Usually outside the temple you will see vendors selling a basket of flowers, coconut and agarbathis; but here is a temple in Ujjain where alcohol is sold! Yes, you heard me right vendors sell a quarter along with flowers and other items in a basket which are offered to god.
A basket of alcohol, flowers and agarbathi offered to god. (Image Source: Utcursch)
The Pujari offers the alcohol to god, and about one third of the bottle is given back to devotee as Prasad. Alcohol is only prasad given here.
Ujjain located at a distance of 60 km from Indore is a pilgrimage site. Everywhere there are just Temples, Temples and Temples in Ujjain and expect to see a bunch of monkeys over here.
The History of Kaal Bhairav temple in Ujjain
The current temple was built over the remains of an older temple. The older temple is believed to be built by king Bhadrasen. Now you can see the blend of Maratha architecture in the structure of temple. The Maratha general Mahadaji Shinde, prayed for his victory and thereby to establish Maratha rule once again in North India. After his success, he carried out restoration of the temple.The offering of Liquor
Liqour is one of the five other rituals offered to god. All the five tantric rituals are classified under panchamakara.The Panchamakara's:
- Madya (alcohol)
- Maansa (meat)
- Meena or matsya (fish)
- Mudra (gesture or parched grain) and
- Maithuna (sexual intercourse).
In the olden times all the five Panchamakara's were offered to god Kal Bhairav, but now only Madya (alcohol) is served, other four offerings are in form of symbolic ritual. Good that other rituals are in symbolic form.
Yet, this is not the only temple where strange things are offered to god. There is another temple in Pakistan where only meat is offered. Don't blame Pakistanis; the ritual is being practised from ancient time. Strange but true.
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