Dwadasha Jyotirlinga Part - 2

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Vaidyanath:

This jyotirlinga is situated in the Santhal district of current Jharkhand. This is the only place where the Jyotirlinga and Shaktipeeth, both lie side by side.

In Purana we come across a line “paralyam vaidhyanatham cha”, which points this jyotirlinga to be located at Parligram. The temple is situated above a hill here and is an ancient one. But according to Shiv Purana, the ancient Shivpurana tells about Vidhyanath being situated at Deoghar, Jharkhand. (The shivlinga at Baijnath Himachal Pradesh is also said to be a part of this very jyotirlinga and is associated with Ravana)

Vidhyanathavtaro hi navamastak kirtit

Avirbhuto ravanartham bahulilakar prabhu

Tadanyanrupam hi vyajam kritva maheshwar

Jyotirlingaswarupen chitabhumou pratishthita

Vidhyanatheswaro namna prasidhdho bhujjagatreye

Darshanat pujanadhbhakya Bhaktimuktipradah sa hi.

These lines in Shivpurana tell the location of this jyotirlingam to be at “Chittabhumou”. The Parligram jyotirlinga does not meet the criteria of being chittabhumou, but on the other hand Deoghar is Chittabhumi. So we can say logically that the jyotirlinga at Deoghar is the original one.

This jyotirlinga at Deoghar also is a shaktipeeth. Part of sati’s heart had fallen off here. This is the only jyotirlinga temple where we find them both.

Story goes that after Asur Raj Ravana’s hard penance and his offering the head 10 times, Lord Shiva showed himself. Ravana asked Shiva that he be allowed to take the Linga to Lanka. Shiva agreed but on condition that if he keeps it down anywhere on way, it’ll stay there. On his way back Lankeshwar stopped at Santhal paraganas and asked one aahir to hold it while he went off to call of nature. The linga being heavy, the aahir kept it down on earth. Ravana could not pick it up anymore so left. Lord Vishnu, Indra and Brahma and other Gods came down and did puja to this linga. Thus the linga came to be placed here.

Bhimashankar:

There is lot of debate with regards to Bhimashankar jyotirlinga temple. There is one at Puna which is also called as Daakini. But in Kashipur too there is a Bhimashankar temple, in ancient times Kashipur was called as Daakini, and this temple is known as Sri Moteshwar Mahadev. Sahyadri range in Maharashtra also has one. But according to Shivpurana, it’s the Jyotirlinga at Guwahati which is the original one.

It is said that Kumbhakarna has a son Bhim, who when got to know about his father’s death, got very angry with Vishnu. He decided to teach all a lesson so started penances. Brahma was happy and blessed him with victory. He now first took all Gods into captivity and then fought with Vishnu to gain victory over the Lord. He became the kig of devlok. Kamrup during that period had Sudakshin as the King who was a great devote of Lord Shiva. Bhim took him also into captivity. The Gods, Sages and Rishis decided to pray to Lord Shiva and the Lord assured them of helping against Bhim. In the meanwhile King Sudakshan decided to pray to Lord Shiva, so inside the prison itself he makes a shivlinga and starts praying. Bhim saw this and in anger attacked the shivlinga with his sword. Lord Shiva arises from the Linga itself and his anger itself burns to ashes the asura Bhim. On request from all other Gods and sages, Lord Shiva agrees to be there in the form of Jyotirlinga.

Rameshwaram:

This jyotirlinga is located in Tamilnadu. It is said that this linga was established by Lord Rama himself. The temple also has the Lord of Rama pillar. On his way to Lanka Lord Rama made a shivlinga out of sand and did the puja. When he reached this point, he felt thirsty and decided to drink water. While doing so he heard a voice saying how come you drink water without offering me any prayer? He then made this Shivling and prayed to Lord Shiva, who in turn blessed Lord Rama with victory. The temple has in all 24 wells inside. Water in these wells is sweet and drinkable. There are wells outside the temple premesis too but there water is not worth drinking. Puranas say Lord Rama created these wells using arrows and his power to bring water from different “Tirtha” places. They are named also like Ramtirtha, Amritvatika, Hanuman kunda, Brahmahatya Tirtha, and so on.

Nageshwar:

There is lot of dispute with the location of this jyotirlinga. Some feel it’s at Hingoli, Maharashtra in a place called Naagnath. While there is a view which says it’s located at Jaageshwar in Uttarakhand. Among all this disputes, most still consider jyotirlinga located at Dwaraka in Gujarat is the correct one.

There was a very pious man Supriyo. He was a devotee of Lord Shiva. Daruk, an asur did not like this devotion and one day attacked him and all others who were Shiva devotee. He kept them all in prison. Supriyo carried on with his Shiv aradhana even in the prison with his fellow prisoners. Daruk got angrier and finally ordered his men to kill them all. Supriyo was hardly affected; he prayed to the Lord and requested him to save all. Lord Shiva appeared before him in the prison cell itself sitting on a big throne beautifully adorned. He gave the Pashupat weapon to Supriyo and daruk with his followers were all killed. On Lord Shivas order itself, this linga was named Nageshwar.

The current temple was built by Late Gulshan Kumar. In the front of the temple you can see a large statue of Lord Shiva sitting. This statue can be seen from almost more than 2km distance. Inside you first arrive at a sabhagraha. Below this sabhagraha is the Grabha griha where the jyotirlinga is placed.

Vishvanath:

This is located at Benaras/Varanasi and popularly known as Kashi Vishvanath. This temple is considered one of the most sacred temples. In puranas it is mentioned that Lord Vishnu prayed to Lord Shiva in this city. Even Agastya rishi prayed to Lord Shiva here. On the North of this city is Omkarkhand. On south is Kedarkhand while centre lays the Vishveshwarkhand. The Vishvanath jyotirling is placed here in Vishveshwarkhand.

According to puranas, after Lord Shiva got married to Goddess Parvati, he was living at Mount Kailash. One day Parvati told the Lord that every girl after marriage goes to her husband’s house. But here she has to live at her father’s place itself. So Lord Shiva took her to Benaras and thus the jyotirlinga came to existence here.

Trimbakeshwar:

This is located at Nasik in Maharashtra. Legend says, once wives of many rishis living with gautam Rishi were unhappy with his wife Ahilya. They requested their husbands to see Gautam rishi and his wife are thrown out from that place. The rishis agreed to and prayed to Lord Ganesha. When the Lord came before them, the rishis asked him to help with Gautam rishi affair. Lord Ganesha tried his best to make them see light but to no avail. So finally he promised them help. He turned himself into a weak cow and entered rishi Gautam’s ashram. The rishi took a grass strand and tried to keep the cow away but instead the cow fell dead. Gautam rishi was quite surprised. But he had to face the wrath of other rishis for killing cow and committing sin and leave the area. But the rishis did not leave him alone even there. Finally Gautam rishi asked them how he can repent for the sin. They told him two ways and among them he went for one whereby he had to make a crore shivlings and pray. Lord Shiva was pleased with Gautam rishi and appeared before him. The rishi asked for forgiveness to which then Shiva told him how he was tricked and those other rishis who did the same would now face his wrath. To this Rishi Gautam requested Lord Shiva to forgive them as because of them he could get the Lord’s darshan. On the request of all other rishis who were present then, Lord Shiva agreed to stay in that place as jyotirlinga.

Kedarnath:

Rameshwaram being the southernmost jyotirlinga, Kedarnath is the northernmost Jyotirlinga. The temple is situated atop the mountain Kedar in the Himalayas. One the west side of Kedar flows the Mandakini River, and on its bank is placed Kedareshwar. On its east side flows Alakananda river, and in this river’s bank is the sacred Badrinath temple. Both the river flow down to meet Rudraprayag which in turn meets the Ganges. So when we touch Ganga water, we get to touch the water coming from the feet of Kedareshwar and Badrinath.

According to purana legend, ages back two very devoted people Srinar and Narayan decied to do penance to please Lord Shiva. For years they carried on with sadhana and finally Lord appeared before them. Both were ecstatic. On Lord Shiva’s command to ask for anything they want, both requested the Lord to stay there in Kedar and help humanity in spiritual Journey. The Lord agreed to and Kedarnath jyotirlinga came into being.

Grishneshwar:

This jyotirlinga is located at Verulgaon in Maharashtra very near to Ellora caves. The scared place is also known as Ghushmeshwar. It is known by many names, Grishneshwar, Ghushmeshwar, Ghushrineshwar.

On Devgiri mount lived a very pious brahman Sudharma with his wife Sudeha. They wanted a child but got to know Sudeha cannot have any. So Sudeha forced her husband to get married to her sister Ghushma. They had a son soon. Ghushma was very pious and devote of Lord Shiva. She would make 101 shivlingas daily, do puja and immerse them in their pond. With time Sudeha’s mind turned poisonous and she started feeling left out in the family. One night she killed the boy and threw his body in the pond where Ghushma used to immerse the shivlingas after puja. Next morning everyone was heartbroken but Ghushma was unaffected. She did her usual puja and immersed the lingas in the pond. A she turned back to go home, her son walked out of the pond. Lord Shiva also appeared and blessed Ghushma. He decided to punish Sudeha but Ghushma requested him to forgive her elder sister. On Ghushma’s request he stayed back there as jyotirlinga.