Jyotirlinga
Sthalams
Vaidyanatham
Vaidyanatham
is located at Deogarh in Bihar.
The
temple structure has a great amount of woodwork. The main sabha mandapam
has several huge (wide as well as tall) pillars. There are twenty
two other temples in the temple complex. The top of the Siva Lingam
is slightly bent. It is said that once Ravana, the king of Lanka,
prayed to Lord Siva to make his capital of Lanka invincible. After
severe penance, he received the Aathma Lingam from Siva. Unable to
carry the huge Lingam, Lord Siva made the Lingam into two halves &
placed it in a kavadi.
As Ravana was
carrying this back to his Lanka, Lord Varuna caused his stomach to be filled
with water. Ravana was desperate to releive himself. Seeing
Lord Ganesha in the form of a brahmin boy, he gave it to him to hold (Lord
Siva had said that the Aathama Lingam could not be placed on the ground,
for wherever it was placed, it would take root). Before Ravana could
get back, Lord Ganesha put the Aathmalingam down. The enraged Ravana
tried hard to pluck the Lingam from the ground. One half exists in
Kokarnam. Ravana started severe penance to Lord Siva, plucking &
throwing one head after the other into the homa gundam. Lord Siva
revived him by putting his heads back in place. Because of this role
of Siva as a healer, as a physician, he came to be called Vaidyanathan
(Vaidyan - physician).
The sacred
shrine enshrining the SIvalinga with the marks of club on the top lies
in Parli and it is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas adored over centuries.
Surprisingly enough, many places in India are claiming this honour; and
strange to hear they are also called Vaidyanath temples - the temples at
Deogarh in the Santhal Pargans in Bengal, at Gangakhed in Maharashtra,
at Kiragram and at Dakhoi.
This information
in italics is from the book "That Lord Siva to be adored" by Prof.K.K.Moorthy
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