Bhimakali Temple — the kath-kuni Shakti Peetha that Bushahr kings still worship.
Travellers know Bhimakali as "the temple in Sarahan" but rarely realise three things: it's one of the 51 Shakti Peethas (Sati's left ear fell here per Devi Bhagavata), it's the kuldevi of the entire erstwhile Bushahr royal family, and the building itself is a rare blend of Hindu kath-kuni timber-and-stone architecture with Tibetan-Buddhist tower-temple typology that exists nowhere else in this combination.WHY NOBODY KNOWS
The current temple complex dates to the 13th century — a two-tower wooden+stone structure with slanted slate roofs and ornate silver doors, built in pahari kath-kuni style (alternating deodar timber and dry-stone layers). Three courtyards: the first contains the Narsingha temple, the second the Raghunath, the third the twin towers housing the Bhimakali idol. The temple was the tutelary shrine of the Bushahr dynasty (which ruled from Sarahan as summer capital and Rampur as winter capital roughly from 15th century to 1947); Bushahr came under British suzerainty in November 1815 via sanad following the Anglo-Gurkha War. Wooden chimes in the external courtyards still hum in the wind. Photography of the inner sanctum is restricted; modest dress required.
