Vaidyanath Temple
| Baidyanath Jyotirlinga, Deoghar. | |
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Oil on canvas painting by William Hodges, 1782
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 Location in Deoghar, Jharkhand.
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| Geography | |
| Coordinates | 24°29′33″N 86°42′00″E / 24.49250°N 86.70000°ECoordinates: 24°29′33″N 86°42′00″E / 24.49250°N 86.70000°E |
| Country | India |
| State | Jharkhand |
| District | Deoghar |
| Culture | |
| Sanctum | Baba Baidhyanath (Shiva) |
| Major festivals | Maha Shivaratri, Sharabani Mela |
| Architecture | |
| Number of temples | 22 |
| History | |
| Creator | Unknown( Bisawkarma as Mythology ) |
| Temple board | Baba Baidyanath Temple Management Board |
| Website | babadham.org |
Baidyanath Jyotirlinga temple, also known as Baba Baidyanath dham and Baidyanath dham is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, the most sacred abodes of Shiva. It is located in Deoghar in the Santhal Parganas division of the state of Jharkhand, India. It is a temple complex consisting of the main temple of Baba Baidyanath, where the Jyotirlinga is installed, and 21 other temples.
According to Hindu beliefs, the demon king Ravana worshipped Shiva at the current site of the temple to get the boons that he later used to wreak havoc in the world. Ravana offered his ten heads one after another to Shiva as a sacrifice. Pleased with this, Shiva descended to cure Ravana who was injured. As he acted as a doctor, he is referred to as Vaidhya ("doctor"). From this aspect of Shiva, the temple derives its name.
'Baidyanatham chithabhoomau' [sivmahapuran kotirudra samhita 1/21-24 and sivmahapuran satarudra samhita 42/1-4] is the ancient verse that identifies location of vaidyanth jyotirlinga. According to which Baidyantham is in 'chidabhoomi', which is the ancient name of Deoghar. In Dwadasa jyothirlinga sthothram, Adi Sankaracharya has praised Vaidyanath jyothirlinga in following verses,
This states that Vaidyanath jyotirlinga is located at Prajwalika nidhanam (meaning funeral place i.e., chithabhoomi) in the North-Eastern part of the country. Deoghar is far located in east compared to Parli which is in west central part of the country. Also Chidabhoomi indicates that, in olden days, this was a funeral place, where corpses are burnt and post-death ceremonies were performed. This place could have been a center of tantric cults like Kapalika/Bhairava where Lord Shiva is worshipped significantly as smasan vasin (meaning, residing in crematorium), sava bhasma bhushita (meaning, smearing body with ashes of burnt bodies).
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Wikipedia