bhairava temple english

8/12/2019 Bhairava Temple English

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Bha i rava temp le

Ka l a Bha i r a v a and Kapa l a M ok s haS a nt h i p r i y a

(nrj1945@gmai l.com)T h i s i s a n u pg r a d e d v e r s i on o f m y o r i g i n a l s t o r y t h a t a p p e a r e d i n

t h e M a y 0 6 i s su e o f O m S a r a v a na Bh a v a , a T a m i l mo nt h l y

p u b l i s h e d f r o m Ch e n n a i )

Bha i ravar i n a Nepa l Bha i rava i n De lh i One form of

Temp le Ka lkaj i temp le Bha i rava

Bhairava

Most of the temples in North India have the ido ls of Lord Bha irava

in one form or the other . Lord Bha irava i s genera l ly portrayed as

fearsome God wear ing head gear , ash smeared over ent ire body ,

carry ing a tr ishu l and a severed head or a Sku l l i n hands s i tt ing on

a dog or the dog standing by h is s ide . He is be l ieved to be the
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contro l l er of Ghosts , ev i l sou ls and sp ir i ts and stay in the

cemeter ies . L inga Purana and Shiva Purana conta ins stor ies on h im .

Birth of BhairavaBhairava i s a lso ca l led Ka la Bha iravar and h is w ife was Bha irav i .

As per a story in Skanda purana he man ifested in the midst of a

dispute which arose between Lord Shiva , Lord Vishnu and Lord

Brahma.

Once upon a t ime some of the Gods and devas met in Brahma Loka

and discussed many th ings . Dur ing the conversat ion a doubt was

ra ised by some one . Who was supreme amongst the Gods ? Without

hes itat ion Lord Brahma proudly c la imed that s ince he was supreme

amongst the Gods , such doubts need not ar ise in the minds of

anyone . Infur iated over the se lf c la im of Brahma , Lord Vishnu

cha l lenged the content ion and an heated argument w ith Lord

Brahma broke out .

When the ir heated argument remained inconc lus ive , they

approached heads of the four Vedas seeking the ir op in ion . The

heads of Vedas pronounced that The one who bestow favor to the

devotees in the shortest of the t ime , the one who i s accepted as

supreme by the devotees , and the one whose wr it runs over the

ent ire un iverse remains supreme amongst the Gods . Since a l l such

qua l i t ies were possessed on ly by Lord Shiva , natura l ly he was the

supreme God amongst a l l

Irked w ith the ir comments , Lord Brahma started making uneth ica l

remarks on the appearance of Lord Shiva . who i s Sh iva ? . . . ug ly


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look ing God w ith dirty ash smeared a l l over the body and roaming

in cemeter ies l ike a Sanyas i , snakes instead of f lowers strung on

the neck , and the one who trave l s i tt ing on a buffa lo ! ! . .Do you

a l l fee l that h e i s supreme than me ?? What a p ity.

When comments made by Lord Brahma reached the ears of Shiva , he

was enraged. Hear ing the unfa ir comments of Brahma which were

uttered a loud, every one present there inc luding Lord Vishnu

remained dumbstruck . With in seconds a b laz ing f lash appeared in

front of them with a b ig bang . A b laz ing Bha irava came out from

the f lash in human form . Not ic ing h im, Brahma asked Hey , who areyou and why have you come here ? Immediat ely th e man turned

into a ch i ld and started cry ing . Aga in Brahma sa id Don t weep my

chi ld . Since you have born out of my head, I name you as Rudra .

You may now go and create human be ings in the un iverse . Come on

ch i ld , come to me and I w i l l protect you

No sooner did Brahma f in ished h is adv ise , the ch i ld turned into a

feroc ious look ing man . Without rea l iz ing the consequences , Lord

Brahma b lessed h im h i .man. I now rename you as Ka l Bha irav

and I ass ign the duty to protect the humans on earth destroy ing

ev i ls . You may go to ho ly land Kash i , remain there account ing the

s ins of those dead , the extent of which even Yama s accountant

Chitragupta can not imagine

That was enough for Lord Bha irava to s i lence Lord Brahma. Sh iva

who had incarnated in the form of Bha irava to pun ish Brahma,

r ipped off Brahma s gu i lty head w ith the na i l of h is left thumb and

stood before everyone expos ing h is true form a long w ith Bha irava .


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Lord Shiva remarked Oh, Brahma, one of your heads which

insu lted me has been destroyed by Bha irava . Ear l ier Brahma was

born w ith f ive faces and w ith the one removed by Bha irava , Brahma

had to content w ith on ly four faces .

Bhairava in Temples

Every one assembled there immediate ly rea l ized that indeed Lord

Shiva h imse lf has man ifested in the form of Bha irava and

prostrated before h im . Lord Shiva turned to Bha irava whom he had

created and sa id By sever ing the f ifth head of Brahma you have

atta ined Brahmanic ide (Brahmahatt i Dosha) , and in order to remove

the s in you have to roam around the un iverse carry ing the severed

head and seeking a lms t i l l you reach Kash i in th is beggar ly

condit ion . Once you enter Kash i the s in w i l l automat ica l ly van ish .

Immediate ly the severed head of Lord Brahma turned into a sku l l

and struck w ith one of the hands of Lord Bha irava . As Shiva

f in ished, a f ierce look ing maiden appeared before them. Shiva

instructed the maiden to fr ighten and re lent less ly chase Bha irava

everywhere he went unt i l he reached the ho ly c i ty of Kash i .

Thereafter she may go away from there as she can not enter the

ho ly c i ty of Kash i .

As per the instruct ions of Lord Shiva , Lord Bha irava started h is

j ourney seeking a lms carry ing the severed head of Brahma in the

form of a sku l l and chased by the fr ighten ing maiden . On enter ing

Kash i the sku l l fe l l on to the ground and the maiden who chased

him t i l l then a lso d isappeared. Brahma hatya of Bha irava sank into

the nether-wor ld , free ing Bha irava from h is Brahmanic ide . That i s

why the re lat ives of those dead v is i t Kash i to perform the f ina l


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r ites and to beget the b less ings of Ka la Bha irava known as

Kshetrapa laka , the guardian of the temple in the be l ief that those

v is i t ing Kash i w i l l get Kapa la Moksha i .e pav ing way to the dead to

go to Moksha .

According to another fo lk ta le , Angered w ith the insu lt meted out

to h im in the Yagya performed by h is father- in- law Dakshyan and

the subsequent death of h is w ife Parvath i by jumping into the

sacred f ire , Lord Shiva carr ied Parvath i s corpse on h is shou lders

and ran danc ing uncontro l lab ly a l l around the wor ld for days . In

order to ca lm down Shiva , Lord Vishnu used h is Chakrayuda to cutParvath i s body into p ieces , wh ich fe l l at severa l p laces

subsequent ly becoming the Sakth i Peedas . In each of those

temples Shiva stood on guard in a fr ightfu l form of Lord Bha irava

. Hence Bha irava s ido ls form part of a l l the Shiv ite temples .

Benefits of worshipping Lord Bhairav

When one worsh ip Lord Bha irava w ith care and dedicat ion ,

- Al l the ir pending disputes w i l l come to an end.- Since he i s the guardian of trave lers , one can trave l fear less ly

after worsh ipp ing h im before commencing the journey .

- The enemies w i l l run away .- Enmit ies w i l l van ish .- The robbers w i l l not trouble you .- Evi l sp ir i ts and Ghosts and other bad omens can not come near

you .

He is the man ifestat ion of Lord Shiva and so guards Shiva Temples .

Lord Ka la Bha irava i s a lso known as Kshetrapa laka , the guardian of

other temple where h is ido ls are a lso worsh ipped a long w ith other


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Gods . Ka la Bha irava s mantras are chanted in the Yagyas , homas

and marr iage ceremonies . The tantr ic r i tes performed by the Yogis

and Tantr ic to ga in enormous power begin on ly after pray ing

Vinayaga and Bha irava .

E nd n o t e : The contents of th i s art i c le i s based on the

expressed v i ews of the Pund i t s ( Pu jar ies ) and other

devotees whom I met i n the temp le dur i ng my v i s i t s . Photos

gathered from d i fferent sources . In case some one gets

further i nformat ion i n the temp les they v i s i t I sha l l be g lad

and thankfu l i f they ma i l me the s tory i n nrj 1945@gmai l . com

so that updates i n the art i c le ca n be done i n future .
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]

bhairava temple english

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