5
  1. Tryambakeshwar
  2. Bhimshankar
  3. Vaidyanath
  4. Ghrishneshwar

Hello. am confused with some maps showing Vaidyanath to be located in Parli, Maharashtra and some in Deogarh, Jharkhand. Any literary proof to confirm truth?

In Dwadash Jyotirlingani I say "Parlyam Vaidyanatham Cha Dakinyam Bhimshankaram"

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    This answer might be useful. The Dwadasa Jyotirlinga Stotra indeed says that at Parali the Vaidyanatha Linga is situated. – Rickross Feb 03 '21 at 11:41
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    The Gitapress edition of Shiva Purana cites that there are 2 variations चिताभूम्यां वैद्यनाथः & पारल्यां वैद्यनाथः for the stotra. – অনু Feb 03 '21 at 12:22
  • Both stotra variations point to Parli as the right location then, assuming Parli used to be a creamation ground (chidabhoomi) where Savitri brought back Satyavana from Yama? @Anubrata Bit –  Feb 05 '21 at 10:17

1 Answers1

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Vaidyanātha Jyōtirliṅga

Chapter 1 of the Koṭirudra Saṃhitā of the Shiva Purana places the Linga in a cremation ground or citābhūmi (and alternatively at a place called parali):

वैद्यनाथं चिताभूमौ - Vaidyanātha in the cremation ground

The Dvādaśaliṅgastōtram by Adi Shankaracharya places the Linga in the North Eastern part of the country:

पूर्वोत्तरे प्रज्वलिकानिधाने सदावसन्तं गिरिजासमेतम्। सुरासुराराधितपादपद्मं श्रीवैद्यनाथं तमहं नमामि॥५॥

I bow to that Lord Vaidyanatha who always lives in the North East in the cremation ground with the Daughter of the mountain and whose lotus feet are worshipped by the devatas and the asuras

This indicates that the Linga is situated in the North east alongwith Devi Parvati, an indication to a śaktipīṭha in the vicinity, just like Mallikarjuna.

In the Devi Bhagavata Purana’s list of 108 śaktipīṭhas (7.30), and Devi Gita part of Devi Bhagavata Purana (7.38) there’s a mention of one At Vaidyanatha:

as Ārogyā in Vaidyānātha
- Skandha 7 Chapter 30
The excellent place of Bagalā in Baidyanāth
- Skandha 7 Chapter 38 (Devi Gita)

Accordingly based on the above, we can conclude that the Vaidyanātha Jyōtirliṅga is located in the North eastern part of the country near a śaktipīṭha,

The Vaidyanaatha of Deoghar Jharkhand, has a śaktipīṭha facing the Jyotirlinga temple and the place is claimed to be known as chitabhumi in common parlance. There are only 4 śaktipīṭhas in modern day Maharashtra and Parli doesn’t feature in that list.

Deoghar Jharkhand being roughly in the north eastern part of the country and also near a famous śaktipīṭha is the correct Vaidyanātha Jyōtirliṅga.

enter image description here

The Jyotirlinga temple and Shakti pitha at Deoghar Jharkhand, connected to each other by red threads.

Note: There’s an alternate version of the Dvādaśaliṅgastōtram where cremation ground is replaced with parali and sadavasantam is replaced with sadashivam. Yet the basic north east and alongwith Devi Parvati is retained. No doubt Parli has its significance, yet it is not the jyotirlinga spoken off in scriptures.

Adiyarkku
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  • @Sauravk if you’re satisfied with the answer, you can accept it by clicking tick mark sign below the voting arrows. That will let other users on the site know which answer is satisfactory. Also if you like it you may upvote by clicking up arrow on the answer. If you don’t like it and contains glaring flaws then you can downvote the answer by clicking the down arrow. For more info on site working you can join Naruto in the chatroom – Adiyarkku Feb 05 '21 at 06:19
  • Parli used to be a cremation ground too so your answer is an assumption . Just because Deoghar is called chidabhoomi i e. a cremation ground, doesn’t prove that Vaijnath is jyotirlinga...the name Vaidynath arrives from Mahadev being a doctor to Ravan & are lot's of useful medicinal plants and herbs , in the nearby jungle , and mountain range of Parli that's why Parli being "Vaidyanath( वैद्य) is more fitting –  Feb 05 '21 at 07:00
  • "daughter of the mountain" mentioned by acharya in 12 jls are talking about the jyotirlinga being on the slopes of Naganarayana mountain and "worshipped by gods" as Brahma, Venu and Saraswati 3 rivers flow near. the legit jyotirlinga is Parli from my ongoing research (waiting more ans b4 selecting) –  Feb 05 '21 at 07:07
  • Sure :) My assumption is not about cremation ground. It’s also called that. Want we can delete that part. The logic is North East plus Shakti Peeth. Even if you don’t consider Girija as Parvati (though it should be) the very fact that the list of Shakti peethas says one is at Vaidyanatha and the fact that acharya mentions north east clearly indicate Deoghar. Internet research will always try to convince one to one side. There’s no way to verify whether either of them was called chita bhumi? Moreover acharya also has paralika variation but still says north east. @Sauravk – Adiyarkku Feb 05 '21 at 07:43
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    Wait can I ask you if you don’t mind how is daughter of mountains naganarayana? Deoghar will tell you they’re authentic, Parli will tell you they’re authentic. Also the part of bhimashankara which you edited. I wanted to tell you Bhimashankara is not in Maharashtra, it’s actually in Assam. The one in Maharashtra is an Upalinga (somewhat same effect as jyotirlinga) of the original Bhimashankara in Assam. Btw I’m from Maharashtra only so nothing against it :D – Adiyarkku Feb 05 '21 at 07:48
  • In brevity Shiv Purana mentions Parli 2x but nowhere is a Deoghar mentioned? am i right? north east of what? aryavrata? or simply Beed district? bc it is. I have nothing except assumptions just like you but will go w Shiv Purana as authority. perhaps carbon dating can confirm which is older (and original) & bm is def in mh no contestation so edited –  Feb 05 '21 at 14:36
  • As per locals Parli is only one Jyotirlinga where Parvti is situated with Lingam hence "Girijasametam" makes sense @Archit –  Feb 05 '21 at 15:00
  • We hae to understand a lot of places don’t retain their original names. Even lower parel in Bombay is called Parala in Marathi. Even chitabhumi who calls? Who calls Rishikesh as Kubjamraka? Meerut also claims Maya and haridwar to claims Maya, yet Haridwar is Mayapuri. It’s only because Shiva Purana gives no clear indication that we need to reply on other scriptures - dwadasa linga and Devi bhagavatam. Parli mention itself cannot be enough evidence to prove such compelling evidence from scriptures as wrong. Even the dwadasha alternate version mentions Parli but north east not Maharashtra. – Adiyarkku Feb 05 '21 at 15:00
  • The Shiva Purana clearly mentions South for Tryambaka and Ghushma and clearly mentions kamarupa (Assam) for Bhimashankara. And since the dvadasa linga stotram is talking of all the geographical features (Sahya, kedaram etc) it means north east of Bharatavarsha. Then again Parli Maharashtra doesn’t have a shakti peeth. Just mentioning an ancient name and applying it in a modern context cannot contradict such empirical evidence. Shankara stotra mentions Nagesham in south - याम्ये सदङ्गे नगरेऽतिरम्ये. You can say south of where but the entire stotra is talking of bharatavarsha. – Adiyarkku Feb 05 '21 at 15:10
  • Just because of name like chitabhumi and Parli no one is able to identify, doesn’t mean we can reject other scriptures in their entirety. Except for the name, Parli doesn’t have any other evidence to be the jyotirlinga. Again I state it is a very important temple but not the jyotirlinga identified in Scriptures. You are going merely on the assumption of Parli name. Again I repeat modern time you can’t identify merely by ancient names. Other scriptures are clearly pointing otherwise without any assumptions. @Sauravk – Adiyarkku Feb 05 '21 at 15:15
  • Agreeing to what the locals say and completely ignoring Shankaracharya’s stotra (north and east and Girija sametam) how can you refute the claim of the Shakti peeth list mentioning one clearly at Vaidyanatha? The locals are gonna continue to try and refute all claims. You have scriptures in front of you. We can’t go by mere name of Parli. Scriptures are in front of you if you want to listen to locals twisting it in whichever sense to suit their location then you’re free to think it’s Parli. They will continue to twist it as I said. You go to Deoghar they too will convince you its them. – Adiyarkku Feb 05 '21 at 15:20
  • Being convinced is not the case. We have scriptures in front of us. We go only by that not by what the locals of either place say. Besides the name Parli what other empirical evidence like Deoghar does Parli have to prove its authenticity? Also The purvottare asking north east of where also doesn’t make sense because all scriptures talk in the sense of the whole bharata and as I mentioned even the dwadasa stotra mentions naganatham in south (below or around the areas of vindhya right down to the tip of Kanyakumari). If you talk to them they will never accept. It will be huge loss of income. – Adiyarkku Feb 05 '21 at 15:22
  • You seem to be a logical man of reason. Weigh: scriptures + mere claims of locals of Deoghar vs on some ancient name and mere claims of Parli. The balance of Deoghar is heavier due to scriptures (claims and claims get neutralised). If they call Parli an important shiva temple vs if they call it a jyotirling- puts impact on their income. Today you have Vishvanath temple even in south doesn’t mean that becomes Varanasi!! – Adiyarkku Feb 05 '21 at 15:33