Sunday, June 5, 2016

Shri Vaidyanath

There are three locations that are considered for this Jyotirlinga. There is a legend associated with each location. Three locations are Parali near Ambejogai in Maharashtra, Deogarh in Jharkhand and Baijanath in Himachal Pradesh. 

Baijanath in Himachal Pradesh is considered as one of the most scared abodes of Lord Shiva. The Demon king Ravana was a staunch worshiper for Shiva. By cutting his ten heads one after the other he offered them as a sacrifice to Lord Shiva during a Tapasya. Pleased by his devotion, Lord Shiva cured Ravana of his injury. As Lord Shiva acted as a doctor in this case, he is known as Baijanath in Himachal Pradesh.

The second legend is associated with the Jyotirlinga at Parali. Devi Yogeshwari of Ambejogai was to be married to Lord Vaidyanatha of Parali. The marriage party arrived late at Ambejogai as a result of which the marriage party members were turned into stone by Yogeshwari (Parvati). Another legend at this place is attributed to Samudra-Manthan. After Samudra-Manthan, Lord Vishnu hid Danavantri, along with other gems, inside the Shivalinga. When the demons tried to snatch away the gems, huge flames came out of the linga and the demons had to retreat. Therefore there is a belief that the abhishek teertha that comes out from the shivalinga has properties to cure diseases. A banyan tree (Vata-Vruksha) near the vataveshwar temple is believed to be the spot where the incident of Savitri and Satyavan took place. A pond nearby is named after Markandeya rishi. This spot is believed to the place where the rishi got the boom of eternal life (Chiranjeevi) from Lord Shiva.

At Deogarh the legend is that, Ravana desired to perform ablutions and as there was no water nearby he hit the ground with his fist. Then there emerged a pond called ShivaGanga. He worshiped sivalinga and sacrificed his hands one by one. Finally Lord Shiva appeared and gave him a boom of invincibility and restored his hands. Hence the shivalinga is known as Vaidyanath.


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