Bhooteshwarnath

Bhooteshwarnath, also called Bhuteshwarnath or Bhakurra Mahadeva, is a Shiva temple near Marouda village, deep in the Gariaband forests of Chhattisgarh. Its natural Shivlinga is described as the second largest in the world after Siddheshwarnath at Ziro in Arunachal Pradesh, and in Chhattisgarh it is honoured as an Ardhnarishwara Shivlinga.

Devotees hold that the linga is still growing; regular visitors say it was once small and is now huge, and officials measure it every year. Legend tells of a zamindar, Shobha Singh of Paragaon, whose farm stood here. In the evenings he heard a bull bellowing and a lion roaring, villagers heard the same, yet no animals were ever found and the sounds seemed to come from this stone, so people began to treat the mound as a Shivlinga. On Mahashivratri and on Sawan Mondays, Kanwar pilgrims arrive carrying Mahanadi water from Rajim.