Shiva temple and Mahashivratri in city
| Date :17-Feb-2020 |
By Rajendra Diwe :
The city has 12 ancient Shiva temples. The history of many temples is not known till date. There are more than 100 new Shiva temples in city. All are gearing to celebrate Mahashivratri
India will watch a biggest programme of Mahashivratri night by Isha Foundation. There are number of articles, advertisements and promotions to celebrate Mahashivratri 2020 with Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev. According to Sadguru, “Mahashivratri is very significant for people who are on the spiritual path, and also for people with careers and in family situations. For people living in family situations, Mahashivratri is worshipped as Shiva’s wedding anniversary. The ambitious see it as the day Shiva conquered all his enemies. But in the yogic tradition, we do not consider Shiva as a God, but as the first guru or Adi Guru – the one who originated the science of Yoga.
The word ‘Shiva’ means “that which is not.” If you can keep yourself in such a state that you are not yourself, and allow Shiva to be, then the possibility of opening up a new vision into life and looking at life with total clarity is possible.” Sadguru also defines temple as: “A temple is a hole through which you enter into a space ‘which is not.’ When I talk about temples, I am talking about the way ancient temples were created. In this country, in ancient times, temples were built only for Shiva, nobody else. It was only later that the other temples came up because people started focusing on immediate wellbeing. Using this science, they started creating various other forms, which they could use to benefit themselves in so many different ways in terms of health, wealth, and wellbeing.
They created different types of energies and different kinds of deities. If you want money, you create one kind of form or if you are full of fear, you create another kind of form, which will assist with that. These temples came up in the last 1100 or 1200 years, but before that, there were no other temples in the country except Shiva temples. The word ‘Shiva’ literally means ‘that which is not.’ So the temple was built for ‘that which is not.’ ‘That which is’ is physical manifestation; ‘that which is not’ is that which is beyond the physical. So a temple is a hole through which you enter into a space ‘which is not.’” This is may be the reason for the country like India having maximum temples of Lord Shiva spread across the length and breadth of the country. Nagpur is exactly in the Zero mile of the country.
Nagpur has a long history of over 5,000 years. Human existence around present-day Nagpur city can be traced back 3,000 years to the 8th century BC. Menhir burial sites at Drugdhamna (near Mhada colony) indicate megalithic culture existed around Nagpur and is still followed in present times. The name of Nagpur is derived from the word Nag (snake).
As according to anthropologists the place was belonged to ‘Naga’ people or Nag Vanshiya people. The previous name of this town was Fanindrapur as there was a huge jungle of Nagfani plants found in the area. According to historians, “The Nagpur city was established by joining 12 different villages by Bakth Bulanda Shah, a prince of Gond Kingdom. The Naga people were the aborigines and many Naga sadhus were living in this area since past 1000 years. These Naga sadhus were the devotees of Lord Shiva and they established Shiva temples in this area. Shri Paachpaoleshwar Shri Jagruteshwar temple, situated in Jagnath Budhwari area, Golibar, Bharatmata Square is one of the oldest temples not in Nagpur city but also in Vidarbha. This temple has been considered as ‘Gram Devta’ (village deity or guardian deity) which protects entire citizens from obstacles.
The temple narrates 800 years old history of Vidarbha. Probably it is the only temple in India which has seven and half Shivlinga installed in single premises. From ancient times the temple is known as ‘Kashi’ of Nagpur or Central Provinces. Shivlingas present in the temple are ‘Swayambhu’ (self-manifested or self-existing or that which is created by its own accord) in nature. Jagruteshwar is the first Swayambhu Shivlinga that has given darshan to Shri Sant Jagoba Maharaj. The second Swayambhu Shivlinga is known as Pataleshwar which has been emerged in Jagruteshwar Sannidhan.
The third Swayambhu Shivlinga is known as Kashi Vishweshwar whiles the fourth as Angeshwar Shivlinga. Amruteshwar Shivlinga which is the fifth Shivlinga emerged in the temple premises long ago. The sixth Shivlinga is known as Chandikeshwar Swayambhu Shivlinga. There is Dhai Lingeshwar (two and half Shivlingas) present in temple premises. Dhai Lingeshwar actually contains one and half swayambhu Shiv linga and one installed Shivlinga. This is also a unique Shivlinga in country as half Shivlinga. In ancient times this area was a part of a dense forest. About 500 years ago, Shri Sant Jagoba Maharaj Bhagwan used to do the meditation and prayer in Shri Paachpavleshwar Shankar temple along with visitng the Shri Kaashi Vishwanath temple on the eve of Mahashivratri.
Without having the darshan, he would not take food and water. In those days, for taking these darshans one had to travel through dense Naagphani forests where the Naaga tribes would reside. As he grew old, Shri Sant Jaagoba Maharaj would not be able to travel and had darshan due to which he would not be taking food and water for 4 days at a stretch. Due to which, God appeared in his dreams and said, that “You dont have to come to me for darshan, instead I shall come to you”.
As Shri Jagoba maharaj surprised having seen God in his dreams, but he followed the directions of excavating the dense forest place with the help of Gawli samaj labourers. Legend says that, while doing the excavation blood oozed out after axe hit something. So, he carefully got the digging done at that place, where exactly the Swayambhu Shivling was discovered. Over the period of sometime, one by one all the 7 ½ Swayambhu Shivlings came out of the earth. Nowhere in the North India, we can see the 1/2 shivlinga except at Jagruteshwar temple.
At the time of Gond Maharaj, this temple got renovated. The records say that Sardar of Gond kingdom, Sardar Nagoji Negi made the boundary wall in 1731. Shri Jagruteshwar temple is having exquisite architecture and beautiful designs on the gopurams and on the walls. After Gond dynasty, Shrimant Raje Raghuji Bhonsale built Shiva temples were the dense forests of Nagfani were existing and snakes in large number were found. The development of Jagruteshwar Shiv Mandir was done in Bhonsale period, also a Pataleshwar Shiv Mandir was built near Bhonsala palace while Panchpaoleshwar Mandir was developed in Panchpaoli area and Kalyaneshwar Shiv Mandir was constructed in Telangkhedi area.
Also there are few temples like Prachin Shiv Mandir in Bellyshop area, ancient Shiv Mandir in Mankapur area, ancient Shiv Mandir in Sonegaon area and Bhjuteshwar Shiv Mandir in Mahal area are considered as ancient Shiva temples in Nagpur. Some historians feel, the Kalyaneshwar Shiv Mandir is more than 500 years old and RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar used to sit in the temple for Sadhana. Bhonda Mahadev temple is also 200 years old temple in city. This is located in Sitabuldi area. The temple has no ‘Kalash’. This is the main feature of temple. So people called this temple as ‘Bhonda’ means without kalash. This temple is built by two working persons in British regiment called Gundopanth Dandige and Vinayakrao Aurangabadkar. Both of them were very strong devotees of Lord Shiva. Dandige was earlier worked in Mysore for Tipu Sultan. He knew 11 different languages.
When Tipu Sultan was lost in that battle then Dandige came in contact with British people. British government appointed him as Manager of Bhonsla state. Sitabuldi Battle was started and Appasaheb Bhonsle lost in the battle. People of Nagpur burnt the Dandige’s House. After this British allotted him a small land. He built a temple on this land. After construction of this temple, people face many problems while installation of Kalash. Thus, temple has been built without a ‘Kalash’.