Bhimashankar Jyotirlinga in the lap of Sahyadri
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- Dwadash Jyotirlinga
- Parent Category: Religion
- Friday, 21 October 2011 12:30
- Published on Friday, 21 October 2011 12:30
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Bhimashankar the sixth of the Dwadash Jyotirlingas is located a beautiful place just 125 kms from Pune.
From here flows Bhimarathi River, which at a later stage merges with river Krishna. Like Ganga, Bhima River also has its origin in the Lord Shiva. Ganga comes out from the Jata of Shiva, Bhima oozes out of him as his sweat. Since Shiva lived here in the form of Jyoti, so it is Bhimashankar JyotirlingaÂ
The route to Bhimashankar winds through the green canopy of Bhimashankar wildlife sanctuary giving a memorable experience to the traveler. It is part of the dense forests on the Northern part of the Sahyadri hills. The Bhimashankar sanctuary area is a home to wild boars, sambars and the occasional leopard. The place at 4000 feet above mean sea level is enchanting in monsoon.Â
The Legend:
The stories of Bhimashankar are woven in the tales of fight between Lord Shiva and demonds and ultimate request of people to the Lord to stay here. It was the area of demon Tripurasur. He was blessed by the Lord Shiva of the immortality. This made him a terror in the area and all prayed to Lord Shiva to get rid of him.
Lord Shiva had kept a catch when he had granted him the boon of immortality. He could be killed by a person, half man and half woman. To get this form, Lord Shiva entered the body of goddess Parvati and became what is known as Ardh Narishwar. On the holy day of Kartik Ekadashi (11th day of new Hindu calendar year) the furious war between Lord Shiva and demon Tripurasur began. On Karta Purnima (15th day of new Hindu calendar year), Lord Shiva killed TripurasurÂ
Pleased by this all prayed to the God to stay here. He agreed and got settled in the form of a Jyoti and so it is called Bhimashankar jyotirlinga. During the war, Lord Shiva was exhausted fully and was sweating. This gave birth to River Bhima.
Dakini and Shakini, the widows of slain demon Tripurasur prayed to Lord Shiva and thus Lord granted them a boon that they can permanently stay in this forest without any threat and the devotees would chant their names first whenever they come to this place to offer worship to Lord Shiva. The area is also known as Dakini forest in the Hindu books.Â
According to Padmapuran, Bhimasur with his mother Karkati lived here. Everyone feared him. One day he learnt that he was son of Kumbakarna, brother of Rawana. He also learnt that Lord Rama killed his father Kumbhakarna. He got wild and waged war against all gods. He first got supernatural powers from Brahma and started taking revenge. People sought the help of Lord Shiva. In the meantime, Bhimasur caught Kamarupeshwar, a great devotee of Lord Shiva and tried to destroy Shivlinga. He wanted Kamarupeshwar to worship him.
Lord Shiva appeared and killed the demon.
Like in other story, people requested the Lord to stay here and he agreed and the shivalinga is known as Bhimashankar Jyotirlinga.Â
Once a wood cutter namely Bhatirao was cutting wood. Suddenly he saw a flow of blood emerging from the earth. He got scared and ran away to the village, narrated the incident to the villagers. The crowd gathered near the tree. Someone brought a cow and offered cow milk to the bleeding earth. A glowing Jyotirlinga emerged from the earth. People built a temple at this place. This temple came to be known as Bhimashankar Temple.
Bhimashankar Temple:
The Bhimashankar Temple is a composite of old and the new structures and is built in the Hemadpanthi style of architecture in black stones. Vinayak Rao Bide, a sahukar to the kings first built a temple here around 13th century. The kalash at Bhimashankar temple belongs to this period.
Nana Phadanwis, a diwan from the court of the Peshwas built the present structure in the 18th century. There is a big Portuguese Bell made from panchadhatus present at the Shani Maharaj and Nandi temple, adjoining to the main temple. This was brought here by Chimaji Appa from Portuguese church from Varshid in Thane district of Maharashtra 1729 embedded on the bell shows year of its creation.
The Temple can be divided into three parts-Sabhamandap, Kurmamandap and Garbhagriha. The Sabhamandap is spacious and has counters of puja/abhishek registrations. Here one can see purohits explaining about different pujas to devotees. The present Sabhamandap was built in the year 1960.The main temple and its shikhar has intricate stone carving, which makes ornamentation of the mandap quite dull.
There are independent temples of Shani Maharaj and Nandi idols adjoining to main temple. The main Bhimashankar temple is surrounded by Shri Ram, Dutta, Vitthal and Mataji temples. From Dutta temple one can see beautiful kalash and shikhar of main Bhimashankar temple.
Garbhagriha:
25 to 30 people can be in the garbhgriha at the same time. Swayambhu Jyotirlinga is in an underground chamber that glows in the lamp light. It is the only Jyotirlinga, where people offer marigold with bilva to Lord Shiva. Devotees circumambulate the Jyotirlinga adding to the heap of scared bilva leaves and marigold that cover it. The yoni is clad in etched silver.
Darshan Protocols:
In the main temple one sees Nandi idol followed by goddess Parvati and before entering garbhagriha. After puja/abhishek to the Jyotilinga one comes out from the same route. In the premises is temple of Shanimaharaj and Nandi temple followed by a place of akhand dhuni. The Dhun of Guru Gorakhnath is maintained by the Nath Sampradaya even today.
Then come temples of Shri Ram, Dutta, Vitthal and Mataji and also visits the holy kund. Next the main temple is Shri Ram temple. The present temple was built in a memory of a lady Taibai Arnaji Konkane. The devotees also offer peda (a sweet) to Bhimashankar.
Darshan Timings:
Bhimashankar temple daily opens at 4:30 am. Arti is performed thrice a day-4:30 am, 3:00 pm and 7:00 pm. The Garbhagriha is closed after 3:00 pm except on Mondays and during special tithis(days).Mahapuja is performed at 12:30 pm. The temple closes at 9:30 pm. A devotee can himself perform puja/abhishek in Garbhagriha.
Mahashivaratri is the occasion for a grand three day fair, Special Arti and Mahashringar of the Garbhagriha and Sabhamandap. Kartik purnima is also a day when the special pujas are performed.
Different Pujas:
The temple is managed by Shri Kshetra Bhimashankar Sansthan and the management has fixed the rates for different pujas/offerings. This is the only place where the devotees have two options to offer a puja for a particular day or special days in a year. There are two categories-one Monday or four Mondays and One Pradosh & One Amavasya.
The rates are:Abhishek-Rs.51 & Rs.351,Rudrapath Abhishek-Rs.151 & Rs.1051,Panchamrita Abhishek by offering milk-Rs. 351 & Rs.2451,Panchamrita Rudrabhishek with milk and 108 Bilvapatra Mahapuja-Rs.551 & Rs.3851,Simple Laghurudra-Rs.1101 & Rs.3801,Laghurudra with Shri Bhimashankar Bhig-Rs.1501,Laghurudra with Bhimashankar Bhog and five Brahmin Bhojan-Rs.2101,Daily shravan month puja-Rs.1101,Abhishek with 108 Bilva patra in holy shravan-Rs.1551,Rudrabhishek in holy Shravan-Rs.2101,Daily Rudrabhishek & special Bilvarchan Shravan Puja-Rs.5101,Shravan Puja,Special Bilvarchan and to offer Bhog to Lord Shiva-Rs.11,001.
Devotee has to register details at Puja registration counters in the temple. The purohit provides a receipt. The Prasad of such puja would be sent by post at devotees’ address.
Places around Bhimashankar:
Bhimashankar area is an excellent  place to move around, enjoy scenic beauty and a visitor can also have a trekking experience in the Sahyadri range of Hills.
Gupta Bhim: Gupta means hidden. It is the place of origin of river Bhima. Situated at 3 km South West from Bhimashankar Temple, Gupta Bhim is a place of river Bhima, which swirls with terrifying force over a linga that has been placed on a stone ledge. It’s a paradise for the trekkers. It is about three hour journey. However, one has to take permission from the forest department.
It is said that there are 108 tirthas in Bhimashankar. The prominent ones inlude Sarvatirtha,Gyantirtha,Moksha tirtha, Papmochan tirtha, Krida Tirtha, Bhima Udgam Tirtha,Bhasha Tirtha, etc.
Moksha Kund:
It is the first place to visit after having darshan at Bhimashankar Jyotirlinga and surrounding temples. The place is 500 meter away from main Bhimashankar temple. Here sage Kaushik had a long penance. Moksha means salvation. The story narrates that the ancestors of Ruchik, a disciple of sage Kaushik was bachelor and hence his forefathers couldn’t get salvation. Ruchik requested sage Kaushik to help him out. Sage Kaushik therefore created a kunda (pond with water from his kamandal (wooden water pot).To respect his penance, river Bhima emerged in the pond. Ancestors of Ruchik bathed in it and finally got salvation.
Other place of interest is sakshi (witness) Ganapati temple, which is 2 km from Bhimashankat temple.
Kamalajadevi Temple:
Kamalajadevi Temple has goddess Kamalaja who played a vital role in battle between Lord Shiva and Tripurasur. It is said that Lord Brahma was also used to worship Kamalajadevi with offerings of lotus flowers.
Matheran Point:
It is a place 500 meter away from from Bhimashankar and from here one can see the different parts of Maharastra like Matheran, Raigarh, and Thane
Hanuman tale or Krida Tirtha is a place located 2 km from main temple. It was a sports ground of Lord Shiva and Parvati.It is also a place of sage Javali. There are temples of Hanuman and his mother Anjani at this place.
Other places of interest are Vanaspati Point, Mumbai Point, and Bhoragarh etc.
Bhimashankar in different parts:
Ancient Hindu scriptures narrate different locations of Bhimashankar. There is a Bhimashankar temple in Brahmapuri hill near Guwahati in Assam. The legend is that demon Bhima was killed by Lord Shiva. The demon was trying to kill king Kamarupeshwar engaged in the worship of Lord Shiva.
The Shiva puran and the Koti Sahmita refer to Bhimashankar temple in the Kamarup country, the present Assam. However, there is also a reference of Mount Sahya, where it is stated that Lord Shiva in the form of Bhimashankar emerged in the Sahyadri range of hills.
There is also a Bhimashankar temple at Kashipur near Nainital in Uttarakhand state. This area was referred as Dakini country in ancient time. The story is that Bhima of Pandav fame was married to Hidamba, a dakini here. The temple has shrines of Bhairavnath and devi.
Where to stay?
Staying here is a real problem. There is no proper hotel or guest house . A Dharmashala is situated near ST Bus stand.
Those who want to stay overnight can get small rooms offered by local tea/food stall owners with minimal facility. As a result, almost all tourist prefer to have one day trip from Pune which is only 125 kilometers.
How to Go?
From Ahmedabad or Surat one can take train or state transport buses or private travel buses to reach Pune. There are many ST buses Shivajinagar ST Bus stand with very good frequency of half an hour till afternoon. In return journey, the last bus for Pune leaves Bhimashankar 6:30 pm .The bus journey takes three and half hours. Private taxis are also available from Pune.
Related Information:
Power cut is a common problem in this area. keep torch and candles. The last 25 km drive passes through hilly area and it is ascending which can cause motion sickness. So keep necessary medicines. At Bhimashankar fog is a daily affair in monsoon season. The road from ST Bus stand to main temple is rough, carved from the stones. It is advisable to walk carefully particularly in monsoon. But then, if God is in the heart and prayer on the lips, any obstacle can be overcome.
Vipul K Shukla
(The writer is Ahmedabad based Public Relations Consultant. He visited the shrine in July, 2009)
