Rameshwar Mahadev (29/84) Dabari Pitha, Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh

The story of Shri Rameshwar Mahadev shows the importance of Mahakal Van. Parshuramji visited many places of pilgrimage and did penance, but his crime of killing Brahma was cured only by worshiping Shri Rameshwar Mahadev situated in Mahakal forest. According to mythology, once in Treta Yuga, there was Parashuram, who was blessed with all the virtues and possessed the scriptures.He was an incarnation of Vishnu who was born due to the curse of sage Bhrigu. His mother was Renuka and father was Jamdagni. Parashurama had four elder brothers but Parashurama was the most capable and brilliant among them all. Once Jamadagni sent Renuka to the banks of Ganga to bring water for Havan.  On the banks of Ganga, Gandharva king Chitrarath was roaming with Apsaras, seeing whom Renuka became enamored and stayed there for some time. Due to this delay, the havan period got over. Due to this, Jamdagni became very angry and he considered this act of Renuka as anti-Aryan conduct. Enraged, he ordered all his sons to kill Renuka. But due to attachment to motherhood, no son could do this. Seeing her sons not obeying her orders, Jamdagni cursed them to lose their power of thought.

Then Parshuram, influenced by his father’s penance, beheaded mother Renuka as per his orders. Seeing Parshuram’s devotion to duty, Jamadagni was very happy and asked him to ask for a boon from Parashuram. As a boon, Pashuram prayed to revive his mother Renuka and make his brothers thoughtful again. Jamadagni did not ask for anything for himself even in the boons. Jamadagni became very happy with the prayers done for his mother and brothers and along with granting the boons asked by Parashurama, he said that no one in this world will be able to defeat you, you will remain invincible. . You should accept this strong axe, which is born from fire.You will become famous with this sharp-edged axe. As a result of the boon, Mother Renuka came back to life but Parshuram was blamed for killing Brahma.

After some time, Kartavirya Arjun became the king in Haihayavansh. He was a thousand-armed man. He killed sage Jamadagni for Kamdhenu. Enraged by the killing of his father, Parashurama cut off Arjun’s thousand arms with his axe. Then Parshu destroyed his army also. Due to this crime, he wiped out all traces of Kshatriyas from the face of the earth 21 times. Then, to atone for the sin of killing Brahma, Parshuram performed Ashwamedha Yagya and donated the earth to Kashyap Muni. Along with this, various types of donations like horses, chariots, gold etc. were made. But still the sin of killing a Brahmin was not removed. Then he went to perform penance on Raivat mountain where he performed severe penance. Still the defect did not go away so he went to the Himalayan Mountains and Badrikashram. After that, he visited the holy places like Narmada, Chandrabhaga, Gaya, Kurukshetra, Naimivar, Pushkar, Prayag, Kedareshwar etc. and took bath. Still his crime of killing a Brahma was not redressed. Then he became extremely sad and his attitude started becoming negative. They started thinking that the greatness of pilgrimage, charity etc. mentioned in the scriptures is all false. Just then Narada Muni reached there. Parashuram told Narad Muni that on the orders of my father, I killed my mother and destroyed the Kshatriyas, as a result of which I was accused of killing a Brahma. To get rid of this defect, I performed Ashwamedha Yagya, performed penance on the mountains, took bath in many places of pilgrimage but still my murder of Brahma is not going away. Then Naradji said that please go to Mahakal forest. Worship the divine Linga situated near Jateshwar there. That will remove your Brahmahatya. As per Naradmuni’s statement, Parshuram came to Mahakal forest and worshiped the divine Linga as told by Naradmuni. Lord Shiva was pleased with his devotional worship and freed him from the sin of killing a Brahma.

According to the belief, having darshan of Shri Rameshwar Mahadev destroys the defects. It is believed that by visiting here one attains Vijayashree. The temple of Shri Rameshwar Mahadev is situated in Rameshwar Gali near Sati Darwaja.