Bhimashankar temple in the Pune district is believed to be the sixth Jyotirlinga among the 12 Jyotirlingas. However, an advertisement released by the Tourism Department of the Assam Government claimed that the Bhimashankar Temple is at Dakini hill, Kamrup in Assam. The full-page poster sought to invite devotees and tourists on the occasion of Mahashivratri on February 18.
This has stoked a new controversy between the Assam and Maharashtra state governments. Nationalist Congress Party leader and MP Supriya Sule took to Twitter and criticised the Assam government.
“Have BJP leaders decided not to keep anything of Maharashtra’s share? Earlier, Maharashtra’s share of industry and employment was stolen and now they are about to steal our cultural and spiritual heritage…!” reads Sule’s post.
A Jyotirlinga is a shrine where Lord Shiva is worshipped in the form of a fiery column of light. There are twelve such shrines in India: Somnath in Gujarat, Mallikarjuna at Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh, Mahakaleswar at Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, Omkareshwar in Madhya Pradesh, Kedarnath in Uttrakhand, Bhimashankar at Pune in Maharashtra, Viswanath at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Tryambakeshwar at Nashik in Maharashtra, Vaijyanath Temple in Deoghar District of Jharkhand, Aundha Nagnath at Aundha in Hingoli District in Maharashtra, Rameshwar at Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu and Grushneshwar at Ellora near Aurangabad, in Maharashtra.
Elaborating further, she dwelt on the history of the temple at Bhimashankar in Maharashtra: “Bhimashankar in Pune district of Maharashtra is known as the sixth Jyotirlinga among the 12 Jyotirlingas of Shri Shiv Shankar. Situated in a scenic area, this temple is a place of worship for countless devotees. But the state of Assam ruled by the BJP has started promoting the Shivlinga at Pamohi near Guwahati as the sixth Jyotirlinga. This is mischievous and untrue. Shrimad Adya Shankaracharya clearly states in his Brihad Ratnakara Stotra that Bhimashankar Jyotirlinga is the source of River Bhima and the forest of Dakini. So Bhimashankar in the Pune district of Maharashtra is one of the twelve Jyotirlinga temples, none other. What else needs to testify now?”
“It is a humble request to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknathji Shinde and Deputy CM Devendraji Fadnavis to please take immediate notice of this to preserve the cultural and spiritual heritage of Maharashtra,” added her tweet.
On the occasion of Mahashivratri, an advertisement was published by the Tourism Department of the Assam Government in various newspapers on February 14. The advertisement reads “Welcome to Dakini Parbat, Kamrup, the sixth Jyotirlinga site in India.”
Apart from this, the advertisement also features a photo of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena leader and ex-cabinet minister Aditya Thackeray came down heavily on the BJP for creating hatred and rift between religions and states for the sake of dirty politics.
After addressing a rally in the constituency of one of the rebel MLAs for CM Shinde’s camp, Aditya said that several people have expressed concern about the way crucial projects are being taken away from Maharashtra. Similarly, now even temples are being taken away to other states.
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