Deo Surya Mandir: The Story of Bihar’s West-Facing Sun Temple, and Chhath at Its Surya Kund

Sun temples almost always face east, to greet the rising sun. Deo faces the other way — towards the sun as it sets. For Chhath, the one festival that worships the setting sun first, that makes Deo especially dear: the evening arghya here is offered towards the temple and the setting sun at once.

Local tradition tells of King Aila, who suffered from a skin disease that no remedy could cure. Passing through the forest here, he bathed in a small pond and was healed. In a dream the Sun god told him that his idol lay in the water; the king found it and built a temple beside the pond — today’s Surya Kund. That is why bathing in the kund before arghya is thought to bring health.

A second story explains the west-facing door. When an invader came to destroy the temples of the region, the priests begged him to spare Deo. He mockingly said that if the god was real, the temple should turn to face the other way by morning. At dawn its entrance faced west — and he left it untouched. Historians date the present structure to the early medieval period, but the legend is told by every family that visits.

• The Nagara-style shikhara of dark stone, carved and topped with a kalash, rising above the town.
• Trikal Surya — the Sun worshipped in three forms, linked by tradition with Brahma (morning), Shiva (midday) and Vishnu (evening).
• Surya Kund, the sacred tank where devotees bathe and offer arghya at Chhath.
• Sundays and Chhath draw the largest crowds; the Chhath fair fills the town for days.

• Getting there: Deo is reached by road from Aurangabad town. The nearest railway station is Anugrah Narayan Road (Aurangabad) on the Grand Chord line; the nearest airports are Gaya and Patna.
• When: arrive by Kharna (14 Nov 2026) if you will keep the vrat there; the Sandhya Arghya on 15 Nov and Usha Arghya on 16 Nov are the busiest hours.
• Stay: rooms fill months ahead at Chhath; many families stay in Aurangabad and come in early.
• Crowd sense: keep children close, carry water for non-fasting members, follow the district administration’s route and parking arrangements.

Deo is the best known of several old Sun shrines of the Magadh region — Ulaar, Aungari and Baragaon among them — where families travel to keep the Chhath vrat beside temple tanks.

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