https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=TarakeshwaraTarakeshwara - Revision history2026-10-27T21:07:19ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tarakeshwara&diff=539679&oldid=prevHiya singh: created some stub w/ sources2026-01-28T10:45:20Z<p>created some stub w/ sources</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{short description|Form of the Hindu god Shiva in his role as a psychopomp}}<br />
{{other uses}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}<br />
'''Tarakeshwara''' or '''Tarakeshvara''' ({{langx|sa|तारकेश्वर}}, ''Tārakeśvara''; [[Hindi]]: ''Tārkeśvar'') is a form of the [[Hinduism|Hindu]] [[Hindu pantheon|god]] [[Shiva]] in his role as a [[psychopomp]], a ferryman or deliverer of the soul into [[moksha|freedom from rebirth]] (''moksha'').{{sfnp|Bjorg|2014|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=b0WRBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT27 27]}}<br />
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[[Category:Liminal deities]]<br />
[[Category:Liminal gods]]<br />
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==Temples==<br />
* [[Manikarnika Ghat]], [[Benares]]<br />
* [[Tarakeshwara Temple|Hangal]], [[Karnataka]]<br />
* [[Taraknath Temple]], [[West Bengal]]<br />
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The temples are connected to the "Taraka", the "ferryboat [[mantra]]"{{sfnp|Bowker|1991|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=B2HgZ325ANUC&pg=PA165 165]}} or "mantra of the crossing"{{sfnp|Eck|1982|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=2LgO6TJhFDwC&pg=PT440 440–1]}} believed to guide the spirit of the dying to ''moksha''.{{sfnp|Eck|1982|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=2LgO6TJhFDwC&pg=PT330 330]}} One Shivite form of the prayer is ''Om Sri Rama Jaya Rama Jaya Jaya Rama'' ("''[[Om]]'', Victory to God with his ''[[shakti]]'', victory, victory to God"), supposedly taught by Shiva to his wife [[Parvati]].{{sfnp|Keshavadas|1976|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=3XIatVGyjmQC&pg=PA15 15–17]}}{{sfnp|Ashley-Farrand|1999|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=zbKv3Jk-3YQC&pg=PA148 148]}} Another is ''Rām-Rāmāya Namaḥ'', taught by [[Yajnavalkya]] to [[Bharadvaja]] in the [[Ramottaratapaniya Upanishad|Ramottaratapaniya]] [[Upanishad]].{{sfnp|Jackson|1994|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=CZBnppBQgOsC&pg=PA76 76, n. 4]}}{{refn|group=n|There are still other forms which vary according to sect and the god of the devotee.{{sfnp|Dhavamony|1982|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DD0w_IMFA8gC&pg=PA413 413]}}}} Supposedly, one dying in the temple at Benares hears Shiva himself reciting one of these mantras.{{sfnp|Eck|1982|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=2LgO6TJhFDwC&pg=PT441 441]}}<br />
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==See also==<br />
* [[Shaivism]]<br />
* [[Moksha]]<br />
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==Notes==<br />
{{reflist|group=n}}<br />
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==References==<br />
===Citations===<br />
{{reflist|30em}}<br />
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===Bibliography===<br />
* {{citation |last=Ashley-Farrand |first=Thomas |title=Healing Mantras |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zbKv3Jk-3YQC&pg=PP1 |publisher=Ballantine Wellspring for Random House |location=New York |date=1999 |isbn=9780307556615 }}.<br />
* {{citation |author=Bjorg Bjarnadottir<!--not a surname--> |ref={{harvid|Bjorg|2014}} |date=2014 |isbn=978-1-4828-4051-3 |publisher=Partridge India |title=Transfer in Kashi and the River of Time }}.<br />
* {{citation |last=Bowker |first=John Westerdale |authorlink=John Bowker (theologian) |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=1991 |isbn=0-521-39117-2 |location=[[Cambridge, England|Cambridge]] |title=The Meanings of Death |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B2HgZ325ANUC&pg=PP1 }}.<br />
* {{citation |last=Dhavamony |first=Mariasusai |series=''Documenta Missionalia'', No. 15 |title=Classical Hinduism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DD0w_IMFA8gC&pg=PP1 |location=Rome |publisher=Gregorian University Press |date=1982 |isbn=9788876524820 }}.<br />
* {{citation |last=Eck |first=Diana L. |title=Banaras: City of Light |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |location=New York |date=1982 |isbn=978-0-307-83295-5 }}.<br />
* {{citation |last=Jackson |first=William Joseph |title=Tyāgarāja and the Renewal of Tradition: Translations and Reflections |date=1994 |publisher=Motilal Bandarsidass |isbn=81-208-1146-1 |location=Delhi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CZBnppBQgOsC&pg=PP1 }}.<br />
* {{citation |last=Keshavadas |first=Sadguru Sant |title=Ramayana at a Glance |publisher=Motilal Bandarsidass |location=Delhi |date=1976 |isbn=81-208-0545-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3XIatVGyjmQC&pg=PP1 }}.<br />
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[[Category:Forms of Shiva]]<br />
[[Category:Psychopomps]]<br />
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{{Hindu-deity-stub}}</div>Hiya singh