We all know that there is a statue of Bappa Rawal in the Eklingji Temple. But very few know as to why his statue is there with clasped hands facing Nandi, the holy bull. The aged commoners have faith in a story behind this, so here it goes.

Bappa Rawal belonged to the Guhila Rajput community. He was a very very simple man moving around with his herd of cows. What he discovered is that one of his cows would come back daily with no milk left in her. Surprised at this, Bappa Rawal decided to follow the cow secretly. He saw that the cow stopped at a particular place and milk start flowing out of her on its own. Then Bappa went ahead to find out about the miracle. When he was clearing the place with his hands he saw a Shivling down there. He then started praying to that Shivling everyday. One fine day a saint came there and was impressed with Bappa and his devotion. He also started living there.

One day, the saint called Bappa and said, “Bappa, I am about to die. My ‘svargarohan’(स्वर्गारोहण) time is near so come to me tomorrow before sunrise. I will give you some prasad.”

Bappa somehow got late in meeting the saint. By the time he reached where the saint had asked him to, he saw that the saint was on a ‘vimaan’ on his way towards heaven. When the saint saw Bappa he said, “I will give you some prasad, you must accept it as it is.” Saying this the saint spat. On seeing the saint spitting, Bappa instead of taking it moved away slightly. The saint’s saliva fell on Bappa’s toe.

The saint now said, “Had you accepted this prasad, you would have attained ‘amaratv’(अमरत्व) but since you moved away and the prasad fell on your toe, you will become the ‘adhipati’(अधिपति) of this land.”

The story goes on that since Bappa got all this because he was a devotee of Lord Shiva, he regarded Lord Shiva as the owner of that land and started working as a sevak to the Lord. Since then Bappa is still believed to be guarding that land. As per facts, all kings are not actually kings because Lord Shiva is the real King and the others are merely attendants of the Lord and are supposed to be guarding everyone. Meaning….Lord Shiva is the king and all others who came to be known as kings are actually the prime ministers to the Lord.