Kal Bhairav is Ujjain's guardian, and his temple stands on the Shipra. Of the five tantric offerings, liquor is the one that survives here. A devotee buys a bottle at a counter outside; the priest pours some into a saucer and tilts it to a slit in the god's lips, and it is gone. A part of the bottle comes back as prasad. When the state closed liquor shops in the city in 2025, the offering at the temple went on.
Kal Bhairav Temple, Ujjain (Wikipedia); MP liquor ban at holy places may not impact Ujjain mandir prasad (Times of India, 2025)
Sources: Kal Bhairav Temple, Ujjain (Wikipedia); MP liquor ban at holy places may not impact Ujjain mandir prasad (Times of India, 2025)
When the skull of Brahma falls from Bhairava's hand at Kashi, Shiva makes him the city's lord and keeper; he alone punishes those who sin in Kashi, so even Yama's messengers keep away, and pilgrims still go to ask his leave.
In Kathmandu's Durbar Square a great black Bhairab found by King Pratap Malla's workmen became the court where officials swore their oaths, and at Indra Jatra the mask of white Bhairab pours beer from its mouth to a waiting crowd.
Brahma grows a fifth head, and with it pride or a false word.
In the Kumaoni jagar, singers call a deity into a gathering through song and drum until a medium falls into trance; Bhairav's tales are among those sung.
Brahma and Vishnu quarrel over who is greater; Shiva appears as a column of fire without end; Brahma flies up as a gander and Vishnu digs down as a boar; Vishnu admits failure, Brahma lies with the ketaki as witness and is cursed. Tamil tradition roots the pillar at Tiruvannamalai.
Bhairava, born from Shiva's brow, cuts off Brahma's fifth head; the skull sticks to his hand and the sin of brahmin-killing follows him; he wanders as a beggar, kills Vishnu's gatekeeper, is fed blood from Vishnu's forehead, and is freed when the skull falls at Kashi.