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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 .
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