Daksheswara Mahadev Temple Haridwar

Daksheswara Mahadev or Daksha Mahadev Temple, sacred to Lord Shiva, holds a prominent position in Haridwar pilgrimage tour circuit. The temple is named after the father of Goddess Sati, King Daksha Prajapati. The point where the temple stands today was once the place where King Daksha Prajapati performed the Yajna and Sati self-immolated herself in the yagna kund.

Origin of the Daksha Mahadev temple lies in one of the stories of Shiva Purana. According to one such tale, King Daksha once performed a grand Yajna and invited every deity for the event, even his daughter, Sati, but ignored her husband, God Shiva. In this first incident, Sati felt so enrage that she set herself on fire in the flames of Yajna. When Lord Shiv got to know about this mishappening, he immediately sent one of his bravest warrior who was born out of his anger, Veerbhadra, to the earth to chop off the head of King Daksh and to obliterate it in the fire of Yajna. Everybody was frightened by the act of Lord Shiva and all the deities, including Lord Vishnu, asked Lord Shiva to appear on the site, where the incident took place, as the self-created linga. To complete the procedure of Yajna, Lord Shiva later restored the Daksha head by putting the head of a goat on the shoulder of the corpse. After this, grief-stricken Shiva announced that every year during the Sawan month, Kankhal would be his abode. Currently, the temple stands at the same place where this epochal event unfolded itself.

Split into two parts, one part of the temple comprises a Yajna Kund; another part consist of a Shiv Linga. The entire history of the temple, step by step episodes, is well portrayed through the temple interiors. Inside the temple, there is also a sacred banyan tree, which is believed to be hundred years old. Later in 1810, the king of Landhora state constructed an enormous temple on this place. Then in 1936, the temple was renovated by 1963 by Mahanirvan Akharas Kankhal. In the Daksheswara Mahadev Temple complex, one can find many other temples as well.