Lord Shiva is said to ordain the release of prisoners in divisional jail at Deoghar, known worldwide for the Baidyanath Dham shrine.

      
DEOGHAR Bihar ,: At the divisional jail at Deoghar, known worldwide for the Baidyanath Dham shrine, Lord Shiva is said to ordain the release of prisoners. Or so is the belief that is fuelled by the fact - or rather coincidence - that "hundreds of inmates" who prepared the crown of flowers to decorate the Jyotirlingam at the shrine, some 800m away, during the Shrawan in the past, were acquitted of the charges for which they had been incarcerated.
In fact, the jail has been supplying the 2ft flower crown, trident, flag, 'damru' and special garlands for the late-evening 'shringar', or decoration, of the deity since the colonial days. The grapevine has it, according to Deoghar SP Subodh Kumar, that there was a king who did not have issues. He prayed to Lord Shiva to bless him with a son and, as part of a thanksgiving exercise, he would make arrangements for the preparation of His 'shringar' materials by the inmates of the prison during the month of Shrawan every year.

 Every evening the jyotirling is worshiped with Shringar puja. This is another way of worshipping lord shiva. This is for attainment of mental peace, all round happiness and ultimate liberation that is Moksha.
This puja begins at 6 pm. In this Puja, the purohit offers fulel, welcome water, aachaman, madhuperk, curd, ghee, honey, sugar, sacred water, jenau - the sacred thread, scent, raw rice, flowers, bilwapatra, durba, dhoop, deep, Naivedi, beetle leaf, seasonal fruits, karpur aarti, Namaskar and complete Surrender to Lord Shiva.
A throne of flowers wound in a snake like fashion is also placed on the jyotirling. A unique custom is that this throne is daily being made by the prisoners of Deoghar Jail. This has been the practice since the British period.
The rituals are performed according to Vaidic way. Every evening the jyotirling is worshiped with Shringar puja. This is another way of worshipping lord shiva. This is for attainment of mental peace, all round happiness and ultimate liberation that is Moksha.
This puja begins at 6 pm. In this Puja, the purohit offers fulel, welcome water, aachaman, madhuperk, curd, ghee, honey, sugar, sacred water, jenau - the sacred thread, scent, raw rice, flowers, bilwapatra, durba, dhoop, deep, Naivedi, beetle leaf, seasonal fruits, karpur aarti, Namaskar and complete Surrender to Lord Shiva.
A throne of flowers wound in a snake like fashion is also placed on the jyotirling. A unique custom is that this throne is daily being made by the prisoners of Deoghar Jail. This has been the practice since the British period.
The rituals are performed according to Vaidic way.

However, priest Gulab Bhagat has a different story. According to him, there was an English jailer whose son went missing during the month of Shrawan in 1910s. As he started crying fearing the worst, the jail inmates told him to worship Lord Shiva and his son would return safely. He immediately ordered his cops and the prisoners to make arrangements for the 'puja' of the Jyotirlingam, and his son returned a few days later. Overwhelmed, he wrote in the prison's rule book that the inmates of the jail would prepare the material for the evening 'puja' at the shrine during the month.
The jail inmates, including few Muslims, are so passionate about the "ritual" that many of them even observe fast till the preparations go on every day. According to jailer Arjun Prasad Sahu, the jail itself turns into a shrine of sorts during the month. "The preparations take around eight hours during which the inmates sing devotional songs," Sahu said.
"Almost all the inmates who prepared the crown of flowers for Bhole Nath last year have been acquitted by courts," claimed Kartik Pandey, the priest of the temple inside the jail. Those acquitted, recalled prisoner Dhananjay Yadav, would often say that they had been made scapegoats and police had not heeded their pleas. "But Bhole Baba heeded their prayers," he added.
However, Santosh Mahto, 40, who is lodged in the jail in connection with a dowry case, is not that ambitious. "I pray for the well-being of my children who are alone at home," he told TOI.
Altogether 450 inmates are currently lodged in the Deoghar jail. And it is the duty of the wardens to collect flowers from across the town for them to prepare the special garlands.