Sunday, April 15, 2018

The Balaji connection in Madhya Pradesh

Just thinking out loud:

I recently got posted to a site 100 km South of Indore, in the Khargone district, bordering Khandwa district. The place I stay is a humble little town by the name Bediya. In India, it is common to find shops and operators named after Gods or natural bodies that are famous in the location. I could see quite a few related to the river Narmada, for example; and a lot of "Omkar" and "Mahakaal", with reference to Omkareshwar and Mahakaleshwar Jyotirling temples that are in the vicinity.

But, something that caught my eye and is picking on my brain is the very popular affinity to "Balaji", "Tirupati", "Tirumala" and other associated names. Yet, I couldn't find a direct link to Lord Balaji of Tirupati and this place. When we visited Omkareshwar, the little island hill has a huge moorti of Lord Shiva at the top of the hill with a little temple stands right at its foot. Inside the temple, by one side of Lord Shiva (accompanied by Goddess Parvati) was Lord Ganesh and on the other side, surprisingly, was Lord Balaji. This was also confusing,

If anybody knows the connection, let us know.