History, Importance, Timings, Festivals, Architecture, Kawad Yatra, Maha Shivratri Celebration, Interesting Facts and Travel Guide of Baidyanath Jyotirlinga Temple, Deoghar, Jharkhand, India
Baidyanath Temple also known as Baba Baidyanath or Vaidyanatha temple or Baidyanath Dham, one of the twelve Jyotirlinga of Lord Shiva and prominent pilgrimage destination is located in Deoghar in the Santhal Paraganas division of Jharkhand state of India. The popularity of temple is such that local people and pilgrims called Deoghar as Baba Baidyanath Dham. Along with the main Jyotirlinga temple as center there are other 21 small temple built in same Baidyanath temple campus. Bidyanathdham is one of the rare place where Jyotirlinga and Shaki Peetha located nearby which makes it as highly auspicious pilgrimage destination in Hinduism and draws millions of devotees from all over the world around the year especially during Mahashivratri and Shravan month. People also visit Basukinath temple after visiting Baidyanath temple which is at 108 kilometres from Deoghar.
There is interesting legend behind the Jyotirlinga temples, as per the Shiva Purana, once Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu had the tussle over their supremacy. To prove the supremacy, both Lord approaches Lord Shiva, then Lord Shiva takes the form of endless column of light and asked both Lord to find the roots. But Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma were not able to find the roots of columns. So, Jyotirlinga are the shrines of Lord Shiva where he appeared in the form of a fiery column of light.
There are several legend behind the Baidyanatha Jyotirlinga temple, few key tales are mentioned here.
As per one legend, during Treta Yuga, the demon king Ravana worshipped Lord Shiva here at Baidyanath temple to get the blessing of Lord. King Ravana offered his ten heads one by one to Lord Shiva. Then Lord Shiva was pleased with worship of demon king and also cure him from injury. As Lord Shiva acted as Vaidya here, so temple name derive as Vaidyanath temple.
As per the another legend, again it is associated with demon king Ravana, one of the greatest devotees of Lord Shiva. With his super power it is said that he almost ruled the three worlds and defeated many gods as well. Even though he had always feeling of threat from enemies and his capital is incomplete without the Lord Shiva. Then he decided to worshipped lord Shiva and get blessing that Lord Shiva to stay here in his capital. He did severe penance and also offer his head one by one to Lord Shiva while Ravana was about to cut 10th head Lord Shiva appeared in front of demon king and asked for boon. Then King Ravana requested Lord Shiva to allow him to take the Atmalinga - Shivalinga to Lanka with him, Lord Shiva agreed with one condition. That, he cannot keep the Shivalinga on the ground until he reaches Lanka and if he put on earth then it will get fixed permanently. King Ravana agreed to the condition and happily started his journey to Lanka.
All the other God and Goddess were tensed as they knew if Lord Shiva went to Lanka with Ravana, then he would become unbeatable which would threaten the entire universe. They decided to request Lord Vishnu to stop Ravana to reach Lanka with Shivlinga of Lord Shiva.
While returning to Lanka along with Shivlinga, Ravana had to perform Sandhya Prayer in evening but he could not do with Shivlinga on hand. Thus he looked for someone who can hold Shivlinga during his prayer. Then Lord Vishnu appeared in form of shepherd there so Ravana requested to bring Shivlinga and not to put on earth. Due to delay in coming back, Lord Vishnu had put down Shivlinga. At the same time Shivlinga got fixed to the ground, when Ravana tried to lift Shivlinga, but he could not. This place is Baba Baidyanath where Atmalinga of Lord Shiva was place, thus from thousands of years devotee worshipped Jyotirlinga here.
Mahashivratri and Shravan month are the best time to visit Baidyanath Baba temple. During Shravan month, annual festival of Kanwar Yatra is arranged where pilgrimage of devotees of Shiva, known as Kānvarias brings holy water of river Ganga to Biadyanath from Sultanganj on feet which is around 108 km. On reaching here, the kanwarias first take a dip in the Shivaganga to purify themselves, and then enter the Baba Baidyanath temple. Millions of devotee collect water and perform the Abhishek of Lord Shiva at Baidyanatham. Kanwar Yatra also called Kawad Yatra continues for entire Shravan month which makes this event Shravani Mela as the longest religious fair in the world.
It is also believed that heart of the Devi Sati was fallen down here at Deoghar which makes Baidyanath Dham as one of the 52 Shakti Peethas, here it is known as Jaya Durga Shakti Peeth temple.
As per the Shiv Mahapuran Satarudra Samhita, location of Vaidyanth Jyotirlinga or Baidyanath dham is in 'Chitahbhoomi', which is the ancient name of Deoghar.
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.
Three different place claims as home to real jyotirlinga temple- Baidyanath temple at Deoghar, Jharkhand, Vaijnath temple at Parli, Maharashtra and Bajinath temple in Bajinath, Himachal Pradesh.
The exact dates of construction and renovation is not define due to thousands year history. Some details mentioned for temple can be found from 8th century AD, during the rule of Adityasena Gupta the last king of the Gupta dynasty. During the Mughal period, Raja MaanSingh, the ruler of Amber had built a pond here, which is known as Mansarovar.
The temple faces the east and 72 feet high pyramidal tower made of plain stone structure where three compactly set gold vessels is placed atop. There are five knives in a trident shape also called punchshula and eight-petal lotus called Chandrakanta Mani. The Shivlinga is around 5 inches in diameter and projects about 4 inches from the centre of a large slab. There are 21 temples inside the complex, apart from the main temple of Baba Baidyanath where the Jyotirlinga is present. Other shrine are dedicated to Goddess Parvati, Lord Ganesha, Lord Brahma, Lord Kalabhairav, Lord Hanuman, Goddess Saraswati, Lord Suryanarayana , Lord Ram-Lakshman-Janaki, Goddess Ganga, Goddess Kali, Goddess Annapurna, and Lakshmi-Narayan Dev. The Goddess Parvati temple is tied up with Shiva temple with red sacred threads. Huge idol of Nandi is installed in front of the Lord Shiva.
How to reach Baidyanath Dham, Deoghar, Jharkhand, India
Being a major pilgrimage destination of India, Deoghar home of Baidyanath Temple, one of the twelve Shiva Jyotirlingas is always populated devotee and tourist around the year. Thus Deoghar is very well connected to all major cities of India via Road, Rail and Air network. The nearest railway station is located at just 7 Kms from Deoghar which is well connected with many major cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Varanasi and Bhubaneswar etc. The nearest airport from Deoghar are in Patna and Ranchi at around 250 km from where you can get private cab or bus. Deoghar is connected with major cities via state and national highway where you can find state transport bust and private vehicle also. Deoghar is situated at 250 km from Ranchi – capital of Jharkhand, 63 from Sarwan, 251 km from Patna, 35 km from Sarath, 68 km from Deori, 40 Kms from Jarmundi, 50 Kms from Chandmari, 52 Kms from Bengabad, 68 Kms form Giridih, 125 Kms from Dhanbad.
