Everyone is well aware about the headless temple of Lord Shiva in Uttarakhand, India i.e. Kedarnath. In Kedarnath Lord Shiva is portraited as a bull whose head had been missing for thousands of years since the war of Kurukshetra. It was an insolvable puzzle for every devotee of lord Shiva to find out the whereabouts of the idol’s head.
However, on August 22, 2009, Shree 1008 Jagat Guru Bheemashankerling Shivacharya, the Rawal or head priest of Kedarnath, officially declared Doleshwar Mahadev Temple as missing head of lord Kedar. It was then when Doleshwar Mahadev’s got national as well as international recognition. Since then the relation between Kedarnath and Doleshwar Mahadev got stronger and inseparable as Doleshwar Mahadev is the head and Kedarnath is the other body part of the Lord.
About Doleshwar Mahadev
Doleshwar Mahadev, also known as Bimaleshwar and Sipare lies in the Sipadol, Bhaktapur district of Nepal, which is some 20 km away from the capital city. Idol of Doleshwar Mahadev is as old as the idol of Kedarnath, both are about 4000 years old. It is one of the most important pilgrims’ destinations of Hindus; people visiting 12 Jyotirlingas, 4 Dhams and 5 Kedars is deemed incomplete without visiting Doleshwar Mahadev and Pashupatinath Temple.
Legend
The legend of the temple is very interesting, it is said that after the Mahabharata (war of Kurushetra), Pandav brothers left for the Himalayas in search of forgiveness from Lord Shiva for killing many warriors during the war. However, Lord Shiva was not willing to forgive them, thus, disguised himself as a bull and was hiding in the present day Kedarnath.
Apart of changing the form, Pandavas found the bull shaped lord which was about to escape from them. In the meantime, Pandavas caught the tail of the bull, but the head of the bull got separated from its body. Since then devotees were searching for the lost head of the lord.
Story behind finding the head of Kedarnath
When in 2009, Jagat Guru Bheemashankerling Shivacharya visited Nepal with the motive of touring different temples, he also went to Doleshwar Mahadev Temple. The interesting fact found was: the scriptures in Doleshwar Mahadev is written in Kannada, South Indian Language, similar to that of Kedarnath Temple.
The sculpture of the temple is also as old as the sculpture of Kedarnath. And further to the fact, all the rituals, prayers, aarati at both the temples are performed in a same way. The rules inside the temple periphery in both the temples are also same. Jagat Guru then performed Rudrabhishek puja in the temple. Since that day priest for both Kedarnath Temple and Doleshwar Mahadev Temple is selected from Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil nadu.
Worshipping Kedarnath at Doleshwar
In the year 2013, when the daily rituals (puja) got disrupted because of devastating flood faced by Kedarnath region, Jagat Guru Bhimshankerling Shivacharya, informed the head priest of Doleshwar Mahadev to start puja of Kedarnath at Doleshwar Temple. Since then, the puja for both Doleshwar and Kedarnath has been continuing in daily basis.
Thousands of devotees visits this temple to worship Lord Shiva on daily basis. It is also a must visit temple for those devotees who wish to complete their journey of 4 Dhams, 12 Jyotirlingas and 5 Kedars. Worshipping Kedarnath and Doleshwar is believed to wash away the sins of people.
The temple sees most pilgrims in the Hindu month of Shrawan (July-August), as the ruling deity of the month Shrawan is Lord Shiva. Shrawan is considered to be the most holy month among 12 months, and every day in this month are said to be auspicious for good start. People take fasting for whole month to please Lord Shiva and thus visit Doleshwar Mahadev to get his blessings.
Religious Sites Near Doleshwar Mahadev
Ashapuri Mahadev Temple
Sanga: World’s tallest shrine of Lord Shiva
