Neeleshwar Mahadev Mandir Pathari Forest Range, Haridwar, Uttarakhand
The wedding procession of Mahadev halted here in this site where the Shiva Linga is SWAYAMBHU or self developed.
At NEEL PARBAT sharing the space with Chandi Devi, Neeleshwar temple has an enchanted realm where one can drop to the.
One of the major ancient temples of Haridwar city is the temple of Nileshwar Mahadev.
To go to the temple of Maa Chandi Devi, there is Gaurishankar temple near the Udankhatola (rope-way) gate on the Najibabad-Haridwar road. Two-three hundred meters ahead of this temple, on the left side, there is a divine temple of Nileshwar Mahadev in the forest above. Here there is a two and a half feet high Swayambhu Shivalinga. The description of this north facing Shivalinga is found in Shiva Purana. This temple is contemporary with the Daksheshwar temple located at Kankhal. There are different types of fruit trees here. The fruits growing on these trees are not plucked. When the fruits ripen and fall down, they are offered to Bholenath and given to the devotees as Prasad. There are many folk stories prevalent about this temple.
According to a folk story, when Mahadev came to Haridwar through sky route with his wedding procession, he along with his wedding procession camped under the Neel mountain (where Gaurishankar temple is) and even after marriage, he lived with Mother Sati in this Gaurishankar temple for years. It is said that the deity had placed his feet on earth for the first time at this place while following Bholenath. Before this, even if the gods came to earth, they did not put their feet on the ground. They used to give boons from some height and go back to the world of gods. So what happened was that after the arrival of the wedding procession, Bholenath went to the nearby hill, where Nileshwar temple is, to see the distance of Kankhal and standing there, he estimated the distance of Kankhal and appeared in the form of a two and a half feet high Shivalinga at the same divine place. Happened.
According to the second legend, even after Mahadev’s refusal, Mother Sati, the mother of the world, came to Kankhal to attend the Yagya of her father Daksh Maharaj and being insulted, she sacrificed her life by jumping into the Yagya Kund. Hearing this incident, Mahadev got angry and came to this mountain and started performing Tandav. His entire body turned blue due to his intense anger. Birbhadra appeared at this very place and ordered him to destroy the Yagya and cut off the head of Daksh Maharaj. Since then this mountain was named Neel Parvat and Bholenath who appeared in the form of Shivalinga was known as Nileshwar Mahadev. Here Mother Ganga moves forward in the form of a blue stream touching the feet of Lord Bholenath.
According to the belief, the wishes of the devotees are fulfilled by performing Jalabhishek in this temple in Sawan. Since there are thousands of Shivalingas in one self-established Shivalinga, performing Jalabhishek once gives a thousand times the results. There is a constant flow of devotees here during Sawan. Here, every day at the time of Aarti, the makeup of Mahadev is worth seeing.
