{"id":40701,"date":"2017-02-23T15:14:49","date_gmt":"2017-02-23T09:44:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globalpress.hinduismnow.org\/?p=40701"},"modified":"2017-02-23T15:14:49","modified_gmt":"2017-02-23T09:44:49","slug":"kanwariyas-way-lodheshwar-mahadev-temple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/?p=40701","title":{"rendered":"Kanwariyas on their way to Lodheshwar Mahadev temple &#8211; Hindustan Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"story-details\">For over a decade now, Sunil Kumar of Manikapur village near Unnao has been undertaking a journey on foot every year ahead of Mahashivratri to offer Gangajal at the famous Lodheshwar Mahadev temple in Barabanki. He had vowed to offer holy water on the Shivling at the temple for a minimum of 11 years after his son survived an acute illness.Like Sunil, hundreds of kanwariyas walk to the temple to offer Gangajal on the shivling at the Lodheshwar Mahadev temple on Mahashivratri. And thus the sight of men moving in groups with kanwars on city roads isn\u2019t anything new for Lucknowites.<br \/>\n\u201cThe kanwariyas come from various parts of UP, including Etah, Jaunpur, Kanpur, Auraiyya etc and fetch Gangajal in pots, which they keep on the kanwar. It is the same water that they offer on the Shivling,\u201d said Sant Kumar Valmiki, president, Shiv Kanwariya Sewa Samiti.<br \/>\n\u201cMany even abstain from keeping the kanwar on the floor and eating anything offered to them. They only survive on water or cook their own meals on the route,\u201d said Sant Kumar, who organises a halt for the kanwariyas in Chowk area and serves fruits and water to the kanwariyas free of cost.<br \/>\nThe Lodheshwar Mahadev temple finds mention in the epic Mahabharat. It is believed that the Pandavas offered water on the Shivling at the temple and performed a prayer. Many also believe that the temple was built by Yudhishthir.<br \/>\n\u201cIt is believed that Ravan was the first one to take Gangajal in a kanwar and offer it to Lord Shiva after the lord consumed poison that came out of the samudra manthan. The practice pleased the lord and thus devotees of Lord Shiva began offering Gangajal on him carried in kanwars made of bamboo,\u201d said Pt Garunesh Shastri.<br \/>\nSome kanwariyas also consider themselves part of Lord Shiva\u2019s \u2018baarat\u2019 and thus they chant \u2018Bam Bholey, Har Har Mahadev\u2019, \u2018Jai Bholenath\u2019 on their route and sing songs in praise of the lord.<br \/>\n\u201cIt isn\u2019t easy to offer Gangajal on the shivling on Mahashivratri as hundreds of devotees throng the temple. But it is the belief that brings us here every year,\u201d said Deen Dayal, a kanwariya from Auraiyya who has been visiting the temple for many years.<br \/>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For over a decade now, Sunil Kumar of Manikapur village near Unnao has been undertaking a journey on foot every year ahead of Mahashivratri to offer Gangajal at the famous Lodheshwar Mahadev temple in Barabanki. He had vowed to offer holy water on the Shivling at the temple for a minimum of 11 years after [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[1159],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40701"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40701\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}