Devi Jai-Durga at Joshidi

Sarvaswa roope sarveche sarvasakthi samanvidhe |
Bayepyas srahino devi durga devi namasthode ||

 

Jai-Durga shakthi peeth in Joshidi which is east of Gaya is situated in Bihar. Sivapuran calls this place 'Vaidhyanatham'.
According to the legend the heart from the dismembered burnt body of Dakshayani fell at this place and so it became one of the sacred Devi-sthals of India. (refer to 'Yoga-agni' in 'Abodes of devi' for background story) 'Sivapurana' says that this is one of 12 ' Jyothir Linga Kshetrams'. Vaidyanath is the devi's consort in this 'sthala'.

When Lord Vishnu dismembered Dakshayani's body and scattered her parts in different places to establish 'Devi-sthals' all the Devas requested that Shiva also should incarnate in all 'sthals' as the consort of the Devi. Thus Siva occupies equal importance as the 'Sakthi' in all the sakthi-sthals.
In this 'sthala' again the legend revolves more around the consort of the Devi.
Having failed once to take a 'Lingam' from kailasa to Lanka Ravaneswara did penance again invoking lord Siva for many years. The power of his prayers vibrated to all the other gods also. They were all worried that with such intense penance Ravana would attain Vamacharam (devil's sakthi) and become more powerful than all the devas. They wanted to stop him from doing the penance. But could not.
Pleased with the deep devotion Siva appeared before Ravana and asked him what he wanted. Ravana said that he wished to get a lingam from Lord Siva himself to be installed in Lanka. The benign Lord agreed and gave Ravana a Lingam but cautioned him that if by any chance he kept the Lingam on the ground before reaching Lanka he would never be able to dislodge it from that place and it would remain fixed there for ever. However confident of taking the Linga to Lanka without putting it down Ravaneswara was happily homeward bound with the lingam.
All the Devas wanted to prevent Ravaneswara from taking the Lingam to Lanka. So Lord Vishnu asked 'Yogamaya-Durga' to enter into the lingam. When she did the Lingam became very heavy and Ravanesara could not carry the weight and had to put it down on the ground and that site happened to be Joshidi. As Siva said the Lingam got fixed at that place and it could not be dislodged. People began worshipping the Linga in a temple here.
Years later a hunter by name Baiju regularly did puja to this Lingam for a long time. Because of this the Linga came to be called 'Baiju-nath' which in course of time became 'Vaidhyanath'. There are many Vidyanatha temples in India -in Tamil Nadu,Gujrat, Punjab ,West Bengal and Madhya-pradesh.
'Vaidhya' means 'doctor'. So any one praying to Lord vaidhyanatha would be cured of all ailments miraculously.

 

Om Sakthi

 

 

Location
Joshidi ( Jasidhi ) is the train station located in Bihar.