Raisen (MP), Apr 11 : Erstwhile on minister Uma Bharati announced on Monday that she will consume rice only after the Someshwar Dham Mahadev temple, located within a fortress, is unlocked and she is able to perform the jalabhishek ritual. On Thursday, the former chief minister said that she would offer water from Gangotri to the shivling on the first Monday after Navratri. She reached the place and offered worship in front of the shrine, which is under the Archaeological Survey of India’s jurisdiction. The obscure Paramara-era temple, constructed about a millennium ago during Udayaditya’s reign in what is present-day Madhya Pradesh’s Raisen district, has suddenly shot into the politico-religious limelight with a demand for its unlocking being followed hard upon by BJP leader Bharati’s involvement. “I was in fact seeking a place where Lord Shiva has ‘manifested’ Himself. Suddenly, I chanced on a report published on Wednesday in a prestigious newspaper quoting eminent kathawachak Pandit Pradeep Mishra saying that such a shivling is existent within the citadel. I am ashamed over my ignorance in that context,” she wrote in social media while mentioning the “treachery” perpetrated by Sher Shah Suri on Raja Puranmal. The shrine, located atop an approximately 800-ft-high hill, was thrust into the epicentre of an issue wherein comments were made regarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and state Home Minister Narottam Mishra. Sehore-resident Pradeep Mishra – who focusses on Lord Shiva and made headlines earlier – said that the four political leaders are ‘Sanatanis’ but Mahadev is locked up for decades. A video of the godman’s remarks went viral in social media. “If Shankar is in captivity during the tenure of a personage whose name is Shivraj then the latter’s rule is useless. The country attained freedom but the god is yet to be liberated. The shrine’s lock should be broken open and the deity freed. Mr Chouhan has the requisite strength. Let him prove his name,” Pt Mishra is heard saying. The place of worship was locked after Independence but opens for a space of merely 12 hours a year every Mahashivratri – arguably India’s sole Bhairav temple having such a que arrangement since 1974. Every year, locals urge the government and the administration to allow daily rituals there. It is said that during Udayaditya’s period, queens prayed at the shrine, which has two lings. Bhopal, Raisen and Sehore districts adjoin one another. Team-AC
