Baidyanath Dham in Deoghar the home of Shiva

The importance of Jyotirlingam is well known among the people of India to all as it is closely attached to the Hindu view of the socio-religious life in country. Being one out of the twelve Jyotirlingas in India, Baidyanath(Deoghar) Jyotirlingam has attained their own importance.

The Baba Baidyanath temple complex is situated in the Deoghar district of Jharkhand stste it consists of the main temple of Baba Baidyanath, where the Jyotirlingam is installed, and 21 other associated temples. 

This festival occurs during the monsoon (Sawan) and the fair continues for a month. During this time the devotees comes from different part of country Come to this holy place and take the blessing of Lord Shiva in the coming Shravani Fair and the performs pooja at the temple. Monday is the most sacred day during this month and huge crowd assemble at this deity place. 

The Shravani Mela is organized across the 108 km route that begin from Sultanganj in B hagalpur district in Bihar and Deoghar in Jharkhandin the Hindu month of Shravan, that is, the lunar month of July-August.

Huge number  of "kanwarias" or pilgrims, wearing saffron dress, collect water from the sacred river Ganga at Sultanganjand walk bare foot to Deoghar or Baidyanath Dham in Jharkhand where they bathe a sacred Shivalinga with the water og Ganga brought from Sultanganj as their holy offering or service.

Etymologically Deoghar is the home of gods, is located four miles to the south - east of Jasidih railway station on the Howrah-Delhi main line of the Eastern Railway.It is also linked with small branch rail line from Jasidih to Deoghar. The railway station at Deogharis called Baidyanath Dham.

An road connects Deoghar with Kolkata and Delhi. Passenger busesrun regularly to Deoghar from Bhagalpur,Dumka,Patna, Gaya,Munger and other places in Bihar and Jharkhand.

Deoghar has picturesque  and pleasent surroundings.To the north of the Deoghar city is a wood called Data Jungle,to the north-western part is a hill called Nandan Pahar and to the east, about 10 miles away,there is a low range of hills known as famous hill Trikuta parvata.

There are a number of small hills and hillocks to the south-east,south and south-west. Two rivulets,Yamunajor and Dharua,flow nearby.The country side is also marked with water coursesand small hills. The climate is dry,and Deoghar is also known as a health resort.

Deoghar is a far bigger and more important town than Dumka, the divisional headquarter town. Deoghar has a large number of famous temples. The temple of Baidyanath or Shiva is the most celeberated of all the temples and attracts a large number of pilgrims across the world  throughout the year.

Three other important fairs are also held here- Shri Panchmi Mela in January,Shivaratri Mela in March and Bhadra Purnima Mela in September.About one lakh people visit Shivaratri Mela in course of a fortnight. A number of lodges are available for pilgrims. The"pandas"or priests also rent out their houses to the pilgrims.

Several spiritual legends are associated with the Shiva Temple.One legend has it that demon king Ravana of Lanka once propitiated Lord Shiva and wanted Him to come over to Lanka.Shiva did not agree with him, but told Ravana that one of the twelve emblems of his divinity, Jyotirlingam would be quite as effective as his presence and that he might take it away on the condition that there should be no break in the journey and the lingam would not be deposited anywhere on the earth. If the lingam were put anywhere on the earth during the long course of the journey, it would be fixed to that spot forever.

Ravana took the lingam and started his journey back to Lanka other gods,however,dreaded the effect of the lingam being established at the seat of the demon king Ravana.

A ruse was devised and Varuna,the god of waters,entered Ravana's stomach and the demon had to descendon the earth to relieve himself.

Soon Vishnu, in the form of an old Brahmin,appeared, and Ravan are quested the Brahmin to kindly hold the Jyotirlingam for a few minutes so that he could relieve himself. Lord Vishnu obliged him, but the moment Ravana turned his back to relieve himself,Vishnu left the Jyotirlingamon the spot and vanished.

When Ravana came back,he found the Jyotirlingam firmly fixed to the earth and realized that a trick had been played by the god on him. Furious,he even tried  to remove the lingam, but to no avail. In the process,however,the lingam was broken at the top.

Having failed to remove the lingam, Ravana paid obeisance to it and returned back however he regularly used to come from Lanka and worship the divinity of Shiva in deoghar.The spot where Ravan adescended on the earth is known as Harlajori,about four miles north of City,and the placewhere the lingam was deposited is known as Deoghar.

The present nomenclature of the lingam is Baidyanath,and there is a story about it as well. According to the Padma Purana,Lord Vishnu, after taking the lingam from Ravana,consecrated it with the water from a neighbouring tank. A Bhil witnessed it, and spilled the beans to Ravana. Ravana then dug up a well with an arrow and brought into it waters of all the sacred pools on the earth.

The lingam, after the death of Ravana, used to be worshipped by a hunter Baiju, and thus it was named Baidyanath. The story of Baiju is more known as a Santhal tradition.

Yet another legend has it that when Sati, the consort of Shiva and daughter of Daksha Prajapati, committed suicide because of the discourtesy shown towards her husband by Daksha's father by not inviting him to a yajna an important ritual, Lord Shiva stuck the corpse of his wife on the point of his trident and roamed around in a frenzy of fury.

Lest Shiva's anger and frantic movements should destroy the world, Vishnu cut the dead body with his discus into 52 pieces, which fell in different places across the India and became Mahapeethasthans the heart of Sati fell at Deoghar.

Yet another legend says Lord Shiva, in the first age of the world, manifested himself as a lingam of light at twelve places under the different names, and Baidyanath was one of those twelve places. Sati worshipped the emblem and lived in a nearby grove for the purpose. This place is called Ketakivana.

The temple of Baidyanath(Shiva) faces the east and is a plain dark stone structure with a pyramidal shape, which rises from a square base to a height of 72 feet. To the east of the northern verandah of the temple there is a large vat into which flows the water and milk offered to the lingam.

The lingam in temple is of a cylindrical forming, about 5 inches in diameter and projects about 4 inches from the centre of a large slab of basalt a hard rock. It is not possible to ascertain how much of the lingam is buried.

The temple is made of different porches one porch leads to the cell where the lingam is fixed. The second porch is in front with a row of pillars spanned by blocks of basalt rock and on the right side is a sandstone image of a bull. There are bells fixed in the ceiling and pilgrims are supposed to pull the bell ropes to announce their approach to the divinity.

There's an inscription, which mentions that Puran Mal built the temple at the request of Raghunath and tradition has it that the inscription was forcibly put up by Puran Mal after he had the temple repaired. This claim does not enjoy local support.

There's another inscription at the entrance of the temple of Baidyanath, which mentions that Aditya Sena with his queen had built a temple of Vishnu and one Bala Bhadra had built an image of the boar incarnation of Vishnu.

There is also an inscription on Mandar Hill, which mentions that Konadevi was the actual name of Aditya Sena's queen and she had a tank excavated there, which is still in existence.

Pilgrims bring water' even from the source of the Ganga near Badrinath or from Manasarovara Lake in Tibet for offering the same to the lingam at Deoghar. Many of the pilgrims worship the lingam and lie down on the bare pavement of the verandah till next morning for fulfilment of their wishes. In the morning, they worship the lingam, drink a mouthful of water from the vat and lie down again. This continues for three days and three nights. It is said that usually the pilgrim, if he is to be redeemed, has a dream about it.

According to the legend, Deoghar has many other names such as Harda Pitha, Ravanavana, Ketakivana and Haritakivana. The sanctity of the place has been particularly referred to in the Puranas.

In front of the main entrance to the courtyard there is a well called Chandra Kupa which is said to have been brought into being by Ravana and contains the holy waters of all the sacred pools on the earth.

There is a large tank nearby known as Shiva Ganga. The tank is also known as Manasarovara.

The rituals followed here consist of pouring water on the lingam, smearing it with sand,al paste and offering flowers and a few grains of rice. Offerings of money, silver or gold or even movable and immovable properties are made here.

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