Murdeshwar - 5

 

                     Blessed by Lord Shiva with the “Athma Linga”, The great King Ravana starts his journey to his palace. The lord Shiva, before handing over the “Athma Linga” to Ravana had told the King that the “Athma Linga” should not be kept on ground and if done, then it will be permanently forced to stay there the moment it touches ground.

                     All the Gods became more concerned that the “Athma Linga” had fallen into the hands of the King who was known for his villainous acts. They all went and begged to Lord Ganesh to ensure that Athma Linga does’nt stay with King Ravana for long.

                    Lord Ganesh takes the form of a cowherd and keeps walking in Gokarna along with his herd. It was evening and just about the time for the Great King to attend to his evening prayers.King Ravana was known for his devotion to God and he would never miss his prayers. The great king was worried about his prayers as it was getting late.

                    At that time, He saw a young cowherd who happened to be a Brahmin passing by. He immediately caught hold of the Cowherd and asked him to hold the “Athma Linga” with great care so that he would finish his prayers and come back. The cowherd told the great king that he should hurry. He also told Ravana that he would call his name thrice and that if he did not return within that time, then he would place the “Athma Linga” on the ground. the  king agreed and hurried to take bath and attend his prayers.

                 Lord Ganesh knew that this was the time for him to deprive the great King from possessing the “Athma Linga”. After some time, the cowherd called the king by his name three times and Ravana finished his prayers and started running back to get hold of the “Athma Linga”. By this time, the cowherd, as agreed had called Ravana three times and since Ravana had not collected the Athma Linga, he quickly put the Athma Linga on the ground of Gokarna.

                King Ravana was furious with the cowherd and he started thrashing the cowherd without knowing that the cowherd was in fact Lord Ganesh. He was so angry with the boy that he hit him with great force on the Head. At that instance, the cowherd took the form of lord Ganesh and became an idol( Can be seen in the picture below.). The great king tried in vain to lift the Athma Linga from the ground. All his efforts failed.

That is how the “Athma Linga” found its place at Gokarna.