History

Kapileshwar Temple is situated in the Kakraul Village, Rahika region of Madhubani District, Bihar, India. A Shiva Linga was placed at this temple by a Kapila sage.

This temple is mentioned in several religious works and finds its roots in the Treta Yuga of Ramayana, when Sage Kapil came here to pay homage to his father, Sage Kardam. When he reached here, he sensed that this place has the presence of a self-evolved Shiva lingam. Sage Kapil successfully detected this Shiva lingam, worshipped it and named it after his name- Kapileshwara Nath. Mithila Varnana chapter of Sankhya Shasthra, which was written by Sage Kapil, explains that he himself awakened this Shiva lingam.
The temple compound has two shrines of Goddess Parvathi. The west directional Goddess Parvathi temple was built by Darbanga Maharaja in 1937 along with the main temple and is situated at a distance of 100 ft from it. It has a white marble 2.5 ft high idol of the Goddess. To the west of the sanctum sanctorum, a small temple of Lord Vishnu has four black stone idols of Vishnu, Ganesh, Nandi and Brahma. A foot sign of Lord Vishnu is also carved in the black rock.

There is an important small temple of Batuk Bhairava to the north-western side of the main temple. There is a pond at a distance of 300 ft to the north-west of the temple. It is believed that Sage Kardama used water from this pond during his meditation. It was a small pond at that time and was created by Lord Varun.