Hello Dear Pilgrimages Tourist World
Lord Shiva blessed all of you,
CheLa The Excited Traveler welcome you again,
It was my 3rd jyotirlinga yatra , this time covered Nageshwar Mahadev jyotirlinga in dwarka Gujrat .
The Nageshwar jyotirlinga is located in Dwarka, on the coast of Saurashtra, in Gujarat. It is one of the 12 jyotirlinga in the world. A 25 m tall statue of Lord Shiva and a large garden with a pond are the major attractions that attract tourists here every year. Some archaeological excavations claim five earlier cities at the site.
Nageshwar Temple
Nageshwar Temple or Nagnath Temple is located on the route between Gomati Dwarka and the Bait Dwarka Island on the coast of Saurashtra in Gujarat. The Jyotirlinga enshrined in the Temple of Nagnath is known as Nageshwar Mahadev and attracts thousands of pilgrims all round the year. This powerful Jyotirlinga symbolizes protection from all poisons. It is said that those who pray to the Nageshwar Linga become free of poison. The Rudra Samhita sloka refers to Nageshwar with the phrase ′Daarukaavane Naagesham′.
Legend Behind Nageshwar Temple
According to Shiv Purana, a Shiva devotee by name Supriya was attacked by a demon Daaruka while in a boat. The demon imprisoned him along with several others at his capital Daarukaavana where he resided with his wife Daaruki. Supriya advised all prisoners to recite the mantra ‘Aum Namaha Shivaya’. When Daruk came to know about this he ran to kill Supriya. Instantly Lord Shiva appeared in the form of a Jyotirlingam and vanquished the demon with the Paasupata Astram.
This Jyotirlinga manifestation of Shiva is worshipped as Nageswara. Two other sites in India, one near Audhgram near Purna in Andhra Pradesh and another near Almora in Uttar Pradesh also enshrine temples to Nageswara Jyotirlingam. According to the Shiv Purana, any one who ever with devotion reads the birth and greatness of this Jyotirlinga shall beget all material happiness and divine status in the end.
Structure of Nageshwar Temple
Nageshwar Mahadev Sivalingam is facing South while the Gomugam is facing east. There is a story for this position. A devotee by name Naamdev was singing bhajans in front of the Lord. Other devotees asked him to stand aside and not hide the Lord. To this Naamdev asked them to suggest one direction in which the Lord does not exist, so that he can stand there. The enraged devotees carried him and left him on the southside. To their astonishment, they found that the Linga was now facing South with the Gomugam facing east.
Nageshwar was believed to be known as ‘Darukavana’, which is an ancient epic name of a forest in India. Below are two well-known legends attached to this mystical temple:
According to legend, there was a group of dwarves, the balakhilyas, who lived in Darukvana. They were devouts of Lord Shiv. To test their devotion, the Lord came to Darukavana disguised as a naked ascetic, wearing nothing but serpents on his body. The wives of the sages were drawn towards him and left their husbands. Enraged, the sages cursed the ascetic so that his ling (phallus) would fall off. The Shiv Ling then fell on the earth and the entire earth shuddered. Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma pleaded with Lord Shiva to take his ling back before the world was destroyed. Pacified, the Lord took back his linga but left a symbol of the linga that would remain there forever.
The second legend is that according to the Shiv Purana, hundreds of years ago two demons Daruka and Daruki lived in Darukavan. Daruka was blessed by Goddess Parvati. However, he misused the blessings and terrorized the local folks. One such time, he imprisoned a local woman, Supriya. Supriya told her fellow inmates to take the name of the Lord Shiva and no harm would come to them. When Daruka heard this, he was enraged. He rushed to kill her but Lord Shiv appeared to protect her. As Daruka was blessed by his own wife, the Lord could not kill him so instead he took the form of a lingam and promised to protect Supriya and the local folks forever in Dwarka.
