Grishneshwar temple, Aurangabad: History, Timings & Visitor Guide

Grishneshwar temple is open every day, usually from early morning to late evening with a break in the afternoon. Darshan and aarti timings change with the season and on festival days.

• MorningOpens early morning (around 5 to 6 AM)
• AfternoonShort break around midday at many temples
• EveningEvening aarti around sunset, closes by about 8 to 9 PM

Ask the temple office on arrival for the day's aarti schedule.

Dress Code & Temple Rules

• DressModest, traditional clothes covering shoulders and knees
• FootwearRemove before entering; use the shoe stand
• PhotographyNot allowed inside the sanctum
• Not AllowedLeather items, tobacco, alcohol, non-veg food
• QueueFollow queue lines and staff instructions on festival days

The temple structure was destroyed by the Delhi Sultanate in 13th and 14th centuries. The temple went through several rounds of rebuilding followed by re-destruction during the Mughal-Maratha conflict. Maloji Bhosale (grandfather of Shivaji) first restored it in the 16th century and rebuilt it to its current form in the year 1729, under the sponsorship of queen Gautama Bai Holkar of Indore, after the fall of the Mughal Empire. It is presently an important and active pilgrimage site of the Hindus and attracts long lines of devotees daily. Anyone can enter the temple premises and its inner chambers, but to enter the sanctum sanctorum (garbha-gruha) of the temple, the local Hindu tradition demands that men must go bare-chested.

This story about the Ghrishneshwar Jyotirlinga is described in the Puranas- in the south country, there lived a very bright ascetic Brahmin named Sudharma, near the Devgiri Mountain. His wife's name was Sudeha. Both of them had a lot of love for each other. They had no problems of any kind, but they had no children.

Astrological calculations showed that there could be no childbirth from Sudeha's womb. Sudeha was very keen to have children. She urged Sudharma to marry her younger sister.

Architecture of Grishneshwar temple

The Ghrishneshwar Jyotirlinga Mandir is built with black stone on an area spanning 44,000 sq ft. It has various sculptures and fine designs on its interior and exterior walls. A Jyotirlinga murti is situated in the inner sanctum or Garbhagriha of the mandir and a large murti of lord Shiva's favourite devotee and steed Nandi, is present in front of the main door.