Vaijnath or Baidyanth Vaidyanath Temple sits at Deogarh, in the Santal Parganas of Jharkhand to the southwest of Keeul Station. A sanctum it is considered to be one among the twelve Jyotirlingams of Shiva where the Baidyanath shrine is established. It should be appreciated with due note that some streams or schools of thought preside over the belief that Vaidyanath near Parli in Mahrastra is supposed to be the Vaidyanatha Jyotirlingam.
Worries and miseries in life are easily driven away by sincere worship of Lord Vaijnath Jyotirlinga. It is believed not only does this give a person an opportunity to attain Moksha but also bestows all the bliss upon one’s life. Travelers in the pilgrimage, commonly known as pilgrims here, carry ‘Kanwars’, on their shoulders since it has become more or less a practice.
The Maa Parvathi temple is joined with the main temple by immense red holy sutures which happens to be something unique and worthy to behold, denoting the oneness of Shiva and Shakti. It is from stories as narrated in the Shiva Purana that holy Baidyanath temple comes to denote unity of souls and hence fits marriage for Hindus. The place has been described in Matsyapuran as Arogya Baidyanathitee, the holy place at which Shakti resides helping Shiva liberate people from diseases that cannot be cured.
History Of Baidyanath Temple
You should definitely check out this old story that talks about how this temple came to be. So, Ravana, the King of Lanka, really wanted Lord Shiva to stick around for good. He thought his capital just wouldn’t feel complete and would always be at risk without Shiva there. Because of this, he kept praying to the Lord nonstop.
Eventually, Shiva agreed to let Ravana take his “Atmalinga” back to Lanka, but there was a catch. He told Ravana that the journey home couldn’t be interrupted, and none could touch the lingam on the way. If that happened, the lingam would stay forever wherever it got dropped off.
But the other gods weren’t too thrilled about Shiva joining Ravana on that trip, fearing that Ravana’s not-so-great actions could end up threatening the whole universe. So, they got Varuna, the God of Water, to help out. They asked him to slide through Ravana’s stomach on his way back to Lanka.
After a bit of a twist, it turned out that Ravana handed off the lingam to a Brahmin, who was actually Lord Ganesha, because Ganesha made him feel like he really needed to go to the bathroom!
Baijnath Dham And Vaidyanath Temple Jyotirlinga
By religious doctrine, the architect of Gods, Vishwakarma constructed the Shiva temple. There are three distinct elements of the complex, which include the major temple, the centre of this main temple and the entrance to the temple.
A 72 feet tall lotus shaped structure, facing the East. Three ascending shaped gold pots for the top were donated by the Maharaja of Gidhaur, Raja Puran Singh and are displayed there. Apart from these containers, “Panchkula; an eight petaled lotus jewel named as Chandrakanta Mani and a set of five blades in the shape of a trident exist.
The central lingam of the big slab is about 5 inches in diameter and protrudes about 4 inches. The top of this lingham has broken off. Other temples within the courtyard that are dedicated to various deities accompany the ultimate Lord Shiva Temple.
Lakshminarayan, Maa Parvathi, Maa Kali, Maa Jagat Janani, and Kala Bhairava are in structures made in modern as well as traditional architectural styles. The priests tie red sacred threads from the main temple up to the Maa Parvati temple. It becomes very imperative to note this uniqueness because it symbolizes the coming together of Shiva and Shakti.
Special Features Of Baidyanath Temple
Baba Baidyanath’s main temple is accompanied by 21 other temples. You may explore shrines for Parvati, Ganesha, Brahma, Kalabhairav, Hanuman, Saraswati, Surya, Ram-Lakshman-Janaki, Ganga, Kali, Annapurna , and Lakshmi-Narayan just to state a few of the list of deities. Red sacred threads connect the Shiva temple to the Maa Parvati temple.
Three gold containers, compactly placed within the pyramidal tower of the principal sanctum, belong to Raja Puran Singh, Maharaja of Giddhaur who gifted them. Also available are five trident knives (Panchkula) and a Chandrakanta Mani-an eight-petaled lotus jewel.
A huge Nandi sits in the courtyard facing the Lord.
Way To Reach Baidyanath Temple
By Rail: Deogarh, Jharkhand Baidyanath Dham is near to Jasidih railway station. This station is directly connected to Baidyanath Dham railway station and lies on Howrah-Patna-Delhi main rail line.
By Bus: Regular passenger buses are available from surrounding major cities like Ranchi, Kolkata, Jamshedpur, Bhagalpur, and Patna to Baidyanath Dham Temple.
Routes: Baba Dham is situated near the GT Road that goes from Kolkata to Delhi and more particularly near the Baidyanath Dham Temple. The three best ways to reach Baba Dham are: Baba Baidyanath Dham to Patna
(Deoghar-Jasidih-Chakai-Koderma-Nawada-Bihar Sharif-Bakhtiyarpur-Patna) (Deoghar-Sarath-Madhupur-Giridih-Dhanbad-Chas-Bokaro-Ramgarh-Ranchi) Badiyanath Dham to Ranchi; Baba Dham to Kolkata (Deoghar-Sarath-Chitra-Jamtara-Chittaranjan-Asansol-Durgapur-Kolkata)
What Is The Significance Of Baidyanath Temple
The principal shrine at Baba Baidyanath temple and Baijnath Dham has great importance because it is earlier than time itself. People have been going there since the days of Rama who ruled Ayodhya. For the apex, three closely set in ascending order gold pots were donated by Raja Puran Singh, Maharaja of Gidhaur.
A PUNCHSULA (five knives shaped like a trident), which is not common, are also inside those pitcher-shaped containers. The lingam is a large piece of basalt, cylindrical in form-about 5 inches in diameter-extends roughly 4 inches above the center.
They consider the Jyotirlinga very much since it is believed that night and day Lord Shiva first turned into a lingam during the night of Ardra Nakshatra. In fact, jyotirlinga symbolizes the ultimate reality without any parts.
Shiva is said to have first made his appearance as Jyotirlinga on that night of Aridra Nakshatra; hence, this Jyotirlinga occupies a very special place among all other linga. The same temple of Vaidyanath confers it the prestige to be one of 51 Shakti Peethas.It is here that the “heart” (hriday) portion fell while Dakshayani (Sati) was separated from her body. Here Shiva carried the heart out of love and agony. This is where the Sudarshana Chakra of Lord Vishnu built that particular temple.
This region is also referred to as Hardapeetha since it was here that Sati’s heart came apart. In this spot, folks pray to Lord Bhairav as Vaidyanath or Baidyanath and they call Sati by the name Jai Durga (Victorious Durga). As the child of Himavat, ruler of the hills, with his spouse Devi Mena, Dakshayani took new life as Parvati.
Hi there, I’m Sunita Sukla content writer at TempleAll and a passionate traveller by heart. I am thrilled to create content that inspires travellers around India. I explore freely to various fun and adventurous places, whether it be spiritual temple tours, captivating landscapes, and more. I wander around in search of hidden gems and tourist attractions, temples, and other places.