SHRI GRISHNESHWAR Temple, Ellora
Grishneshwar jyotirlinga location
“Blessed by VerulNagar, there is no other place
like it on this earth, where Lord Grishneswara resides, the best palce on this
earth.” – Madhwamunishwar
On this holy pilgrimage of the JyotirLingas of
Lord Shankara, the last one, with out which the pilgrimage will not be
considered as complete, is the twelfth JyotirLinga, of Grishneshwar.
About 30 km towards the west side of Aurangabad,
there is a village called Verul. In this village there is a place of pilgrimage
called Shivalay, when the great Holy Trilinga of Ghrishneshwar is located. The
stories associated with Verul, Shivalay and Ghrishneswar are like this:
This was originally a settlement of the Naga
tribes. The place of the Nagas is Bambi, which is known as “Varul” in Marathi
“Varul” gradually changed into “Verul” and is known by this name only. River
Yelaganga flows here. The name “Verul” is derived from Yelaganga, on whose
banks the village is located. There was a king by the name “Yela” here. The
capital of his kingdom was Yelapar, or Yelur or Verul.
Sthala purana of Grishneshwar Jyotirlinga
Once the king went hunting. While hunting, the
king killed the animals living with the Rishis and munis too. Seeing this, the
irate Saints cursed the king, as a result of which, his entire body was
infested with insects.
Now, smitten by this curse, the king began to
wander in the forest. His throat was parched because he was very thirsty. There
was, alas, no water to be found anywhere. At last he found a water hole made by
the hooves of a horse. Just as the king started to drink water a miracle
occurred. The king’s body was rid of all the insects. The king did severe
penance (Tapa) there. Lord Brahma was pleased and appeared before him and
installed Parashta Teerth there. He also created a huge and holy lake near by.
This Brahma sarovar later came to be known as
Shivalay.
There is a story about Shivalay also:
Once Shiva and Parvati were playing chess on
Mount Kailasa. Paravti checkmated Shiva. Shankara played to be angry at this
and went away southward. He went and stayed at a place on the Sahyadri range,
where there is cool breeze. This place was given the name of Maheshamauli
Bhainsmal. Parvati came there looking for Shankar. She won the heart of Shiva
in the form of a hill mountain tribal girl. They both spent some time there
happily.
This forest came to be known as Kamyakavana. Lord
Mahesha forbade crows from entering the area of Maheshamouli or Bhainsmal. One
day, Paravti was very thirsty. Shankara pierced earth with his trident and got
the water of Bhogavati from the Patal (Nether world). This is the Shivalay.
The Shivalay expands a little ahead where
Shivanadi (Shivanand) meets it and a little more further, Yelaganga also flows
just near it. When Shiva and Parvati were staying here pleasently, a hunter by
the name Sudhanwa came there looking for a prey. A miracle happened and
Sudhanwa turned into a woman. At this he did a severe Tapa there. Shankara was
pleased and appeared. Actually, Sudhanwa was a woman by birth in his previous
life. Thus, Shankara from that very curse of becoming a woman turned Sudhanwa
into Yelaganga river. Thus, Punya Sarita Yelaganga was born in the Kamyawana.
Later, it was to become the bathing place called Dhara Teerth or ‘Sita’s
Snangriha’ and flow from a higher place and goes through Verul village.
Once Parvati, was about to fill her hair parting
with vermillion and saffron, in Kamyavana. She kept them in her left palm and
mixed the water of Shivalay in it. With the right thumb she started mixing them
both. Then a miracle occurred, vermillion turned into a ShivaLinga and a great
light appeared in it. Parvati was awe struck at this. Then Lord Shankara said:
“This Linga was hidden in the Patala.” And removed it with his trident.
Then a bubble emerged from the earth with water
(Kashikhand).
Parvati kept that glorious light in stone Linga
and installed it there. This Purna (complete) JyotirLinga is called
Kunkumeshwar. But since Dakshayani created this Linga with the function of her
thumb. She gave it the name of Grishneshwara (Grishna means friction).
On the southern mountain called Deva Parvata, a
great scholar Brahmin Sudhama of Bharadwaja gotra, used to live with his
beautiful, devout wife called Sudeha. They had no children. They were very
unhappy because of this. They were harassed and tortured by the sly remarks of
their neighbours. But Sudhama, an intelligent person, did not care about these.
One day, Sudeha threatened to commit suicide and sister Dushma, married her
husband. Both of them promised that there would be no jealousy between them.
After sometime, Dushma gave birth to a son. And
eventually even that son married. Both Sudhama and Dushma, were nice to Sudeha.
But jealousy did get the better of Sudeha. Once she picked up Dushma’s son who
was sleeping by her side and killed him. She threw the body into the lake near
by.
In the morning there was a big hue and cry.
Dushma’s grief knew no bounds. Even then, she went to the river to do her
routine worship. She made her usual hundred Lingas and began worship she saw
her son standing near the lake. Shiva was pleased with her worship and revealed
the truth about Sudhas forgiveness of Sudha’s sin. She indeed requested Shiva
to remain there itself for the welfare of the humanity.
Shiva acceded to her request and remained there
with the name of Dhushamesha.
History of the Grishneshvar Temple
The very devout Shiva devotee, Bhosale (The Patel
or chief of Verul) once found a treasure hidden in the snake pit (ant hill) by
the grace of Lord Grishneshwar. He spent that money to renovate the temple and
built a lake in Shikharshinganapur.
Later on, Goutamibal (Bayajabai) and Ahilyadevi
Holkar renovated the Grishneshwar temple. This 240ft x 185 ft temple is still
there strong and beautiful as ever. Halfway up the temple, Dashavataras are
carved in red stone. These are beautiful to look at. There are also other
beautiful statutes carved out. A court hall is built on 24 pillars. On these
pillars there are wonderful carvings. The scenes and paintings are beautiful.
The Garbhagriha measures 17ft x 17 ft. The Lingamurty faces eastward. There is
a gorgeous Nandikeshwara in the court hall.
Buy SHIVALINGA
ReplyDeleteThe lingam ( shivalinga ) of the Shaivism tradition is a short cylindrical pillar-like symbol of Shiva, made of stone, metal, gem, wood, clay or disposable material.