Baidyanath Jyotirlinga
Baba Baidyanath Jyotirlinga at
Baba-dham Deoghar
Baba-dham Deoghar
Fifth Jyotirlinga out of twelve mentioned in "Shiva-Purana"
Baidyanathdham, Deoghar is the most important and the most visited Hindu religious place in the state of Jharkhand, India. The 90 km long "Kanwar Yatra" in the holy month of "Savan" (Hindu Calendars) from north flowing Ganga River at Sultangunj, Bihar to here Baidyanath-dham, Deoghar is not only world famous but also has been an inspiration to all "Kanwar Yatras" nowadays performed in different parts of the country. The popularity of this 'Yatra' is increasing year by year. In the holy month of "Savan" number of devotees visiting the temple crosses the one lakh mark daily. Some reach here from Sultanganj on foot journey with a "Kanwar" on the shoulder in 3-4 days walking, some complete it within 24 hrs walking plus running as a "Dak-bum", some bring 'Ganga water' by vehicles and many directly come here and offer well-water to Baidyanath Shivalinga. In ordinary days the worship of Shiva is done by touching but due to heavy rush in the month of "Savan", the administration restricts entry into the "Garbha-grih" and allows devotees (called bum) to have only 'darshan' from the "Choukhat" of the "Garbha-grih" and offer Holy water through a big "argha". The Mondays of "Savan" see even heavier rush of devotees and it is a big challenge for the administration to maintain order in such situation.
 |
| The man going up the Shiva Temple for "Gathbandhan Puja" |
The "Shivalinga" is one of the twelve "Jyotirlingas" mentioned in "Shiva-purana". The names and places of "Jyotirlingas" are composed in "Shloka" wherein it is thus said- "Paralyam Vaidyanatham". It means that the "jyotirlinga" of "Vaidyanath" is at "Parli". That is why some people say that the Shivalinga at "Parli, Maharashtra" is the fifth "jyotirlinga". But most of the people say that "Parli" means a land of pyre and in ancient times Deoghar was a land of funeral place. The claim of Deoghar to have "Baidyanath jyotirlinga" becomes more confirmed as Adi Shankaracharya has written about it as follows,
पूर्वोत्तरे प्रज्ज्वलिका निधाने
सदा वसंतम गिरिजा समेतम
सुरासुर आराधिता पद पद्मम्
श्री वैद्यनाथं त्वामहं नमामि
Here too it is said that "Baidyanath jyotirlinga" is at "Prajjwalika Nidhane" (Meaning land of funeral places) and it is situated at North-east. The place of Parali in Maharashtra is not in North-Eastern region but Deoghar is. It also says "Sada vasantam Girija sametam" (meaning that he always resides there with Goddess Parvati who is reborn Sati) and in the very temple complex of Baba Dham, Deoghar is a "Shaktipeeth" (51 places where parts of body of Sati had fallen). At this "Shaktipeeth" heart of Sati had fallen. This unique combination of "Jyotirlinga and Shaktipeeth" makes "Baba Baidyanathdham", Deoghar very very special and important.
Baba Baidyanath Jyotirlinga Temple at Babadham Deoghar, Jharkhand
That is why when my children asked me to plan a journey in their vacation I took them to Deoghar and Basukinath. It was Christmas time and winter at its peak. We reached Jasidih railway station early in the morning of X-mas and took an auto to Deoghar. We stayed at a hotel about half km from the Temple. We had stayed here at our earlier visits. Since we were five members so we took two rooms that were connected. They called it a suite. The bathroom was spacious. We all got fresh and took our bath and started on foot for the temple. The surroundings of the temple is very congested with numerous small shops, most of them selling "Peda, Mukund-dana" and "Badhhi" which devotees buy as "Prasad" after worship. These sellers would call you in competition to sell "Prasad". There is always a rush in these lanes.
When going on foot the local priests called "Pundas" would ask devotees "Who is your Punda ?" It is so because they have been allotted regions all over the India and abroad, and a devotee from a particular place would have his particular "Punda". I remember, in my childhood that so many asking about "Pundas" would irritate someone. They even maintain registers in which one may find his grandfathers names and signatures if they ever had visited here. Whenever there is dispute or poaching, these registers are opened to prove who is the real "Punda" of that devotee.
Since we had to go to "Basukinathdham" after completion of worship here so we took the very first "Punda" with us who asked the above question. Like all other "Pundas" he too guided us to take "Sankalp" of worship and helped to enter the "Garbha-grih" of temple where there is always rush. They give you a person who guides and goes inside the temple with you and make way for you in the heavy rush. He would walk backwards with face towards you and pushing the crowd with his back and hands and help to pour holy water with flowers over the "jyotirlinga" and touch it. One thing that may annoy the devotees here is that every here and there one may find persons asking for money. At the very entrance of the temple you will find a priest collecting coins from the devotees in the queue, and he will make it difficult if you do not hand over at least a Rs 1 or 2 coin per head. Priests sitting near the "jyotirlinga" will ask for at least Rs 10 and similarly near the big "Akhand Deep". When you come out of the Shiva temple from exit gate another priest will ask for money. Same is the case with other temples in this campus. Not only the priests but sellers of many items will try to forcefully sell their items in the courtyard of the temple.
We worshiped the "jyotirlinga" with touching it because here it is the importance of "Sparsh Puja". Then to "Parvati" temple. Inside this temple there are two idols - one each of "Parvati" and "Durga"- placed on a three ft high platform with steps in the front. There is no order maintained for incoming and out going devotees. First you will get it difficult to go up to idols because returning people will be in front of you and when coming down again it is difficult because incoming people will be before you. Here too the guide provided by your "Punda" will help you.
After worship in this temple our "Punda" said that the "Puja" is over and asked for formalities so that they could look for other "Yajmaans" but we wanted to have 'darshan and pujan' in some other temples too. So we requested him to wait for a while till we come back. Other temples do not have heavy rush so we went without guide to some selected temples like "Bhairo, Suryanarayan, Saraswati, Bagalamukhi, Ram darbar, Annapurna, Kali, Narayan and Neelkanth Mahadev".
There are some other special type of worships performed here for which you have to deposit a fixed amount at the management committee office and take the receipt. Same is the case with other Hindu Sanskaras. You can notice one or two Mundan Sanskaras going on in the campus.
The man reaches at top of Baba Temple near "Panchshool"
for "Gathbandhan Puja" at Deoghar
for "Gathbandhan Puja" at Deoghar
My wife desired to have "Gathbandhan Puja". So I gave "Pundaji" the required amount and he brought the receipt and arranged for it. A person came with a red tape with which we performed the "Sankalp" and the person began to ride on the 'Baba' Temple. It was such a fun to see him going up with the help of a heavy chain. He went up to the very top where there is the "Kalash" and "Panchshool". (Yes ! Unlike other Shiva temple there is not a "Trishool" on the top of the temple but a "Panchshool", having five teeth). He fastened one end of the tape there and dropped it to us standing below. Each member of our family held it and took it unfolding near the "Parvati" temple. In the mean time that person had come down from the Shiva temple. He took the other end of the tape from us and went up the "Parvati" temple where he fastened it at the top and completing the "gathbandhan". He had also untied another "gathbandhan" tape from the top of both temples during this act and handed over to us as "Prasad". After all these worships completed we performed "Karpoor Aarti". We stood in front of the Baba Temple (Shiva Temple) and holding a big spoon (Called Kalchhul in local language) with burning camphor, sung the Aarti. Satisfied, we paid the dues of sellers like flower-wala, sindoor-wala, agarbatti-wala etc and donated to our "Pundaji" and receiving "Aashirwaad" from him we set off to "Baba Basukinathdham". We had hired a cab for the to and fro journey. You can read about "Baba Basukinathdham" by clicking this link,
"Baba Basukinathdham" .
On the return journey we tried to visit "Trikoot Parvat" which is about 2 km off the main road. "Trikoot Parvat" is the name of hill on which Lanka of Ravana was situated. This name comes in Ramayana. But that "Trikoot Parvat" is believed to be in Sri Lanka. It seems that this name given to the hill is due to the link of Baidyanath Jyotirlinga to Ravana. (This Jyotirlinga is said to have been placed here by Ravana ,the demon king of Lanka. A brief story is being given below.) When we reached near the hill, we were surprised to see such a heavy rush. It was Christmas day and last week of the year when a large number of people go out for picnic and holidaying. There was a long queue for the rope-way. So we refreshed ourselves here and took rest for half an hour. A large number of monkeys were attracting visitor's attention. We returned back to our hotel and took rest till evening.
The Holy-well called "Chandrakoop" in the Babadham Temple complex.
The steel cover of the well in the shape of a "Shivalinga"
The steel cover of the well in the shape of a "Shivalinga"
