Shanaleshwara Swayambhu Temple

Suprabhatam

Shanaleshwara Swayambhu Temple

Shanaleshwara Swayambhu Temple dedicated to the worship of Lord Shiva. “Shanaleshwara” means, the sign that is worshiped as Lord Shiva. It is situated at 7 Kilometre away in the Nalas village of Rajpura, Punjab.

Inside the Shanaleshwara Temple is the Swayambhu lingam of Lord Shiva.Swayambhu lingams are Self-created or natural lingams, discovered in the place where they now stand. Most of these are oval- shaped stones. These lingams do not need a prana pratishtha, because a Swayambhu lingam already inherently embodies the power of Shiva.

Here, the saga of Temple origin tells that in Nalas region was in jungle, here used to be a very quiet environment. According to the saga, at that time some shepherds used to come here to feed their cows for some time. One of the cows that came to graze here was such that when she was about to go back to the grazing house, she used to stand near a bushes and here the milk squirt started coming out of her udder automatically and then when her milk was empty If used to be done, she would walk to the house. (her name was Nalni).This happened everyday.

The cowman was very upset to see this happening every day. As a result, when the cowman took the cow to graze again, he kept a close watch on it. The same thing happened during his watch, which was going on, that is, the cow reached the bushes again before going home and as soon as she reached the swayambhu, a torrent of milk started coming out of her udder. Seeing this, the cowman found out how his milk ran out. But seeing the way it was going to end, he was shocked. On the one hand, where he was surprised, on the other hand he thought of knowing how the cow’s milk comes out from here itself. What is there in these bushes?

The cowman started pruning the bushes where his cow was automatically extracting milk. It is said that when he was driving the axe, a stroke of his axe occurred on the swayambhu Shiva-lingam present there. As soon as the strike hit the Shiva-lingam, it caused a thunder of lightning in the sky and the Meditation of Mahant Karam giri ji, who was doing penance under the Banyan tree at some distance from this place, dissolved and he woke up. Here, Villagers and others present with Shivalinga are terrified and inadvertently apologize for the axe inflicted.

At the same time, it is said that the king of Patiala also had a dream about Shivling that night, in which the king was asked to get the temple constructed. It is said that the king was asked to leave one of his elephants in the morning. The place where the elephant will stop and the temple is to be built there. Here the king did as he was told. Next morning, Maharaja Patiala left his elephant and followed him himself. Where the Shivling itself originated. The elephant stopped after coming there. After which Maharaja Patiala got the temple built at that place. On completion of the construction of the temple, the temple was surrendered to Karam Giri Ji Maharaj, who was doing penance near the place where Shivalinga originated. The name of this temple is known as Shanaleshwara Swayambhu Temple and it is also known as Nalas Shiv Temple.

Maha Shivaratri is great festival here, three-days fair is held here every year on Maha Shivaratri and lakhs of people come to the fair.