Khatu Shyam Ji: The Story of Barbarik and the Names of Shyam Baba

The Names of Shyam Baba and What They Mean

The Story of Barbarik

In the tradition, Barbarik was the son of Ghatotkacha and Maurvi, also called Kamkatankata, and so the grandson of Bhima. He learnt the art of war from his mother, who made him promise that he would always fight for the side that was losing. The Goddess gave him three arrows that could not miss: with one he could mark every target, with another everything to be spared, and with the third destroy all that was marked. The story is a folk tradition that grew around the Mahabharata rather than a part of the epic's own text, and devotees hold it as such.

When the war at Kurukshetra was about to begin, Barbarik set out to watch it, intending to join the weaker side. Shri Krishna, who understood that a warrior bound to the losing side would end the war in moments and leave no victor, met him on the way in the form of a brahmin. He tested the three arrows against the leaves of a tree, hiding one leaf under his foot, and the arrow found that leaf too. Then he asked Barbarik for a gift, and when Barbarik agreed, asked for his head.

Barbarik gave it, asking only to watch the war to its end. Krishna placed the head on a hilltop, and from there Barbarik saw the eighteen days. When it was over and the victors argued over whose valour had won, it was the head that answered: it had seen only Krishna's chakra fighting. Krishna then gave the boon by which he is worshipped today, that in the age of Kali Barbarik would be known by Krishna's own name, Shyam, and that whoever came to him defeated would not go back empty-handed.

How the Head Came to Khatu

Long afterwards, the tradition says, the head appeared at Khatu, in what is now Sikar district of Rajasthan, at a spot where a cow would come each day and let down her milk. The head was found there and was given into a brahmin's keeping, and the ruler of the place was told in a dream to build a temple and enshrine it. The first temple is believed to have been built in 1027 by Roop Singh Chauhan and his wife Narmada Kanwar, and it was rebuilt in 1720 by Abhay Singh, the diwan of the Thakur of the place.

A second temple of Shyam Baba stands at Reengus, about seventeen kilometres from Khatu on the road from Jaipur, which is also the nearest railway station. Khatu itself is about eighty kilometres from Jaipur.

Fairs, Ekadashi and the Nishan

The great fair at Khatu is held every year around the Ekadashi of the month of Phalgun, when devotees walk to the temple from across Rajasthan, Haryana and beyond, and every month's Ekadashi draws its own crowd. Shyam Baba's birthday is kept on Devuthani Ekadashi in the month of Kartik. Janmashtami, Gyaras and Diwali are also celebrated at the temple.

The flag on the temple's spire, the nishan, has its own story. It is prepared each year at an old temple in Surajgarh in Jhunjhunu district, white cloth bearing the figure of the blue horse, and is carried to Khatu during the Phalgun fair and raised on the spire for the year. Devotees carry their own nishans on foot to the temple as an offering.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Khatu Shyam Ji?

Barbarik, grandson of Bhima, who in the tradition gave his head to Shri Krishna before the Mahabharata war and was granted that he would be worshipped in the age of Kali by Krishna's own name, Shyam. His head is enshrined at Khatu in Sikar district, Rajasthan.

Why is he called Haare ka Sahara?

The refuge of the defeated: Krishna's boon was that whoever comes to Shyam after losing everything will find support and will not go back empty-handed.

Where is the Khatu Shyam temple?

In Khatu village, Sikar district, Rajasthan, about eighty kilometres from Jaipur. The nearest railway station is Reengus, about seventeen kilometres away, which has a temple of Shyam Baba of its own.

When is the Khatu Shyam mela?

Every year around the Ekadashi of the month of Phalgun, in late winter, with smaller gatherings on every month's Ekadashi. His birthday is kept on Devuthani Ekadashi in Kartik.

What does Sheesh ke Daani mean?

The giver of his head: the name recalls the gift Barbarik made to Krishna before the war, asking only to watch it to the end.

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Image: Shyam Baba at the Reengus temple, photograph by Wikimedia Commons user Shyam, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped and recoloured in the site's palette; this image is shared under the same licence.