The significance and relevance of the holy temple built for lord Shiva in Pune.
MYTHOLOGY
There stands 12 tall Jyotirlingas, shrines of Shiva spread across the Indian subcontinent, each built as a powerhouse for defeating evil and negative forces.
The mythical story around the existence of Jyotirling is such that both Brahma, creator of life and Vishnu, the almighty sustaining life, quarrelled as to who is the greater and the stronger. Shiv pierced all three worlds; heaven, Earth and hell through a beam of light which extended both ways endlessly. Shiva asked them to search for the edges of this beam of light. They both gave it a try but in vain, such was the superiority and grandness of Shiva’s powers. The Jyotirlings denote the greatness and numerous strengths of Shiv.
This specific temple has a tale behind its occurrence and existence as well. There lived a demon or asura by the name of Tripurasura in the village of Bhimashankar. He initially used to seek penance for his deeds in the forest of the similar name, Bhimashankar. Seeing his devotion, the supreme deity himself decided to bless his disciple with a blessing to stay immortal, provided he helped others with that power. But once he received that boon, he started harassing people and creating chaos. This infuriated Shiv and along with his wife Parvati, they together took the form of ardhanari nateshwar, half man and half woman, killing the demon.
SIGNIFICANCE
The first ever Shiv lingam statue was found here and the river Bhim too originates from there. The Jyotirlings are the temples which signify Shv’s grandeur, strength and wisdom.
ARCHITECTURE AND INTERIOR
It is believed that this sacred structure was built as it is today dating back to around the 13th century. Although it has been retouched a couple of times after that. The Sabha Mnadap, court of assembly and Shikara were created by Nana Fadnavis. This refurbishing resulted in the temple being a mixture of various sculptors and schools of thought.
The Nagara style of architecture of this Jyotirling follows the track of multiple ancient and older design strategies. It was majorly built by the skilled Vishwakarma workers as the designs are unique to their craft.
A bell of the temple has been collected by Chimaji Appa as a souvenir when he fought a war against the Portuguese and it has the visuals of Mother Mary and baby Jesus.
It is believed that multiple changes were brought about by the great Marathi leader Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj as well.
The other Jyotirlings too have their own unique tale of emergence, be it the one at Omkareshwar or Somnath or Nageshwar. Each one of these structures carry a particular essence, style of architecture and contributes fairly to Hinduism.
