Mahahar Dham
Shiva devotees have great faith in Mahahar Dham located in Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh. An ancient Teramukhi Shivlinga is located here. Every year lakhs of devotees come here for Jalabhishek in the month of Sawan. Mahahar Dham is believed to be the place where King Dasharatha was cursed by Shravan Kumar’s parents. Shravan Kumar was killed by Dasaratha’s piercing arrow. King Dasharatha established Shiva Parivar and Lord Brahma at this place to save Brahma from being killed. It is said that King Dasharatha used to come here from Ayodhya.
Mahahar Dham is about 35 kilometers east of Ghazipur district headquarters on NH 29 which goes to Nepal via Gorakhpur. This is the same place where Shravan Kumar was passing through with his blind parents in Kanwar and due to his parents’ thirst, he came to draw water from the lake spread over 365 bighas. While he was fetching water, King Dasharatha mistook him for an animal and shot an arrow at him.
King Dasharatha was cursed by Shravan Kumar’s parents
After this King Dasharatha was cursed by the parents of Sravana Kumara that just as we are dying separated from our son, so will you also end. To avoid killing Brahma, King Dasharatha established and worshiped idols of the Shiva family and Lord Brahma. Since then worship is being done here. According to the Shiva Mahapurana, during the construction of the well, a supernatural Shivling appeared about 8 to 10 feet below the ground. Seeing this, people had a special faith in this place. People believe that whoever worships this Shivling gets all his wishes fulfilled.
There is a temple of Brahma here
Lord Brahma temple is not found in many places in India. Only one ancient temple is in Pushkar and the other is in Mahahar Dham. On the main gate of the temple is written Mahahar Dham Gadhipuri. It refers to King Gadhi, who was Vishwamitra’s father. In ancient times this entire area was under the rule of Raja Gandhi, there is evidence of dense forests in this area.
If we look at the distance from here to Ayodhya, it will be approximately 150 to 200 kilometers. According to legends, King Dasharatha built his fort/palace here. Ghazipur is the headquarters of the district where the Ganga flows and from this Ganga every Sunday Shiva devotees carry water from Dadrighat, Chitnath Ghat, Posta Ghat and other ghats and travel on foot to reach Mahar Dham.
