Ugratirtha

There was once a supremely wise and self-restrained great sage named Chyawan. Having abandoned anger and delusion, he was devoted to the welfare of all living beings. In the course of his pilgrimage he arrived at the foot of Skanda Mountain, where he installed a Shiva linga and began severe spiritual practice.

Renouncing food and water, the sage Chyawan performed fierce penance for months on end, standing on a single leg and subsisting on air alone.

Pleased by such marvellous and austere devotion, Lord Shiva manifested in person at the auspicious moment of the eighth day of the bright fortnight of Ashwin. Lord Shiva said: "O great sage, I am exceedingly pleased by your penance. Ask for whatever boon you desire."

With folded hands, Chyawan Rishi pleaded: "O God of gods, may I be granted freedom from worldly bondage and the boon of liberation."

Saying "So be it!", Lord Shiva granted him liberation and vanished from that very spot in the form of a jyotirlinga. Shiva's attendants placed the great sage Chyawan upon a divine chariot and carried him to Shivaloka. That sacred place, made accomplished by the great sage Chyawan's fierce penance, came to be called 'Ugratirtha'.