Ballia, 24 July (His). In the month of Sawan, the Kameshwarnath temple of Karo, about twenty kilometers away from the district headquarters, is a big center of faith for the devotees of Shiva. The mango tree standing in this temple is believed to be the place where Lord Shiva burnt Kamadeva to ashes.
The Kameshwarnath temple at Karo near Chitbadgaon town is being developed as a tourist destination. Be it the burnt mango tree in the temple premises or the huge Pokhara, or the huge pond spread over about fifty bighas, everything is the center of attraction for the devotees of Shiva. People come from far and wide to perform Jalabhishek.
The importance of this temple is also mentioned in Puranas. This question always arises in the mind of the people that why Mahadev Shiva destroyed Kamdev. Akhilesh Pandey, the priest who worships in the temple, says that the story of Lord Shiva burning Kamadeva with his third eye is found in Shivpuran. According to the legend, Sati, the wife of Lord Shiva, could not bear the insult of her husband Lord Shiva in a yagya organized by her father and committed self-immolation by jumping into the yagya altar. When Lord Shiva comes to know about this, he creates havoc in the whole universe with his orgy. Distressed by this, all the deities reach to explain to Lord Shankar. Mahadev gets pacified by his persuasion and gets engrossed in samadhi for ultimate peace.
Meanwhile, the mighty demon Tarakasura pleases Lord Brahma with his penance and obtains such a boon, so that his death could have been accomplished only by the son of Shiva. It was a gift of immortality in a way. Because after the self-immolation of Sati, Lord Shiva was engrossed in Samadhi. For this reason, Tarakasura’s mischief increased day by day and he started trying to take over the heaven. When the deities came to know about this, they got worried and decided to wake up Lord Shiva from his samadhi. For this, by making Kamdev the commander, this work was entrusted to Kamdev.
In order to wake up Lord Shiva from his trance, Kamadeva hiding himself behind the leaves of a mango tree started shooting flower arrows at Shiva. The flower arrow hit Lord Shiva directly in his heart and his samadhi was broken. Lord Shiva became very angry after his samadhi was broken and burnt Kamadeva standing behind the leaves of the mango tree to ashes with his third eye. According to this belief, the devotees of Bholenath attend here to fulfill their wishes. The crowd remains a bit more in the month of Sawan.
