Place · jyotirlinga temple · India
Bhīmashankara
High in the Sahyadri above the source of the Bhima, in forest now protected as a sanctuary for the Indian giant squirrel. The temple is eighteenth-century Nagara work over an older shrine. Named for Shiva's destruction of the demon Tripurasura; the sweat that poured from him afterwards is said to have become the river.
- Periods
- Classical and Puranic Age, Regional Flourishing, Islamic Age and Bhakti Traditions, Early Modern Age, British Colonial Age, Republic and Living Practice
- Function
- Sacred site & pilgrimage
- Tradition
- Shiva Purāna; multiple local claims in the tradition
- Confidence
- Qualified / contested — The temple tradition is established, but multiple local identifications prevent a single unambiguous Jyotirlinga attribution.
- Location
- 19.072, 73.536
Connections (1)
- PatronagePune/ Poona
Pune, roughly 110 kilometres southeast, is Bhimashankar's principal urban gateway. The city's Shaiva households have patronised the temple across centuries. Nana Phadnavis, the Peshwa-era statesman, is credited with major additions to the Bhimashankar temple in the late 18th century, including the shikhara and sabhamandapa. His patronage aligns Bhimashankar with the wider Peshwa restoration of Shaiva shrines in the Deccan and links it to the Maratha administrative capital at Pune.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Bhimashankar Temple”. The Śiva Purāṇa, Koṭirudra Saṃhitā; and the temple establishments’ own published records.
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