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Grishneshwar




Grishneshwar is an ancient pilgrimage site revered as the abode of one of the 12 Jyotirlingas of Shiva. It is located at a distance of 11 km from Daulatabad, near Aurangabad in Maharashtra. The Lord is also known by several names like Kusumeswarar, Ghushmeswara, Grushmeswara, Grishneswara. The Grishneshwar temple was constructed by Ahilyabhai Holkar who also re-constructed the Kashi Viswanath temple at Varanasi and the Vishnu Paada temple at Gaya.



Legend has it that a devout woman, Ghushma, offered worship to Shiva regularly by immersing a Shivalingam in a tank, as a part of her daily ritual worship. Her husband's first wife was envious of her piety and standing in society. Out of jealously, one night the first wife killed Ghushma's son and threw him in the tank where Ghushma used to discharge the lingas. 

Ghushma continued her ritual worship, reciting 'Shiva-Shiva'. She said He who has given me this child shall protect him. When she immersed the Shivalingam again in the tank, her son was miraculously restored to life. Pleased with her devotion, Shiva is said to have appeared in front of her and the villagers. On her request, Lord Shiva manifested himself in the form of a Jyotirlinga and assumed the name Ghushmeshwar, in her honour.

—Largely drawn from Wikipedia's article on Grishneshwar,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grishneshwar (where, however,
Ghushma's name appears as Kusuma)

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