Rudrabhishek in Deoghar (रुद्राभिषेक)

Duration

2.5 hrs

Pandits

2

Venue

temple

Samagri included

yes

About Rudrabhishek

Rudrabhishek is the bathing of the Shiva linga while the Rudram is recited, and the recitation is what distinguishes it from an ordinary abhishekam. The Sri Rudram from the Yajurveda is chanted through the pouring — eleven times over in the full ekadasha form — with water, milk, curd, ghee, honey and water again.

Bilva leaves are laid on the linga through it, offered underside up and in threes. It is kept on Mondays, on the monthly Shivratri, through Shravan, and at Mahashivratri; it is done at a temple more often than at home, because the linga is usually the temple's. Two and a half hours.

Keeping a rite in Deoghar

Deoghar's calendar is dominated by Shravan. Through that month the town belongs to the kanwar pilgrimage, the temple queues run day and night, and local pandits are committed to it; domestic bookings move to the months either side as a matter of routine.

Outside the season it is a small town where most rites are kept at home and the temple visit is a separate errand. Mundan and the first-hair rites are commonly kept at Baidyanath, which is a booking that has to be planned around the queue rather than around the muhurat alone.

Rudrabhishek in Deoghar — local custom

At Deoghar the abhishek is made at Baidyanath, one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, and through Shravan it is made by the pilgrim rather than for them — water carried on foot from Sultanganj and poured directly. Outside that month it is kept in the ordinary way, with the Rudram recited through the pouring.

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