Gandiveshwar Sthan

Gandiveshwar Sthan (गांडीवेश्वर स्थान) is an ancient historical, religious and mythological place recorded in Hindu epic Mahabharata. It is a religious tourist centre for Hindu pilgrims. In Mahabharata when Pandava were exiled from their country to forest by Kauravas, then Arjuna hide his Gandiva bow and all his weapons on a Shami tree at this place.^[1]

Description[]

It is believed that Arjuna got his famous weapon Pashupati Astra here by meditation to Lord Shiva. He established Shivling here, which later called as Gandiveshwar Nath Mahadev Mandir.^[2] This place is located at Shivnagar village which is 15 kilometres distance from the sub divisional town Benipatti in Madhubani district of Mithila region in Bihar, India. It is historical, religious and cultural heritage of the district. There are many temples in the campus of the Gandiveshwar Sthan. Gandiveshwar Nath Mahadev Mandir and Gaurishankar Mandir are the two main temples in the campus. Gandiveshwar Nath Mahadev Mandir is the temple of Lord Shiva and Gaurishankar Mandir is the temple of Goddess Gauri and Lord Shiva jointly. There are also the temple of God Kartika, Ganpati, Kalbhairav, Batukh Bhairav, Surya Narayan, Hanuman, Rama, Laxman, Goddess Kali, Sita and some other deities in the campus.^[3] This place is very famous for Mahashivratri and Shravan Somvari festivals. Hindu devotees of Lord Shiva gather here from different parts of the district in Shravan Somvari to Jalabhishek(जलाभिषेक) and worship the Lord Shiva.^[4]

History[]

Before AD 1962 there was a dense forest near this place, where a huge number of wild pigs were living. In the leadership of Baba Rasbihari Das a very big Yajna was organised at this place in AD 1962. This place was made as Yajnasthali ( यज्ञस्थली ) and the forest was cleaned within the few area there. It is believed that, this is the battle place of the famous Kirat - Arjuna battle in the Mahabharata.^[5][6] Lord Shiva came in the face of Kirat and did war with Arjuna. The war was for hunting of a wild pig. Arjun threw an arrow with his bow on a wild pig for hunting. Then Lord Shiva appeared there in the face of a Kirat person and he also threw an arrow on the same wild pig for hunting. Subsequently a very extreme war was started between Arjuna and Kirat for hunting and in the last Lord Shiva pleased with the battle skills of Arjuna and appeared in his original costume and awarded the famous Gandiv bow to him.^[7]

History of the present temple[]

The present Gandiveshwar Mahadev Temple was built by the son of Chan Chaudhary from Chanpura Village near the place. It is said that, Chan Chaudhary was childless person of the Chanpura village. He went to Baba Baidyanath Temple for beging a child from Lord Shiva. There he stayed in the hope of a boon of child. It is said that he saw a dream of Lord Shiva. In his dream, Lord Shiva asked him why had you come here, go to Gandiveshwar Mahadev Sthan at Shivnagar near your village and give service to the temple there. Lord Shiva told him that he would always be there in the midnight. Then Chan Chaudhary came to this village to worship Lord Shiva in the temple. He then soon became the father of a child, who later built the present temple of Gandiveshwar Sthan.^[8]

References[]

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