The Legend
Mythology and oral traditions mix on this side of the
River Beas to create the legend of Pandavas of Mahabharata residing in
the vicinity of Pirsaluhi village during their exile. They built multiple
abodes of Lord Shiva including at Kaleshwar KaliNath, Punj-tirithy, Chamukha
and countless others. All these places are five to eight kilometres from
Pirsaluhi village and play an important role in the lives of the people of the
neighbouring villages. The Punj-tirithy
location is holiest of the holy as the name indicates. Here waters of five holy
rivers of India confluence. Other two sites are also associated with Pandavas
who built these temples and shrines. All these locations are on the banks of
the mighty River Beas, which geologically about 5 million years back drained
some of the water on the earth to the oceans and left the permanent mark of
sandy soil and rounded granite stones. The current river is the left over of
the major draining system of the past. It still drains the western Himalayas
snowmelt. If the legends are true then Pandavas were attracted to the banks of
this river because countless "Rishi" including Rishi Vayas had his
abode in the upper reaches of this river. Later trade followed this route along
the river south and religion and spirituality followed to the north.
I was 18 years old when I visited the Kaleshwar
KaliNath temple and the Punj-tirathy for the holy dip in the tank and paid
homage at the Temple. Our old Naani had long been dead and there was nobody to
tell us those interesting stories from the past. Hence this trip of mine was
purely an exploratory trip to know people, culture and customs of much of the
Jaswan State. These above-mentioned places including Chamukha, fall in the
territory of Jaswan state. All these places have an interesting legends
associated with them. These legends date back to Duwaper Yuga during Lord
Krishana's Avatar on this earth. Lord Krishana and the epic Mahabharata are
closely associated. The Pandavas, the close friends of Lord Krishana were
passing their 12 years of exile wondering from place to place in northern
India. One of the places they visited was Himachal Pradesh. It is only 200 miles away
from their capital of Hastinapuri hence an easy place to travel and reside.
Here the River Beas gently meanders through the Shiwalik Hills providing an excellent
scenic beauty. In the older days, the Rishis & Munis had come to this area
to meditate and be one with the God. The Pandavas chose this place to rest and
also to meditate. Alas! That was not to be. They found themselves surrounded by
roughnecks of the area (Demons at Chamukha). They fought them and rid the earth
of these evil souls. Then they relocated themselves a few kilometres away from
Chamukha and built temples & shrines and brought water from the five holy
rivers of India to make that spot holiest of the holy.
Kaleshwar KaliNath Temple
Chamukha Temple - Shiva
It is an obscure legend, which is told by the locals
about this spot. Chamukha on Nadaun-Rakkar Road (only four Kilometres from
Pirsaluhi at the foothills) was an island with water of the River on all sides.
These virgin forests were cohabited by Demons & Rishis. The latter were
tormented by these demons. The forgoing continued for a while until the
Pandavas came to this island. Unaware of the demons presence, they built a hut
and a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. The demons did not spare the Pandavas
either and continued their atrocities. Sick of demons behaviour, the Pandavas
preyed to Lord Vishnu, who took them to Lord Shiva for deliverance? The latter
directed Arjuna to strike four arrows in the direction of where the demon king
was located. These arrows instantly killed him. But his son continued where his
father had left off hence the atrocities continued. In order to scare them off,
Bhima threw four "Golas" in the direction of the temple. The sound of
their crashing scared the demons and they abandoned the island leaving Rishis
alone.
This place being next to the river and heavily
forested later became the cremation ground for the locals. The place is still in
use for that purposes hence the highly superstitious local population uses this
temple lesser and lesser. The Pandavs preferred Kaleshwar village only a few
Kilometres, still on this side of the river.
Kaleshwar KaliNath Temple
The first
part of the legend of Kaleshwar Kalinath Temple predates the Pandavas. There,
if you believe the legend, lived a demon who propitiated Lord Shiva and asked
for a boon of invincibility. Lord Shiva granted that boon without realizing its
implications. That scared the other Gods, who asked Lord Vishnu to intervene.
The latter apprised Lord Shiva of his error in granting the boon and asked for
his help. Lord Shiva then transformed Yogmaya into Mahakali. She
destroyed all the demons and later turned on the Gods too. That lead to a fight between Mahakali and
Lord Shiva. Mahakali was about to spear Lord Shiva when she realized her
mistake. In remorse she sat on the bank of the River to repent and meditate.
That spot was later venerated as Kaleshwar KaliNath.
Ever since then, it has been given the high status in
Lord Shiva temples. The Lord's "Lingum" here is below ground. The
legend has it that every year the water of the River Beas touches it to
sanctify the spot. The Raja of Guler built the present temple about 400 years
back. This area is in Raja of Jaswan's territory but the Guleri Raja being
cousin was allowed to build this temple.
The second part of the legend has a Pandava's
connection. As the Pandavas were spending their exile years of which one year
was "AgayatVas", they came to Kaleshwar and set up residence there.
Here they began to build a city.
Arjuna the bowman, realising that the River was some
distance away from where they had built the temples and the shrines for their
mother Kunti and their wife Drupadi to bathe, shot an arrow in the mountain and
water came gushing out forming a pond. That became holy place of bath for
women. Another set of arrows made another pond for the men. Later they poured
holy water brought from Haridwar, Prayag, Nasik, Ujjain & Ramesharam into
the ponds, giving them the holy of the holiest status on the earth. That is why
this place is called Punj-tirathy.
Much later as my father related the story that an old
Brahmin deliberately left his gold chain at Haridwar to test the theory that
water from the Ganges reaches Punj-tirathy. He waited seven long years when
suddenly he discovered that the same gold chain had re-appeared at
Punj-tirathy. Now there was no doubt left in people's mind after that incident
that Punj-tirathy is the confluence of five rivers.
On Baisakhi day every year, thousands of people take a
dip at Punj-tirathy. It is a tradition, which is centuries old. The author in
2011 happened to be there in person. Traffic jam, miles long and a sea of
humanity had come to Kaleshwar to take the holy dip at Punj-tirathy.
There are more holy places in the vicinity on this
side of the River. They all have connection to the Gods, demons and other
personalities.
During the eighteenth century, on the other side of
"Kunnah Khud" mountain chain, a Sikh holy man by the name of GurBhag
Singh set up a Gurdwara and "Langaar" at Marhi. He chose that spot
after knowing about the sanctity of the area. This Gurdwara is well visited by
the people of Kangra and people from the plains of Punjab.
On the other side of the River Beas, major shrines of
Jawalamukhi, Chintpurni, Brijeshwari and Chamunda Devi exist. On this side
cultural evolution is more towards venerating Lord Shiva as the principal
deity.
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