There is a famous temple which is exclusively dedicated to Lord Nandi Bhagavan, the divine vehicle of Lord Shiva, and it was built by a king who ruled the ancient Bharat, and right now, it is situated in the present day Pakistan. This wonderful temple of Lord Nandi was destroyed by few miscreants some years ago, and almost the entire temple appears in a dilapidated state. During 19th century, before the separation of Pakistan, lot of Kashmir pundits used to visit and worship Lord Nandi Bhagavan at this temple.
Before the destruction, the statue of Lord Nandi only was present in the temple,and ancient devotees worshipped him, by considering him as an aspect of Lord Shiva. Though the temple built was small in size, but the Lord who dwells there seems to be very powerful. Even if we clearly go through the picture of the temple, we could find that the dilapidated temple appears slightly in the form of Lord Nandi Bhagavan.
As per ancient legend, once Nandi and Garuda met each other at the present place of the temple, and both of them were discussed about the superiority of their masters, and both of them were claimed that only their respective masters are to be considered as superior deity. In order to teach a lesson to their divine attendants, both Shiva and Vishnu appeared before them in the form of “SHANKARANARAYANA”, in half-Shiva and half-Vishnu form, and made them to realize that both of them are one and the same.
After getting the divine vision of their masters, both of them understood about the significance of Shiva and Vishnu, and since Lord Nandi was very much attached to this place, he made his “AMSHA” to stay permanently in the form of a self-emanated stone bull, and after transferring his powers to the stone bull, Lord Nandi went to Kailasha, in order to serve his master, Lord Shiva.
Since Lord Nandi had realized the significance of Lord Vishnu, he also meditated on Lord Vishnu for some time at this place, and henceforth, he was also called as “NANDIKESALWAR”, by the ancient devotees of Lord Shiva and Vishnu. Though, at present, we cannot find the idols present in the dilapidated temple, at least we can recollect the wonderful incidents about this ancient marvellous temple in our imagination.
“OM SRI NANDIKESALWAR NAMAHA”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR