Baba Brahmeshwar Nath Temple, Brahmpur

01Brahma’s linga

Brahmpur, Brahmapura, is the town of Brahma, and the temple holds that Bhagwan Brahma himself installed the linga here, so that Shiva is worshipped as Brahmeshwar, the Lord whom Brahma honours. Devotees call him Manokamna Mahadev, who grants what the heart asks, and the tradition of the temple says the Shiva Purana praises this linga as the giver of dharma, artha, kama and moksha. People of Buxar, Bhojpur, Ballia and Saran come here to be married before the deity. In Shravan the kanwariyas fill their pots at Ram Rekha Ghat on the Ganga at Buxar and walk the road east to pour the water on Baba.

02The door that turned

Shiva temples almost everywhere face east; Brahmeshwar Nath faces west, and the village tells why. A raider from Ghazni came to break the temple and take its wealth. The villagers warned him that Mahadev’s third eye would burn him. He mocked them and set his own test: if by morning the door of the temple faced west instead of east, he would leave it and never return. In the morning the door faced west. He kept his word and went away. Every year a large cattle fair is held at Brahmpur, where farmers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh come to buy and sell, and Mahashivratri and the Mondays of Shravan bring lines kilometres long.