Oṃkāreśvara and Vindhya

Oṃkāreśvara is a Jyotirliṅga of Bhagavān Śiva on the Narmadā river. The Śiva Purāṇa tells how it began. The mountain Vindhya felt small after hearing Nārada praise Mount Meru. He did tapas to Bhagavān Śiva on the Narmadā, and Bhagavān Śiva appeared in a single liṅga that then became two: Oṃkāreśvara and Parameśvara.

Nārada provokes Vindhya

The devarshi Nārada once visited the Vindhya mountain. As they talked, Nārada described the glory of the mountain Meru, the home of the devas. He spoke of its radiance and its high place. He said the devas favour it. He said that the sun, the moon and the planets walk around Meru as they travel through the sky. He spoke of Meru’s height and of its place as the axis of the world.

Vindhya listened and felt small. He is the great mountain of central Bhārata, and he divides the north from the Deccan. Beside Meru he was nothing. Vindhya was filled with a wish to rise above Meru and become the greatest of all mountains. (Śiva Purāṇa, Koti Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 18)

Vindhya’s tapas

Vindhya decided to do tapas (austerity) to Bhagavān Śiva, because only Bhagavān Śiva could give him the greatness he wanted. He went to the banks of the holy Narmadā, which flows through and between the Vindhya ranges. There he began a great course of pārthiva liṅga pūjā. A pārthiva liṅga is a liṅga made of earth.

Each day Vindhya made a very large number of earthen liṅgas. He did pūjā to each one with full devotion, with japa (repeating a mantra) and with all the upachāras (the offerings of the pūjā). The tapas went on for six months without a break. (Śiva Purāṇa, Koti Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 18)

Bhagavān Śiva appears as one liṅga that becomes two

Parameśvara was pleased with Vindhya’s steady pārthiva pūjā, and he appeared at the place. Bhagavān Śiva showed himself in a liṅga, the Jyotirliṅga form that the tradition holds to be a chief self-showing of Parameśvara.

Then, by his own will and kindness, Bhagavān Śiva made this one liṅga into two. He did this to answer Vindhya’s request and the wish of the devas.

1. Oṃkāreśvara is the form the gathered devas asked to stay at this place for ever, for the good of all devotees.
2. Parameśvara, also called Amaraleśvara or Maheśvara, is the form shown to Vindhya because of his tapas.

Both forms stayed on the island of Mandhātā in the Narmadā. (Śiva Purāṇa, Koti Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 18)

The place of Oṃkāreśvara among the Jyotirliṅgas

Some lists of the twelve Jyotirliṅgas count both Oṃkāreśvara and Parameśvara (Amaraleśvara) as separate entries from this one place. So this single holy place gives two of the twelve. Other lists name only Oṃkāreśvara, and Parameśvara or Amaraleśvara is counted as a form that goes with it.

The island of Mandhātā, also called Śivapurī, where both liṅgas rest, has the shape of the syllable Oṃ when seen from above. (Śiva Purāṇa, Koti Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 18)

Sources

• Śiva Purāṇa, Koti Rudra Saṃhitā, Chapter 18