Deoghar (Baidyanath Dham)

Baidyanath Dham in Deoghar is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, among the most sacred sites associated with Shiva anywhere in India, and one of the state's most important pilgrimage destinations. The main temple, worshipped as Vaidyanath — 'Lord of Physicians' — sits at the centre of a complex of 21 further shrines. Tradition holds that the demon king Ravana offered his own heads in penance here and was healed by Shiva acting as a physician, an origin story that gives the temple its distinctive identity among the Jyotirlingas.

The temple's significance peaks during Shravani Mela, a month-long festival in the Hindu month of Shravan when millions of pilgrims, or kanwariyas, carry Ganga water on foot over 100km from Sultanganj in Bihar to offer at the shrine — one of the longest religious walking pilgrimages in the world. The complex is also unusual in combining a Jyotirlinga with a Shakti Peetha within the same grounds, drawing devotees of both Shaivite and Shakta traditions.

The temple's exact founding is lost to antiquity, though it has been a major pilgrimage centre for centuries, with the annual Shravani Mela growing over time into one of the largest religious gatherings in the world.

Deoghar Airport connects to major Indian cities; Baidyanathdham railway station sits on a branch line off Jasidih; the town is about 250km from Ranchi by road.