Majestic Temples of India

Bhimashankar Temple Pune, Maharashtra One among the 12 Jyothirlingas, Bhimashankar Temple is located at Pune, Maharashtra. Story says that there lived an asura named Bhima who lived with his mother Karkati here. He was son of Kumbharkarna. Being angry with Mahavishnu for killing his father he started doing tapasya to Brahma Deva. Pleased with tapasya Brahma Deva gave him immense power. Bhima started to torture everyone and one day imprisoned a Shiva Bhakt, Kamrupeshwar & ordered him to worship him instead of Mahadev. Kamrupeshwar refused to do so & Bhima raised his sword to destroy the Shivalinga. Mahadev appeared & reduced him to ashes. The place where Shiva manifested himself is the spot the Shivalinga is believed to be now. Many modifications of the temple are done by Maratha rulers.

Mahashivaratri : कथा Today is the auspicious Shivratri, vratham is undertaken to get blessings of Mahadev. Here is a story from SHIVA MAHAPURAN which explains importance of Shivratri. There lived a hunter who was very cruel. He was roaming in the jungle in search of animals. It was Shivratri day & he climbs at the top of a tree carrying water & waited for his prey. The tree which he climbed was Bilva. After some time he heard sound of a deer. When he tried to catch it some leaves from tree & water fell down in Shivalinga which was under the tree. The deer begged for mercy & asked him to let her go and meet her kids last time. The hunter agreed. After sometime, another deer came & again water & bilva fell on the shivalinga. That deer also asked him to give sometime. This happened many times. Each time, he unknowingly shivalinga abhishekam. After sometime, all the deer came back & hunter was overjoyed. At that moment, Mahadev appeared & blessed him & h

Divine Wedding of Mahadev & Ma Parvati It is stated that it was today the divine wedding took place of Mahadev and Parvati Devi. Parvati Devi was the daughter of Himavan, as the daughter of Parvat Raja the name Parvati. From childhood itself Parvati was very stern in marrying Paramashiva. Everyone discouraged her saying Mahadev resides with bhootganas and basma all over his body. But Parvati Devi decided to perform tapasya to marry Shiva. Mahadev decided to test her devotion. Shiva disguised himself, came before her and tested her devotion. Atlast Shiva was convinced & decided to marry Devi who was reincarnation of Sati Devi. Mahavishnu comes as Parvati Devi's brother and does her Kanyadaan.

Badrinath Temple Badrinath, Uttarakhand Badrinath Temple dedicated to Mahavishnu is considered as the most holiest place for Hindus. Situated on the banks of Alaknanda River, temple is one among 108 Divya Desams, part of Char Dham & Chota Char Dham. Situated in Nar Narayan mountain, it is said that Mahavishnu did Tapasya here in intense heat of Sun & Mahalakshmi transformed herself to Badri tree to give him shade. Pleased with Lakshmi, Vishnu named the place Badrikashram. Adi Shankaracharya found the Salagrama Vigraham from Alaknanda and did Prathista here. It was here Pandavas along with Draupadi climbed Swargarohini of their last Pilgrimage.

Shani Shingnapur Temple Ahmednagar, Maharashtra Shani Shingnapur Temple of Shani Dev is said to resolve every Problem of a Devotee. Temple is called Jagrut Devasthan meaning Shani resides in the temple. Located in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, Shani Dev is said to be Swayambhu here protecting his devotees. During flood a huge block of rock was found & on the same day village head had a dream of Shani Dev. It is said that Shani instructed about his appearance to protect the village. When villagers tried to test, blood oozed from rock. Thus was temple constructed here. None of the house have doors here as Shani has instructed to do so to keep village under his drishti.

Banke Bihari Temple Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh Banke Bihari temple, Vrindavan is one of the powerful & blissful temples of Shri Krishna. Worshipped as a small child here, bells are not used to wake Krishna in morning. Brajwasis wakes Kanha gently like a child. It is said that Thakurji visits Nidhivan at midnight daily. Once princess of Rajasthan came to worship Thakurji. She was very much attracted towards Krishna & wished to take him home. With tiery eyes she looked Thakur ji, pleased with her Love, Thakurji followed the princess. Poojari searched for missing murthy & found safe with princess. Accepting everyone's request finally Thakurji returns to the temple. From that day a curtain is placed in between devotee & Krishna to break intensity of feeling towards his devotee. One who stares at Krishna will lose themselves towards him..