Jaigīshavya and Jyeshṭheśvara

Chapter 63 of the Kāśī Khaṇḍa in the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa tells of the ṛshi (seer) Jaigīshavya. He took a vow not to eat or drink anything until Bhagavān Śiva came back to Kāśī. His tapas (austerity) was so great that Bhagavān Śiva sent Nandī to him with a toy lotus as a sign of his grace.

At the place where Jaigīshavya had stood in tapas, a self-born Liṅga appeared. It is called Jyeshṭheśvara. The same chapter tells how another Liṅga, Nivāseśvara, appeared where Bhagavān Śiva first made his home after returning.

Jaigīshavya’s vow

Jaigīshavya was one of the most devoted bhaktas (devotees) of Bhagavān Śiva living in Kāśī. At the start of the reign of king Divodāsa, Bhagavān Śiva left Kāśī and withdrew his own presence from the city. He went to Mandara mountain. Jaigīshavya then made a firm resolve: he would neither eat nor drink until Bhagavān Śiva returned.

This was not only a promise in words. It was a full yogic undertaking. Through mastery of prāṇāyāma (control of breath) and dhāraṇā (steady concentration), he held back his prāṇas (life-breaths) and lived without any outside food or water. He stood unmoving, with his mind fixed on the form of Viśveśvara. The months and years of Divodāsa’s long reign went by, and Jaigīshavya did not waver.

Śiva’s return and the toy lotus

Bhagavān Śiva at last entered Kāśī through the efforts of Bhagavān Vishṇu and Gaṇeśa. By then Divodāsa had given up his kingdom and attained moksha (liberation). Bhagavān Śiva knew at once about Jaigīshavya’s tapas.

Moved by the ṛshi’s great devotion, Bhagavān Śiva told Nandī to carry a toy lotus (krīḍā-kamala) to Jaigīshavya. The lotus had been made with divine grace. It was Bhagavān Śiva’s sign that he had returned, and it told Jaigīshavya that the long wait was over.

Nandī brought the lotus and the news that Bhagavān Śiva had arrived. Jaigīshavya came back from his yogic stillness. All his bodily functions had been held still through those long years, and now they returned.

The appearance of Jyeshṭheśvara

At the very spot where Jaigīshavya had stood unmoving in his tapas, a self-born (svayambhū) Liṅga appeared. It is the eldest (jyeshṭha) among all the Liṅgas of Kāśī, because of the great devotion practised in front of it. It was named Jyeshṭheśvara, “the Īśvara who is the eldest”.

Two forms of the Devī appeared with it: Jyeshṭhā Gaurī and Śreshṭhā Gaurī, the eldest Gaurī and the most excellent Gaurī. The place came to be called Jyeshṭhasthāna, “the place of the eldest”.

Nivāseśvara

The spot in Kāśī where Bhagavān Śiva first made his home after returning, his first dwelling in Ānandavana, received a Liṅga of its own. It is called Nivāseśvara, “the Īśvara of the dwelling-place”. It marks the exact place of Bhagavān Śiva’s first sthāna (seat) after he came back into his eternal city.

Festival and fruit of the visit

The Kāśī Khaṇḍa says that Jyeshṭheśvara should be honoured with special pūjā on the fourteenth day of the bright half of the month of Jyeshṭha. The same is true of any Monday that falls with the Anurādhā nakshatra (lunar star). Bathing in the Jyeshṭhāvāpī (the well of Jyeshṭha) and visiting Jyeshṭheśvara on that day gives freedom from rebirth.

Chapter 64 goes on to tell that brāhmaṇas gathered from all the great tīrthas (holy places) of India to see Bhagavān Śiva’s return. At their request, Bhagavān Śiva gave the vara (boon) that he would never leave Kāśī again.

Sources

• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa (Uttarārdha), Chapter 63
• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa (Uttarārdha), Chapter 64