The very name “Bakreswar” tells a story. Derived from the Sanskrit words “Vakra” (bent or curved) and “Ishwar” (lord), it refers tothe sage Ashtavakra, a man whose body was twisted at eight points. According to the local temple tradition, during the marriage ceremony of Lakshmi and Narayana in the Satya Yuga, the sage (then known as Subrata Muni) was cruelly mocked by Indra, the king of the gods. So consumed by fury and humiliation was he that eight deformities seized his body. Burning with humiliation, Ashtavakra retreated to this remote corner of Bengal and devoted himself to an extraordinary ten-thousand-year meditation upon Lord Shiva.
Moved by this monumental act of devotion, Shiva not only healed his devotee’s twisted body but declared that any pilgrim who venerated Ashtavakra before worshipping Shiva at this site would receive an abundance of blessings. The divine architect Vishwakarma was then commanded to erect a temple on this sacred spot and so arose Bakreswar.
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