About Vyadeshwar Temple

Shri Dev Vyadeshwar  is an ancient shiva temple located at Guhagar, It is considered to be the Kuladevata or clan god of many Chitpavan families from Konkan region.According to Hindu myth, Bhagwan Parshurama created the land of Konkan after donating the earth to Maharshi Kashyap. Then he requested different Gods and Goddesses to settle in the newly created land and to take responsibility of various clans.

Parshuram, being a devotee of Shri Shiva, requested Bhagwan Shankar to give him 'Darshan' everyday, while he is living in the newly created land. Lord Shiva accepted his request.Lord Parshuram also brought 60 'Vipras' to settle in Kokan.One such Vipra named 'Vyad' installed a Shivlinga at Guhagar.

After 'Shriramavatar' and 'Shrikrushnavtar' Lord Vishnu came with his 'Kalki' manifestation. In this era, since evil thoughts are supposed to prevail, Gods are to remain in their invisible forms. Accordingly Lord Shiva decided to remain in invisible form in the Shivalinga installed by Vyad Muni. The same Shivalinga is this well known Vyadeshwar Mahadeo. Thus, Lord Shiva stays at Guhagar in the 'Vyadeshwar' Shivalinga from years together. According to another myth, in the era of King Sakuran, the Vyadeshwar Shivalinga was re-invented and the Temple, which we see today, was constructed.

The temple style is called 'Panchayatan'. A Panchayatan temple has four subordinate shrines on four corners and the main shrine in the center of the podium, which comprises their base. Here, the main shrine at the center is of Shri Vyadeshwar (Shri Shiva) and the other deities at the surrounding are: The Sun, Shri Ganesh, Shri Parvati and Shri Vishnu along with goddess Lakshmi at South-East, South-West, North-West and North-East respectively. Statue of Nandi(So called 'VEHICLE' of Shri Shiva) is installed in front of the main shrine.

There are three entrances to the temple. One each from East, West and South side. After we enter from the East entrance, there are two statues of Shri Garud (The Eagle which is considered to be the carrier of lord Vishnu) and Shri Maruti (Shri Hanuman) from inside of the temple.

This 'Panchayatan' temple is very old and so also are these all deities. Due to ageing effect, four shrines were found to be little bit tampered. Hence it was decided to replace them with new ones. In May 2015, the shrines of Shri Ganesh, Shri Parvati (Ambikamata), Shri Garud and Shri Hanuman were ceremonially replaced by new shrines. All the required rituals of reinstating them were systematically performed. Even old entrance facing due East was very small in size and not that convenient. Hence that entrance  (Means :Mahadwara) is also drastically modified and today we can see completely renovated form of the temple. 

It is said that once upon a time, three small pieces were chipped out from the main or Core part of the Pindi. One piece reached at Borya Adoor,the second piece went to Asgoli and the third one reached Anjanwel. So three Shiv Temples were erected at those locations. These temples are known as Talkeshwar, Balkeshwar (Valukeshwar)and Udaleshwar (Uddalakeshwar) respectively. Also these three Shiv Pindis are called as 'Incarnations of Shri Vyadeshwar'. It is said that the devotees of Shri Vyadeshwar should visit these three temples as well.

Various other holy places nearby are on account of the presence of different deities namely : Garamath, Velneshwar, Tarakeshwar, Taldeo, Kartikeya, Someshwar, Sapteshwar, Karneshwar, Karhateshwar, Kutakeshwar, Hrudakeshwar, Saptakotishwar, Dalbhyeshwar, Harihareshwar, Bhairav, Rameshwar, Chyavaneshwar, Ufrata Ganesh, Durga Devi temple, Guhagar.