Shree Dev Vyadeshwar
Shree Dev Vyadeshwar temple is a temple dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. It is in Guhagar town from Ratnagiri District of Maharashtra State in India. The deity is considered as the Kuladevata of many Chitpavan families from the Konkan region.
Legend
Sage Parashurama created the land of Konkan by shooting his arrow into the sea and commanding the Sea God to retract the waters to the point where his arrow landed. This new land came to be known as Sapta-Konkana, meaning "piece of earth", "corner of earth", or "piece of a corner", derived from Sanskrit words: koṇa + kaṇa.Shree Parshurama also requested 60 rishis to settle in the newly created land and protect the resident clans. He, being a devotee of the God Shiva, requested Shree Shiva to meet him daily. Sage Vyadi installed the lingam of Shiva at this temple in Guhagar. The Shiva icon and temple was thus named as Shree Vyadeshwar. It is believed that Shree Shiva stays here in the invisible form.
Shree Vyadeshwar Deity was lost to time and is rediscovered in the era of King Sakuran, when the current temple structure was built. The temple is constructed between 1st and 2nd century, which makes it around 2000 years old
Style
The architectural style is called 'Panchayatan'. A Panchayatan temple contains four subordinate shrines in four corners and the main shrine in the center of the podium, which forms the base. Here, Shiva is Shree Vyadeshwar, the central shrine, with Surya, Ganesha, Amba or Ambika and Vishnu with his wife Lakshmi as the South-East, South-West, North-West and North-East subordinate shrines respectively. Nandi sits in front of the main shrine.The temple has three entrances to the east, west and south. Shri Garuda and Shri Hanuman are installed on either sides of the East entrance, inside the temple.