Maa Suswani

The Legend of Maa Suswani

Goddess Ambe incarnated as Suswani Mata and was born to Sri Seth Satidasji and Srimati Sugankanwarji of Nagaur in V.S. 1219. Her marriage was fixed at the age of 10 in the Dugar family. She was very beautiful. On the day of her pre-marital function, the nawab of Nagaur was allured by her beauty and fell in love with her. He expressed his wish to marry 'Suswani' in front of her father, but her father said that the girl was an incarnation of the Mata Ambe and it was not in his power to bestow her on any body. As marital relationship between Hindu and Muslim was not possible her father rejected the proposal. The nawab got furious and threatened to kill the whole family and imprisoned Seth Satidas. The entire family blamed Suswani for the whole incident. Suswani became upset and started praying to Arihant and felt asleep.

In her sleep she saw a dream of an enlightened idol assuring her not to worry. The idol told Suswani to inform the nawab that she would marry him, if he fulfills the condition laid down by her. The condition was that, "She would be at a distance of 7 feet from him and he should catch her by following her either barefooted or on a horse. However the idol assured her that he will never be able to catch her."

The nawab agreed to her terms and was extremely happy. Sethji was freed from the prison. Very soon nawab with a few soldiers arrived at Sethji's palace. Suswani left the imprints of the kumkum hand on the wall near the front door of the house, before starting to run. As per the condition, she started running on foot, and the evil nawab on the horse leaving a gap of 7 feet in between them.

The nawab was unable to catch her, although he was on a horse and the distance remained the same. She kept on running and when she got tired, she prayed for help. Immediately a lion appeared on which she mounted and continued running up to the present Bikaner district's Morkhana village. There she saw a shrine of Shiva and prayed for help. Shiva appeared in front of her and threw a chimta in front of the temple, amidst a Kera tree. As soon as Suswani reached the place, the Kera tree and the earth parted in two making a thunderous sound. Suswani entered into the earth with the lion and the earth closed up again, leaving a small part of her saree out. The Nawab and his friends fought for the pallu and killed each other. The divine shrine of Morkhana still witness the fully bloomed Kera tree.

In V.S. 1232, Malhadas Surana, the younger brother of Seth Satidas Surana, saw a dream in which Suswani in the form of Devi, ordered him to construct a temple at the place where she entered into the earth. He expressed his inability due to lack of money. Devi told him about a place with hidden treasure in his goshala. Malhadas constructed the temple, a well and a Goshala with the help of that money. When Malahdas Surana expressed the lack of money to construct the temple, Devi told him about a place with hidden treasure in his Goshala. Malahdas constructed a temple of Suswani Mataji with the help of that money.