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Sthalam

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Vaidyanatha Jyotirlinga temple, also known as&nbsp;Baba Baidyanath dham&nbsp;and&nbsp;Baidyanath dham&nbsp;is one of the twelve&nbsp;Jyotirlingas, the most sacred abodes of&nbsp;Shiva. It is located in&nbsp;Deoghar&nbsp;in the&nbsp;Santhal Parganas&nbsp;division of the&nbsp;state&nbsp;of&nbsp;Jharkhand,&nbsp;India. It is a temple complex consisting of the main temple of Baba Baidyanath, where the&nbsp;Jyotirlinga&nbsp;is installed, and 21 other temples.According to&nbsp;Hindu&nbsp;beliefs, the demon king&nbsp;Ravana&nbsp;worshipped Shiva at the current site of the temple to get the boons that he later used to wreak havoc in the world.

Ravana offered his ten heads one after another to Shiva as a sacrifice. Pleased with this, Shiva descended to cure Ravana who was injured. As he acted as a doctor, he is referred to as&nbsp;Vaidhya&nbsp;(&quot;doctor&quot;). The temple derives its name from this aspect of Shiva.

Kanwar Yatra&nbsp;(Devanagari: कांवड़ यात्रा) is an annual pilgrimage of devotees of Shiva, known as Kānvarias (कांवड़िया) or &quot;Bhole&quot; (भोले) to Hindu pilgrimage places of Sultanganj in&nbsp;Bihar&nbsp;to fetch&nbsp;holy waters&nbsp;of&nbsp;Ganges&nbsp;River. Millions of participants gather sacred water from the Ganga and carry it across hundreds of miles to dispense as offerings in Baidyanath Temple in Jharkhand.

Puranam

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According to the legend, Dashanan Ravana was doing penance on the Himalayas to please&nbsp;Lord Shiva, he was cutting his heads one by one and offering them to the Shivling. After offering 9 heads, when Ravana was about to cut his 10th head, Bholenath was pleased and appeared to him and asked him to ask for a boon -

then Ravana asked for a boon to take &#39;Kamna Linga&#39; to Lanka. Apart from the golden Lanka, Ravana had the power to rule in all the three worlds, as well as imprisoned many gods, Yakshas and Gandharvas and kept them in Lanka. Because of this, Ravana expressed his desire that Lord Shiva should leave Kailash and stay in Lanka, Mahadev fulfilled his wish but also put a condition.

He said that if you keep Shivling anywhere on the way, then I will stay there again and will not get up, Ravana accepted the condition, here all the gods got worried after hearing about Lord Shiva leaving Kailash, to solve this problem Everyone went to Lord Vishnu. Then Shri Hari composed the Leela. Lord Vishnu asked Varun Dev to enter Ravana&#39;s stomach through Achaman. Therefore, when Ravana came towards Sri Lanka with the Shivling, he felt a small doubt near Deoghar, in such a situation, Ravana went to make a small doubt by giving Shivling to a Baiju named Ahir. It is said that there was&nbsp;Lord Vishnu&nbsp;in the form of Baiju Ahir. Tired of the increasing load of Shivling,

Baiju Ahir installed the Shivling on the earth. When Ravana returned, he could not lift the Shivling even after lakhs of efforts. Then he also understood this leela of God and got angry, kicking the Shivling and then went away after sticking his thumb. Hiding there, Baiju was watching all this, he felt that this is the way of doing devotion to Baba ji, since then it became a routine for Baiju. One day Baiju was very hungry, when he went home, as soon as he put food in his mouth, Baiju remembered that today, Baiju did not worship Bhole Baba, leaving his food, Baiju went on a tour with sticks, this time as soon as Shivling was attacked. While doing this, Mahadev would have appeared,

Mahadev said, Baiju, I am very pleased with your devotion. On seeing Mahadev, Baiju fell at his feet and said Mahadev, I had seen Ravana, if I had done this, I felt that you would have been worshiped like this. Mahadev hugged Baiju and said Baiju you have worshiped me from the heart. From today onwards the world will know you as my highest devotee, your name will be taken before my name and this place will be famous as Baba&nbsp;Baijnath Dham&nbsp;(further improved to Baidyanath Dham).

After that the gods like Brahma, Vishnu etc. came and worshiped that Shivling. As soon as Shiva appeared, all the deities established Shivling at the same place and went back to heaven after praising Shiva. Since then Mahadev resides in Deoghar in the form of &#39;Kamna Linga&#39;. Here Brahma, Vishnu etc. Gods came and worshiped that Shivling. According to popular belief and folk belief, this&nbsp;Vaidyanath-Jyotirlinga is going to give desired results.

<h2>Jyotirlinga</h2>

As per&nbsp;Shiv Mahapuran, once&nbsp;Brahma&nbsp;(the Hindu God of creation) and&nbsp;Vishnu&nbsp;(the Hindu God of preservation) had an argument in terms of supremacy of creation.&nbsp;To test them,&nbsp;Shiva&nbsp;pierced the three worlds as a huge endless pillar of light, the&nbsp;jyotirlinga. Vishnu and Brahma split their ways to downwards and upwards respectively to find the end of the light in either direction. Brahma lied that he found out the end, while Vishnu conceded his defeat.

Shiva appeared as the second pillar of light and cursed Brahma that he would have no place in ceremonies while Vishnu would be worshipped till the end of eternity. The&nbsp;jyotirlinga&nbsp;is the supreme partless reality, out of which Shiva partly appears. The&nbsp;jyothirlinga&nbsp;shrines, thus are places where Shiva appeared as a fiery column of light.

Originally there were believed to be 64&nbsp;jyothirlingas&nbsp;while 12 of them are considered to be very auspicious and holy.Each of the twelve&nbsp;jyothirlinga&nbsp;sites take the name of the presiding deity - each considered different manifestation of Shiva.At all these sites, the primary image is&nbsp;lingam&nbsp;representing the beginningless and endless&nbsp;Stambha&nbsp;pillar, symbolizing the infinite nature of Shiva.

The twelve&nbsp;jyothirlinga&nbsp;are&nbsp;Somnath&nbsp;in&nbsp;Gujarat,&nbsp;Mallikarjuna&nbsp;at&nbsp;Srisailam&nbsp;in&nbsp;Andhra Pradesh,&nbsp;Mahakaleswar&nbsp;at&nbsp;Ujjain&nbsp;in&nbsp;Madhya Pradesh,&nbsp;Omkareshwar&nbsp;in&nbsp;Madhya Pradesh,&nbsp;Kedarnath&nbsp;in&nbsp;Uttarakhand,&nbsp;Bhimashankar&nbsp;in&nbsp;Maharashtra,&nbsp;Viswanath&nbsp;at&nbsp;Varanasi&nbsp;in&nbsp;Uttar Pradesh,&nbsp;Triambakeshwar&nbsp;in Maharashtra, Baidyanath at&nbsp;Deoghar&nbsp;in&nbsp;Jharkhand,&nbsp;Nageswar&nbsp;at&nbsp;Dwarka&nbsp;in&nbsp;Gujarat,&nbsp;Rameshwar&nbsp;at&nbsp;Rameswaram&nbsp;in&nbsp;Tamil Nadu&nbsp;and&nbsp;Ghushmeshwar&nbsp;at&nbsp;Maharashtra.

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The Maa Parvati temple is tied up with the main temple, with huge red sacred threads which is unique and worthy of reverence, showing the unity of&nbsp;Shiva&nbsp;and&nbsp;Shakti. According to the stories narrated in the&nbsp;Shiva Purana, the holy Baidyanath temple resembles the unity of souls and thus fits marriage for Hindus.

The Matsyapuran narrates the place as&nbsp;Arogya Baidyanathitee, the holy place where Shakti lives and assists Shiva in freeing people from incurable diseases. This whole area of Deoghar was under the rule of the Kings of Gidhaur who were much attached with this temple. Raja Bir Vikram Singh founded this princely state in 1266. In 1757 after the&nbsp;Battle of Plassey&nbsp;the officers of the East India Company paid their attention to this temple. An English man, Keating was sent to look at the administration of the temple.

Mr. Keating, the first English collector of Birbhum, took interest in the administration of the temple. In 1788, under Mr. Keating&#39;s order Mr. Hesilrigg, his assistant, who was probably the first English man to visit the holy city, set out to supervise personally the collection of the pilgrim offerings and dues. Later, when Mr. Keating himself visited Babadham, he was convinced and forced to abandon his policy of direct interference. He handed over the full control of the temple to the hands of the high priest.

Adi Sankaracharya&nbsp;has praised Vaidyanath jyothirlinga in following verses

Poorvothare prajwalika nidhane 
sada vasantham giwalrija sametham 
surasuraradhitha padapadmam 
srivaidyanatham thamaham namami

This states that Vaidyanath jyotirlinga is located at Prajwalika nidhanam (meaning funeral place i.e.,&nbsp;chithabhoomi) in the&nbsp;North-Eastern&nbsp;part of the country. Deoghar is far located in&nbsp;east&nbsp;part of the country. Also&nbsp;Chidabhoomi&nbsp;indicates that, in olden days, this was a funeral place, where corpses are burnt and post-death ceremonies were performed.

This place could have been a center of tantric cults like&nbsp;Kapalika/Bhairava&nbsp;where&nbsp;Lord Shiva&nbsp;is worshipped significantly as&nbsp;smasan vasin&nbsp;(meaning, residing in crematorium),&nbsp;sava bhasma bhushita&nbsp;(meaning, smearing body with ashes of burnt bodies).

The Dvadasalinga Smaranam also mentions its location as the verse is&nbsp;Prachikam Vaidyanatham, i.e., Vaidyanatham is in east (prachi means east). Another version of Dvadasalinga Smaranam mentions its location in the verse&nbsp;Paralyam Vaidyanatham,i.e.,Vaidyanatham is in Parali.The names and the locations of the 12 Jyotirlingas mentioned in the distorted version of Dvadasalinga Smaranam are:

Saurashtre Somanathamcha Srisaile Mallikarjunam| 
Ujjayinya Mahakalam Omkaramamaleswaram || 
Prajwalayam Vaidyanathancha Dakinyam Bheema Shankaram | 
Setu Bandhethu Ramesam, Nagesam Darukavane|| 
Varanasyantu Vishwesam Tryambakam Gautameethate| 
Himalayetu Kedaaram, Ghrishnesamcha shivaalaye||

Etani jyotirlingani, Saayam Praatah Patennarah|Sapta Janma Kritam pApam, Smaranena Vinashyati||

Thus the three temples claiming their shrines as &#39;real&#39; jyotirlinga of Vaidyanath are&nbsp;Baidyanath temple&nbsp;at&nbsp;Deoghar, Jharkhand,Vaidyanath temple&nbsp;at&nbsp;Parli,&nbsp;Maharashtra&nbsp;and&nbsp;Baijnath temple&nbsp;at&nbsp;Baijnath,&nbsp;Himachal Pradesh.

Varnam

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Bhavishyapurana also describes Baidyanath as &quot;Narikhande is district abounding in thickets. It lies west of the Dwarikashwari River. It extends along the Panchakuta hills on its west, and approaches Kikta on the north. The forests are very extensive, chiefly of Sakhota, Arjuna and Sal trees with a plentiful addition of brushwood. The district is celebrated for the shrine of Baidyanath. The deity is worshiped by people from all quarters, and is the source of every good in the present age.&quot;

It is believed that, Shiva first manifested himself as a Jyotirlinga on the night of the Aridra Nakshatra, thus the special reverence for the Jyotirlinga. The same shrine of Vaidyanath is considered one of 51&nbsp;Shakti Peethas, where &#39;heart&#39; of&nbsp;Sati (goddess)&nbsp;fell, after being broken apart by the&nbsp;Sudarshana Chakra&nbsp;of Lord&nbsp;Vishnu, from the body of Dakshayani (Sati), carried by the lovelorn, distraught&nbsp;Shiva, at the location on which the respective temple is built.

Since the heart of Sati fell here, the place is also called as Hardapeetha. Here Sati is worshipped as Jayaa Durga (Victorious Durga) and Lord Bhairava as Vaidyanath or Baidyanath. Dakshayani was reborn as&nbsp;Parvati, daughter of&nbsp;Himaavat, king of the mountains, and his wife, the Devi&nbsp;Mena.

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Highlights

Sevas/Festivals

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Shravan Mela and Kanwar yatra 
Millions of pilgrims visit this shrine every year. It is famous for the mela of Shraavana (a month of the Hindu calendar), between July and August. About 8 to 10 million devotees visit the place from various parts of India and offer holy water of Ganges to the deity collected from Sultanganj, which is almost 108 km from Deoghar and Baidyanath.

&nbsp;The water is also brought by the Kānvarias, who carry the water in Kavadi, and walk all the distance, on barefoot. You will find large crowds walking all the way carrying water. An unbroken line of people in saffron-dyed clothes stretches over the full 108 km for the month. The pilgrims are called Dak Bam and they do not stop even once in their journey from Sultangunj, located at Bhagalpur district to Vaidyanath. Pilgrims to the temple later visit the Basukinath temple.

On a normal day, the worshipping of Baidyanath Jyotirlingam begins at 4 AM. The temple doors open at this time. During 4:00am to 5:30 am, the Head priest worships with&nbsp;Shodashopachar. Locals also call it&nbsp;Sarkari Pooja. Then the devotees begin their worship of the Shivalinga. The most interesting tradition is that priests of the temple pour&nbsp;kuchcha

Jal&nbsp;upon the lingam first, and later on, the pilgrims pour water and offer flowers and&nbsp;Bilva leaf, upon the lingam. The Puja rituals continue till 3.30 PM. After this, the temple doors are closed. In the evening at 6 PM the doors are opened again for devotees/ pilgrims and the process of worshipping begins again. At this time Shringar Puja takes place.

The temple closes at 9:00 pm on a normal day, but during Holy Shravan month, the timings are extended. Unlike&nbsp;Somnath&nbsp;or&nbsp;Rameshwaram&nbsp;or&nbsp;Srisailam, here the devotees can get satisfaction by offering Abhishek themselves on Jyotirlinga. The devotee can also buy Peda as prasad from Babadham.&nbsp;Peda&nbsp;is a local sweet and is the speciality of Deoghar. Babadham has a regular and well-maintained office to accept offerings and donations.

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An 1870 watercolour showing worship of the Jyotirlinga in Deoghar.

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