Mundeshvari temple: History in every stone

Mundeshvari temple in Bihar is considered by many to be the oldest functional temple in India

‘Mundeshvari temple is considered the oldest functional temple in the country’ — I have come across this clichéd-sounding line multiple times. And it set me thinking. How old is it then? Is it older than Benaras and its many temples? So I decide to visit Mundeshvari temple in Bhabua, 100 km from Benaras, to find some answers. I also chance upon a reference to the temple in Saba Dewan’s classic, Tawaifnama, where she writes: “Some recent scholars are of the opinion that the goddess installed in the Mundeshvari temple might well have been a deity worshipped originally by the aboriginal population, described in the Vedic and post-Vedic texts as asura and daitya. In the long-drawn-out struggles between the forces of invading Brahmanism and the indigenous population of the Kaimur area, the goddess seems to have been usurped and made part of the Hindu pantheon”.