Shree Dev Vyadeshwar Temple

Shree Dev Vyadeshwar Temple

Shree Dev Vyadeshwar temple is a temple dedicated to the Lord Shiva located in Guhagar town in Ratnagiri District of Maharashtra.The deity is considered as the Kuladevata (Clan-deity) of many Chitpavan families from the Konkan region.

The temple architectural style here is called ‘Panchayatan’. A Panchayatan temple contains four subordinate shrines in four corners and the main shrine in the center of the podium, which forms the base. Here, Shiva is Shri Vyadeshwar, the central shrine, with Surya, Ganesha, Amba or Ambika (Shiva’s consort) and Vishnu with his wife Lakshmi as the South-East, South-West, North-West and North-East subordinate shrines respectively. Nandi (the vahana of Lord Shiva) sits in front of the main shrine.

Legend

Sage Parashurama created the land of Konkan by shooting his arrow into the sea and commanding the Sea God to retract the waters to the point where his arrow landed. This new land came to be known as Sapta-Konkana, meaning “piece of earth”, “corner of earth”, or “piece of a corner”, derived from Sanskrit words: koṇa (कोण, corner) + kaṇa (कण, piece).

Shree Parshurama also requested 60 rishis to settle in the newly created land and protect the resident clans. He, being a devotee of the Lord Shiva, requested Lord Shiva to meet him daily.Sage Vyadi installed the lingam of Shiva at this temple in Guhagar. The Shiva icon and temple was thus named as Shree Vyadeshwar (the Lord of Vyadi). It is believed that Lord Shiva stays here in the invisible form.

Shree Vyadeshwar Deity was lost to time and is rediscovered in the era of King Sakuran, when the current temple structure was constructed.

Three small pieces were separated from the main or core part of the Pindi. One piece was located at Borya Adoor; the second piece went to Asgoli and the third piece to Anjanwel.At these locations, new Shiva temples were erected. These temples are known as Talkeshwar, Balkeshwar (Valukeshwar) and Udaleshwar (Uddalakeshwar) respectively. These three Shiva Pindis are considered to be incarnations of Shri Vyadeshwar. The said locations being very close to Guhagar, devotees of Shri Vyadeshwar also visit these three temples.