Baba Garibnath of Muzaffarpur: The Shiva Who Came Out of a Peepal Tree

The origin account is told across Muzaffarpur in a settled form.

As it is told:

• A peepal tree stood at the site, and a man decided to cut it down for timber
• When the axe struck, blood is held to have come from the trunk
• The man was struck with fear, and digging at the roots revealed a Shiva linga beneath
• Worship began at the spot, initially simple and local
• The deity came to be called Garibnath, and the temple grew around him

The elements of this account recur across India. A tree that bleeds, a plough that strikes stone, a cow that pours milk at one spot in a field, a dream instructing someone to dig. These are the standard forms in which local traditions describe the appearance of a swayambhu deity.

Why the peepal specifically. The peepal, Ficus religiosa, is among the most venerated trees in the tradition, associated with Vishnu, with the ancestors and with long life. Cutting one is regarded as a serious act in most regional custom, and the katha turns on exactly that. The man was doing something the tradition already regarded as dangerous.

What the story establishes is that the deity was here first, unnoticed, and made himself known only when threatened.

The month of Shravan transforms the temple and the city around it.

What happens:

• Kanwariyas carry water from the Gandak and from other river points to offer at the linga
• Queues form through the night, extending for kilometres through the city on Mondays
• The district administration runs route management, medical camps, water points and barricading through the month
• Shops, dharamshalas and the whole commercial life of the city reorganise around the pilgrimage
• Bol Bam chants run continuously along the routes

The scale is substantial. Muzaffarpur is a major city of north Bihar, and Garibnath draws not only from the city but from Sitamarhi, Vaishali, East and West Champaran, Samastipur and Darbhanga.

Mahashivratri is the other great occasion, with night long worship and a mela.

For devotees planning a Shravan visit:

• Expect very long queues, particularly on Mondays
• Follow the administration's route arrangements, which are strictly enforced
• Use the medical camps if unwell, and take heat and dehydration seriously
• Keep valuables secure and stay with your group in the crowd

The name Garibnath deserves attention, because names of this kind tell you what a community wanted from a deity.

How devotees explain it:

• He is the deity of those who have nothing to offer, and who need no wealth to be heard
• The offering he is understood to want is water and a bel leaf, which cost nothing
• Petitions are brought without intermediaries, in plain speech
• The temple's growth is attributed to the fact that people found their requests answered

Similar names occur across India, and the pattern is consistent:

• Garibnath, lord of the poor, in Bihar
• Bhukhi Mata and similar names for goddesses who receive the hungry
• Anna Purna, the one full of food, at Varanasi
• Muktinath, Dukhbhanjan and other names built around what the deity removes

What these names have in common is that they were given from below. They are not consecrated titles from a Sanskrit liturgy. They are what people started calling a deity because of what they experienced there, and the names stuck.

At a busy shrine in a north Bihar city, where the queue on a Shravan Monday holds farmers, rickshaw pullers, shopkeepers, students and officials in the same line, the name is doing exactly what it was meant to do.

Garibnath sits within a network of shrines across the Mithila and Tirhut country of north Bihar.

Some of them:

• Baba Garibnath at Muzaffarpur
• Punaura Dham at Sitamarhi, held to be Sita's birthplace
• Ugratara at Mahishi in Saharsa, a significant Shakta shrine of Mithila
• Thawe Bhawani in Gopalganj
• Raja Salhes shrines across Mithila, the folk deity of the region
• Baba Baidyanath at Deoghar, which draws heavily from north Bihar as well
• Kamaldah, Patan Devi and the shrines of Patna

What characterises the region's devotion:

• Strong Shaiva practice, expressed through the kanwar tradition and the Shravan calendar
• Strong Shakta practice, particularly in the Mithila districts
• A deep folk deity layer, with Salhes, Dina Bhadri, Gosaun and the village deities of Mithila
• The Chhath observance, which cuts across all of it and is kept by nearly every household

For a visitor, north Bihar is under travelled and rewarding. The shrines are working shrines rather than tourist destinations, the Mithila painting tradition is alive in the same districts, and the region's own religious life is distinct from both the Gangetic plain to the south and Bengal to the east.

Practical notes.

Getting there

• The temple is in central Muzaffarpur, north Bihar, and is known to every auto driver in the city
• Muzaffarpur Junction is a major railway station, well connected across Bihar and to Delhi and Kolkata
• Patna is about 75 km by road and is the nearest airport
• The temple lanes are walked, since vehicles cannot approach closely

When to go

• Shravan Mondays, the temple's greatest days, with queues extending through the city
• Mahashivratri, with night long worship and a mela
• Somvati amavasya and Nag Panchami
• Ordinary mornings for a darshan taking a few minutes

At the temple

• Offerings are water, bel patra, dhatura, milk and flowers, sold in the lanes outside
• Remove footwear at the designated place and dress modestly
• Follow the queue system, which is organised and enforced during Shravan
• Photography restrictions may apply in the sanctum area

Nearby

• Sitamarhi and Punaura Dham, about two hours
• Vaishali, an hour and a half, of great significance in the Buddhist and Jain traditions
• Kesaria, with its very large stupa
• Patna, with Patan Devi and the city's own shrines

A closing thought. Muzaffarpur is not a pilgrimage town. It is a working city with a mango trade, a university and heavy traffic, and in the middle of it is a shrine that lakhs of people walk to every Shravan because a tree bled when someone tried to cut it down.