Saharsa is the nearest railway station to reach village Mahishi. There's an all-weather road
rom Saharsa to Bangaon, a distance of four miles. Bangaon is a large village and has an
nspection Bungalow owned by the government.
From Bangaon to Mahishi, a distance of about three miles, there is an apology for a road,
which is not metalled. Only bullock carts can negotiate this distance in the rains.
Mahishi is an ancient village and, according to the legend commonly known throughout
Bihar, it was the place where Mandan Misra, a great philosopher of the eighth century, lived. It
is here that Shankaracharya came from the south and had a philosophic discussion first with
Mandan Misra and then with his wife Bharati.
Shankaracharya is said to have first met a maid servant filling up her pitcher from a tank
and asked her where Mandan Misra lived. The maid servant replied in Sanskrit that he should
go a little farther to find a village where even the birds talk in Sanskrit. Mandan Misra lived in
that village. Shankaracharya was amazed and followed the direction and came to Mahishi. He
had a "shastrartha" or philosophic debate with Mandan Misra and the latter was defeated.
Mandan Misra's wife Bharati told Shankaracharya to defeat her also as she was the better half
of Mandan Misra. Shankaracharya agreed.
Bharati asked him some questions of sexology. Shankaracharya could not reply as he did
not know anything about sexology. He went back to gain knowledge about sexology. The body
was left and the soul entered someone for the purpose. Shankaracharya subsequently had a
debate with Bharati and defeated her.
Even today there exists a mound at Mahishi which the villagers say was the site of the
great debate. There's also an Ugratara Temple here, and it is said that Mandan was a devotee
of this deity.
Ugratara temples are extremely rare in this part of the country. So far as it is known, th
is no other regular temple of Ugratara anywhere in Bihar, although the idol of Tara, particul
ly of the Pala period, has been found at various places, including Kurkihar in Gaya district.
There are three idols in the Ugratara Temple at Mahishi. The central figures are those
Ekajataand Nila-Saraswati.
The Maharajadhiraja of Darbhanga offered a village to the deity. Within the temple
precincts there are a large number of smaller images, which are also worshipped. It is also a
remarkable fact that within a couple of miles of Mahishi village, there is a Sun temple at village
Kandaha. Sun temples are also very few in Bihar.
