Baijnath Temple - “Mano toh Bhagwaan, na mano toh pathar”

“Mano toh Bhagwaan, na mano toh pathar” (If you don’t believe, it’s stone; if you do, it’s God.)

Baijanth Shiva Temple is located near Palampur in the hilly state of Himachal Pradesh. It holds high religious importance amongst followers of Hinduism as it houses one of the 12 holy jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva in the country.

The temple is believed to have medicinal powers as the water emerging from the temple is believed to heal people from illnesses. There is an influx of tourists throughout the year. Especially, in Shivratri the view here is different.

Story of Baijnath Temple:

According to the legend, Ravana, the king of Lanka in Treta Yuga, did penance to Lord Shiva on Mount Kailash to establish his rule over the three worlds. On not getting any fruit, Ravana started severe penance and started cutting off his each head one by one and offering it to Shiva by offering it in the Havan Kund. Before the tenth and final head were cut off, Bholenath was pleased with Ravana’s penance and grabbed Ravana’s hand. After restoring all its heads, Bholenath gave him immense powers to Ravana, due to which he became the most powerful and Shiva also asked Ravana to asked for a boon.

Ravana expressed his wish and asked Shiva that he wanted to take Lord Shiva to Lanka. Shiva agreed to that and vanished. Before disappearing, before giving two signs to Ravana in the form of his Shivling, Shiva said that do not keep them on the ground.

Ravana left for Lanka from Kailash. On reaching Baijnath on the way he had to go for a short time. He stopped there and saw a cowherd named ‘Baiju’. After explaining everything he gave him the Shivling and went for a short time. Due to Shiva’s delusion, Baiju could not bear the weight of those Shivlings for a long time and kept them on the earth and went to graze his cattle.

When Ravana returned after a while, he saw that the shepherd had placed the Shivling on the ground. He tried hard to lift it but could not move it. Even after trying a lot, the Shivling did not remain the same. Ravana came to know the glory of Shiva. In this way, both the Shivling got established there. The Shivling in front of that box became famous as ‘Chandratal’ and the one which was towards the back was known as ‘Baijnath’.

Baijnath, The Pilgrimage Town Of Kangra Does Not Celebrate Dusshera

To pay respect and honor to Ravana people of Baijnath don’t celebrate Dussehra. They believe that no matter what Ravana did in his life, he was first and foremost one of the greatest devotees of Lord Shiva.and because of Ravana (devotee of Lord Shiva) only the town has this temple and blessings of Lord Shiva. So unlike the whole country, they don’t burn Ravana instead they look up to him in high reverence.

The fear of upsetting the Lord of destruction is so high in Baijnath that there are no goldsmiths also in the town. The logic being that Ravana lived in Lanka, the country of gold, and wanted to take Lord Shiva with him, and even though Lord Shiva considered gold as good as any other stone and wished to live where nature was at its best, he accepted to go. This disagreement between the Lord and his devotee is enough to keep the people from ever trying to open a goldsmith’s shop.