Late medieval · Hindu · India

Baidyanath Temple (Baba Baidyanath Dham)

वैद्यनाथ मन्दिर

Deoghar, Jharkhand · 24.4859°, 86.6947°

Shiva (Vaidyanath, the healer-lord)Gidhaur eraNagaraJyotirlingadisputedShakti Peethadisputed

Contested attributions

This site is counted in the lists below by some sources and not others. We list the claim and the disagreement rather than silently picking a side.

Jyotirlinga — Wikipedia's Vaidyanath Jyotirlinga article names four temples that claim this slot - Parli in Maharashtra, Deoghar in Jharkhand, Baijnath in Kangra and Mahabaleshwar at Gokarna - states that the Government of India has notified none of them as the jyotirlinga, and records that Deoghar's priests protested in January 2018 when Parli's priest was invited to a congregation of the twelve jyotirlinga priests (as of 2026). source
Shakti Peetha — Wikipedia's Shakta pithas table assigns Sati's heart to Baidyanath Dham, Deoghar at entry 48 and also to Arasuri Ambaji in Gujarat at entry 52, so two sites are named for the same body part (as of 2026). source

Sacred since

1596 CE

first attestation / structure

Standing structure

main shrine dated 16th c.; site ancient

Gidhaur era

History & significance

Counted among the twelve Jyotirlingas and — as the resting place of Sati's heart (Hridaya Peetha) — among the Shakti Peethas too. Each Shravan, over a month, millions of saffron-clad kanwariyas walk ~105 km barefoot from Sultanganj carrying Ganga water for the linga: one of the largest recurring pilgrimages on earth.

Sthala katha — the traditional account

What follows is the temple’s own traditional account, transmitted through liturgy and local memory. It is recorded here as tradition, not as attested history.

Ravana offered his ten heads to win Shiva's linga for Lanka; warned it must never touch ground en route, he was tricked — Varuna filled his belly, Vishnu as a cowherd set the linga down at Deoghar, where it rooted. Shiva, as the Vaidya (physician), restored Ravana's heads.

Reaching there

Jasidih Junction, about 7 km from Deoghar, is the main railhead, with trains from New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Ranchi, Patna, Varanasi and Bhubaneswar; a branch station, Baidyanath Dham Junction, sits in the town itself, and Deoghar station 5 km out connects Bhagalpur and Dumka. Deoghar (Baba Baidyanath) airport is roughly 12 km from the town, with flights from Kolkata, Ranchi, Patna and Delhi, and JSRTC, WBSTC and private operators run buses in by road.

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Sources

coordinates: wikipedia-2026-08-26 · sources retrieved 2026-08-26 · dynasty page: Gidhaur era