At Hanol, the MahasuDevta temple is located on the Tuini-Mori Road. In the temple, MahasuDevta is chiefly worshipped. Lord Mahasu is said to be the divine creator of Hanol and the area around it. Devotees from other villages of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh also visit and worship here.
The temple is around 190 km from Dehradun and 140 km from Shimla, Himachal Pradesh.
This temple has magnificent architecture and is famous in and around Hanol for its beauty. It is believed that Hun Bhatt built the temple. Hanol village is named after the renowned warrior Huna Bhat. Bhat means warrior in the native language.
Warrior Huna is well known for building temples in the region. He never bowed his head in front of anyone except the Lord Sthanu (Shiva).
In Hindu Mythology, it is said that there was a demon named Mandrath who used to gallop one or more of the villagers daily. The villagers used to live in terror. One day one of the Shiv devotees, Delori Devi, prayed to Lord Shiva for help. Shiva asked Delori Devi to send all her four sons to the demon.
The sons went to the demon and fought for four days. At the end of the fourth day, they managed to kill the demon.
Years later, while some villagers were ploughing a field, they found four Shiv Lingas named after four brothers; Botha, Pavasik, Vasik, and Chalda.
Since then, the villagers started praying to Shiva as MahasuDevta here. By the locals here, MahasuDevta is believed to be the Lord of justice, and everyone follows his decisions.
In 2004, the Shaant festival started being held here, which goes for five days. This festival initially used to include the sacrifice of animals. Later, the priests here decided to put a stop to animal sacrifices. Women were not allowed to enter the mahasu devta mandir in the beginning. Even this was changed later.
Now the fest at the temple is held in August for three days every year. Devotees from remote areas of India come to attend this festival.