Madhyamaheshwar Temple, Garhwal
– Legends
The legend of Madhyamaheshwar is an integral part of the
legend of Panch Kedar, which is a captivating narration of the efforts of Pandavas to
atone for the sins of their fratricide (gotra-hatya)
act of killing their cousins, the Kauravas,
and Brahmahatya (killing
of Brahmins -
the priest class), during the epic Mahabharata war.
On advice from sages and their trusted benefactor god Krishna they
sought Lord Shiva to pardon them and bless them to attain salvation. Since
Shiva was annoyed with them for their conduct during the Kurukshetra
war, he tried to avoid them by assuming the animal form of a bull
or Nandi and left for the Himalayan
Garhwal region.
But the determined Pandavas, after sighting Shiva in the
form of the bull grazing in the hills of Guptakashi, tried to forcibly hold the
bull by its tail and hind legs. But the bull disappeared into the ground to
reappear later in his original self of Lord Shiva at five places; in the form
of a hump at Kedarnath, in the shape
of bahu (arms) at Tungnath,
with his face at Rudranath, his Nabhi (navel) and
stomach at Madhyamaheshwar and his hair (locks) called jata at Kalpeshwar.
Pandavas, pleased with the revelation of Lord Shiva at five places in different
forms, built temples at these five places, worshipped him and attained
salvation with blessings of Shiva.
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