Manifestations of Lord Shiva - Aghoramukha Murti

3. Aghoramurti

This manifestation of Lord Shiva, i.e. Aghoramurti, took place after Peetvasa Kalpa. It is one of the five faces of Lord Shiva. This faces south direction. This face represents Lord Shiva's Power of Dissolution.

As the legend goes, there was an asura named Marutwasura who caused trouble to sages. Responding to the prayers of sages, Lord Shiva commanded his vahana i.e. Nandi to go and defeat the demons. Nandi fought with demon and defeated him and threw demon into the sea. Still alive, Marutwasura performed penance by praying Shiva and as a result obtained a sula and again started troubling sages. Again responding to prayers, Lord Shiva sent Nandi. However this time Nandi could not defeat demon and demon caused hurt to Nandi using sula. This caused anger to Lord Shiva and he opened his third eye to kill demon. Since this manifestation is out of anger of Lord Shiva, it is called Aghoramurti.

Following murtis are considered to be originated from Aghoramurti.

a) Gajasamhara Murti

The idol of this manifestation is located at a temple in Vazhvoor in Tamil Nadu, about 9 kms from Mayiladuthurai.

When Lord Shiva was wandering in Darukhvanam as a lunatic, the sages over there performed a yagna in order to annihilate Him. From the yagna rose a gigantic, monstrous and ferocious elephant. This elephant started destruction all around. All the people around there, including Parvati (who was with child Skanda) were scared. Lord Shiva killed this rogue elephant. He had manifested in a manner by which even Goddess Parvati was scared. He tore that elephant and wrapped its skin around him. Then the sages realized that the lunatic was none other than Lord Shiva Himself. This manifestation of Lord Shiva is known as Gajasamhara Murti.

   

Photo Source: https://kshetrapuranas.wordpress.com/2009/06/26/to-kill-a-rogue-elephant-vazhuvoor/

b) Veerbhadra Murti: 

(mentioned in our earlier blogs http://shrisainathmaharajtrust-sharing.blogspot.com/2016/09/veerabhadrar.html)

c) Dakshina Murti: 

(mentioned in our earlier blogs http://shrisainathmaharajtrust-sharing.blogspot.com/2016/09/dakshinamurty.html)
 

d) Kirata (Hunter) Murti:

This manifestation of Lord Shiva depicts wherein He grants Astra to Arjuna during the Mahabharata war. The idol depicting this incident is found at the Shiva Temple at Thiruverkalam near Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu.

According to Kshetra Purana, Arjuna did penance at this place to obtain the Astra. To disturb his penance, Duryodhana sent an Asura (demon) in the form of a pig. In order to test Arjuna, Lord Shiva appeared as a hunter. Hence the manifestation is known as Kirata Murti.

Both Lord Shiva and Arjuna killed the pig with an arrow and each of them started claiming the honor. It resulted in a fierce battle between them. Finally Lord Shiva lifted Arjuna with his leg and blessed him for his valor and gave the Pashupata-astra.

Photo Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kiratarjuna.jpg (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kir%C4%81t%C4%81rjun%C4%ABya)

e) Neelkantha Murti:

The temple at Suruttappalli in Chithoor district of Andhra Pradesh is the place where the idol of Lord Shiva is known as Neelakantheshwara (Pallikondeshwara as it is in lying position) Murti.

In this place Lord Shiva is reclining on the lap of His consort Parvati. The Gods Ganesha, Karthikeya, Surya, Chandra, Indra and sages such as Narada are seen standing around Him. Lord Shiva consumed the Halahala poison during the Samudra Manthan to rescue the beings of the Universe. His consort Parvati stopped the poison from going down the throat by clutching His throat tightly. Due to this, Shiva’s neck became blue and He got the name Neelakantheshwara. Then Shiva proceeded to Kailash along with Parvati and others. On the way, He felt exhausted due to the effect of the poison and lied down to relax at this place that is Suruttappalli. This is depicted at the temple here.

Photo Source: http://hindumythologybynarin.blogspot.com/?view=classic