"Mahakalam Lavanyam
Madhura Karunarasa varithim |
Mahalingam Mangalaroopam Jyothir swaroopam sirasa namami"||
Mahalingam Mangalaroopam Jyothir swaroopam sirasa namami"||
All the ancient holy books say that many years ago there was a war between the devas (gods) and the daityas (demons) and the gods lost this war. They prayed to Vishnu to rescue them from the oppression of the demons. Vishnu told Brahma and the other gods that they should have a temporary truce with the demons. The two sides should get together to churn the ocean. Vishnu would ensure that the devas benefited more from this churning of the ocean than the daityas did. The truce was agreed upon and the two sides got ready to churn the ocean. The mountain Mandara was used as a churning rod and great snake Vasuki as the rope for churning. The devas grasped Vasuki’s tail and the daityas grasped Vasuki’s head. But as the churning began, the mountain Mandara which had no base, started to get immersed in the ocean. What was to be done? Lord Vishnu came to the rescue.
He
took the form of a turtle and the peak was balanced on the
turtle’s back. As the churning continued, 'Halakala' poison
spewed out from the depths of the ocean killing every thing all
round. To save the devas Shiva swallowed the poison. To prevent
the poison going into Shiva's body Parvathy devi held his neck
tight.The poison got stuck in Shiva’s throat and the throat
became blue. He is therefore known as Neelakantam (blue of
throat). Shiva himself became reddish like a fire in "Jyothi
swaroopam".
But
the legend speaks about how Mahakalar became luminous -Jyothir
swaroopam.
There was a brahmin called Vedhapriya living in Avanthi (current name is Ujjain). This place was located on the banks of the sacred river Shipra.He was a vedic scholar and he had four sons.They all were saivates - Lord siva's followers.
Close
to Avanthi there was a mountain kingdom called Ratnamala ruled by
a cruel demon called Dooshanan. He did penance for many years to
Brahma and gained strength and power. He was very proud and ill
treated all the people of the country . He was giving more trouble
to the devotees of Gods. One day according to his minister's
advice Dooshanan occupied Avanthi.
All
the pandits were very sad. Hence all went to pandit Vedhapriya's
house.There Vedhapriya and his sons were doing Siva pooja. The
pandits explained to Vedapriya and his sons about Dooshanas
cruelty. Vedhapriya's first son Devapriya consoled them and told
them "O vedha pandits we are all normal human beings. We are
not strong enough to destroy the demon king. Do not worry,
almighty Lord won't let us down.We will do our duty and for the
rest God will look after."
Dooshan
came to know all about this through his spies and went with his
men to kill Vedapriya and his sons and destroy all siva
lingas.
Nearby the place where the people of that place had been taking mud to make siva lingas for years and years became a shallow area like a pond. Suddenly there was an explosion and from the middle of this pond emerged a Shiva linga luminous like a million suns and the heat of the light burnt King Dooshana and his army of men.
The
Pandits worshipped the Lingam and called it Maha Kallar Jyothir
lingam Lord shiva in the Linga granted all the wishes of the
devotees and to this day remains a protector of the universe.
Om
Hreen NamaSivaya
Location
Ujjain
is 180 km from Bhopal Madyapradesh.Train and Bus fecilities
are available. Home
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