam and special pooja. This year Sanipeyarchi festival was held on Dec.16, 2014.  Saturn moved from Libra (thula rasi ) to Scorpio (Viruchigam rasi). Saturn moves from one house to another one. More than 700,000 plus people throng here for this festival.


Through out India the Hindus strongly believe that the planet Saturn (Saneeswara) is responsible for the miseries and hardship people encounter in their lives and no one can escape the ill effects of Saturn and the position he occupies in the horoscope of a person is very important. Worshiping Lord Saneeswara regularly will mitigate the sufferings.

Personally I ran into lots of people who told me wihout any exaggeration, that when they were under the spell of Saturn as per their horoscope, they had untold problems and miseries that sprang up from no where. However, toward the end of His spell, Lord Saneeswara's good deeds and rewards will be overwhelming. Pains and miseries will disappear like morning dew.