Devalok
Temple legend · 3 tellings · Northeast India, West India

The demon of the Sahyadri and the Bhima river

Who is in it

Places: Bhimashankar

The story, beat by beat

  1. A demon oppresses the gods and men from the Sahyadri hills.
  2. A devotee's worship, or the gods' prayer, brings Shiva there.
  3. Shiva fights the demon on the hilltop and destroys him.
  4. The sweat of the battle runs off Shiva's body and becomes the Bhima river.
  5. Shiva stays on the hill as the jyotirlinga Bhimashankar.

demon sweat river dispute

How it is told, place by place

Base telling · Encyclopedia

Wikipedia's temple page (the demon Tripura)

West India · Bhimashankar, Pune district, Maharashtra Shaiva

In the account on the temple's encyclopedia page, the demon of this hill is Tripura, and Shiva came to the Sahyadri to destroy him. The fight was long, and when it was over the sweat that ran from Shiva's body gathered and flowed away as the Bhima, the river that waters the Deccan. The god who fought there is Bhima Shankara, and the linga in the forest temple is one of the twelve. Nana Phadnavis built the hall and tower in the eighteenth century, and a Portuguese bell taken by Chimaji Appa in 1739 hangs there.

Bhimashankar Temple — Wikipedia

Encyclopedia

Assam and Uttarakhand claims

Northeast India · Bhimpur (Assam); Bhimeswar Dham (Uttarakhand) Shaiva

Two other shrines say the jyotirlinga of the hymn is theirs: Bhimpur in Assam, where the site is linked with the Dakini hill named in the Purana, and Bhimeswar Dham in Uttarakhand. Neither page was read in full in this pass.

What is different here:

Rival locations for the same jyotirlinga; stubs pending a full read.

Bhimashankar Jyotirlinga (Dakinyam), Bhimpur — Wikipedia unverified; Bhimeswar Dham — Wikipedia unverified; Jyotirlinga — Wikipedia

Popular retelling

Popular temple sites (Bhimasura and Kamarupa)

West India · Bhimashankar (Dakini hill), Maharashtra Shaiva

The pilgrimage websites tell a different demon. Bhima was the son of Kumbhakarna, born after his father's death and raised to avenge it; he won power from Brahma, conquered the gods and threw the Shiva-devoted king Kamarupa into prison, where the king went on worshipping a clay linga. When Bhima raised his sword against the linga Shiva came out of it, the demon was struck down by the trident, and his ashes and the god's sweat made the river. The sites cite the Koti Rudra Samhita of the Shiva Purana, which this research could not check.

What is different here:

Demon is Bhimasura, Kumbhakarna's son; a devotee-king in prison; the trident; unverified Purana citation.

Bhimashankar Jyotirlinga, Pune — templesofindia.org unverified; Bhimashankar Jyotirlinga Temple — behindeverytemple.org unverified

Sources: Bhimashankar Temple — Wikipedia; Bhimashankar Jyotirlinga (Dakinyam), Bhimpur — Wikipedia; Bhimeswar Dham — Wikipedia; Jyotirlinga — Wikipedia; Bhimashankar Jyotirlinga, Pune — templesofindia.org; Bhimashankar Jyotirlinga Temple — behindeverytemple.org

More stories with the same people