Nageshwar near Dwarka in Gujarat is one of the 12 Jyotirlinga Shrines of Shiva. Lord Krishna Himself used to worship it and perform Rudrabhishekam. It is located on the route between Dwarka and the Bet Dwarka island, on the coast of Saurashtra in Gujarat. The Rudra Samhita sloka refers to Nageshwar with the phrase ‘Daarukaavane Naagesham’.
Dvaraka is one of the Sapta-puris or seven holy towns – Ayodhya, Mathura, Haridwar, Kasi, Ujjin, Kancipuram and Dvaraka – and one of the four Dhamas or holy places – Ramesvaram, Puri, Badrinath and Dvaraka.
Pandavas came here during their Vanavas to build a hermitage for themselves. Their cows used to go to the same river bank to drink water. After drinking water, milk used to flow automatically into the river as if the cows were offering to the river. One day Bhima saw this miraculous event and told Dharmaraja about the same. Then Dharmaraja said, “Surely, some great God must be living in this river”. Then the Pandavas started removing the water from the river. The middle part of the river was so hot that the water there was boiling. Bheema lifted his mace and attacked the river thrice. The water gave way instantly. Lord Shankara’s Linga could be seen as the Jyotirlinga.
Legend has it that a devotee by name Supriya, was attacked by a demon Daaruka, while in a boat and that the demon imprisoned him along with several others at his capital Daarukaavana, where he resided with his wife Daaruki. Shiva appeared in the form of a Jyotirlingam and vanquished the demon with the Paasupata Astram.
The Sivalinga is facing South, with the Gomukham 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 south side. To their astonishment, they found that the Linga was now facing South with the Gomukham facing East.
Another specialty of this Shivalinga is that unlike the other Shivalingas, which are made of black stone and look like a neat pillar rounded off at the top, this one is made of a stone known popularly as Dwaraka Shila, which has small chakras on it. The shape of the linga is more or less like a oval 3 mukhi Rudraksha..
Aurangazeb, the notorious Moghal emperor, wanted to destroy this Hindu temple. When he tried, thousands of bees came out of the temple and attacked Aurangazeb and his army. He left the demolition work midway and went away. The devotees rebuild the broken temple.
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 and they claim that is the real Nageshwar Jyotirlinga!!Nageshwar near Dwarka in Gujarat is one of the 12 Jyotirlinga Shrines of Shiva.
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 and they claim that is the real Nageshwar Jyotirlinga!!Nageshwar near Dwarka in Gujarat is one of the 12 Jyotirlinga Shrines of Shiva.
Dvaraka is one of the Sapta-puris or seven holy towns – Ayodhya, Mathura, Haridwar, Kasi, Ujjin, Kancipuram and Dvaraka – and one of the four Dhamas or holy places – Ramesvaram, Puri, Badrinath and Dvaraka.
Pandavas came here during their Vanavas to build a hermitage for themselves. Their cows used to go to the same river bank to drink water. After drinking water, milk used to flow automatically into the river as if the cows were offering to the river. One day Bhima saw this miraculous event and told Dharmaraja about the same. Then Dharmaraja said, “Surely, some great God must be living in this river”. Then the Pandavas started removing the water from the river. The middle part of the river was so hot that the water there was boiling. Bheema lifted his mace and attacked the river thrice. The water gave way instantly. Lord Shankara’s Linga could be seen as the Jyotirlinga.
Legend has it that a devotee by name Supriya, was attacked by a demon Daaruka, while in a boat and that the demon imprisoned him along with several others at his capital Daarukaavana, where he resided with his wife Daaruki. Shiva appeared in the form of a Jyotirlingam and vanquished the demon with the Paasupata Astram.
Another specialty of this Shivalinga is that unlike the other Shivalingas, which are made of black stone and look like a neat pillar rounded off at the top, this one is made of a stone known popularly as Dwaraka Shila, which has small chakras on it. The shape of the linga is more or less like a oval 3 mukhi Rudraksha.
Aurangazeb, the notorious Moghal emperor, wanted to destroy this Hindu temple. When he tried, thousands of bees came out of the temple and attacked Aurangazeb and his army. He left the demolition work midway and went away. The devotees rebuild the broken temple.
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 and they claim that is the real Nageshwar Jyotirlinga!!
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 and they claim that is the real Nageshwar Jyotirlinga!!
The temples at Jageshwar, in the background of Darukavana, the holy deodar forest, believed by most to house the Nagesh Jyotirlinga.
Nageshwar Temple at Dwarka
Nageshvara Jyotirlinga is one of the 12 Jyotirlinga shrines mentioned in the Shiva Purana (Śatarudra Saṁhitā,Ch.42/2-4, referred as "nagesha darukavane"). Nageshvara is believed as the first Jyotirlinga on the earth. There are three major shrines in India which are believed as identical to this Jyotirlinga. Those are the Jageshwar temple near Almora in Uttarakhand state, the Nageshwara temple near Dwaraka in Gujarat state and the Nagnath temple in Aundha in Maharashtra state.
The Shiva Purana says Nageshvara is in the Darukavana, which is an ancient epic name of a forest in India. Darukavana finds mention in Indian epics like Kamyakavana, Dvaitavana, Dandakavana,etc.
According to a narrative, the Balakhilyas, a group of dwarf sages worshipped Shiva in darukavana for long time. To test their devotion and patience, Shiva came to the Darukavana as an digambara (nude) ascetic, wearing only Nagas[serpants] in his body. Wives of sages were attracted and ran after the ascetic, leaving back their husbands. Sages got very disturbed and frustruated with this. They lost their patience and cursed ascetic to loose his linga. Shivalinga fell on the earth and whole world trembled. Brahma and Vishnu came to Shiva, requested him to save earth from destruction and take back his linga. Shiva consoled them and took back his linga.(Vamana Purana Ch. 6 and 45) Shiva promised his divine presence in Darukavana as Jyotirlinga for ever. Later Darukavana became favourate place of Nagas and Vasuki worshipped Shiva here for long and there after the Jyotirlinga came to be known as Nagnath or Nageshvara.
Also, there is a narrative in the Shiva Purana on the Nageshvara Jyotirlinga. It says, a demon named Daaruka attacked a Shiva devotee by name Supriya and imprisoned her along with several others in his city of Darukavana. This place was a city of snakes and Daruka was the king of the snakes. On the insistence of Supriya, all the prisoners started to chant the holy mantra of Shiva and instantly Lord Shiva appeared and vanquished the demon and later started to reside here in the form of a Jyotirlinga.
Controversy about the location
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At present, there is a debate on location of epic forest Darukavana so as to identify the jyotirlinga of Nageswaram. Since no other important clues are left in the text which help in locating the place, 'Darukavana' remains as the vital clue.
Darukavana, the name being derived from 'daruvana' [meaning forest of deodar trees], is taken by many to exist in Almora. Deodar (daru vriksha) is found only in western Himalayas in abundance and is not found in peninsular India. There has been a continuous association of deodar trees with Lord Shiva in ancient Hindu texts. Hindu sages used to reside and perform meditation in deodar forests to please Lord Shiva. Also, according to the ancient treatise Prasadmandanam,
Thus most identify the 'Jageswara' temple in Almora, Uttarkhand as Nageshvara Jyotirlinga.
'Darukavana' can also be taken to exist adjacent to Vindhya Mountains. It is south-southwest of the Vindhyas extending to sea in west. In the Dvadasha Jyotirlinga Stotra Shankaracharya praised this Jyotirlinga as Naganath:
"Yamye sadange nagaretiramye vibhushitangam vividhaishcha bhogai Sadbhaktimuktipradamishamekam shrinaganatham sharanam prapadye"
This could be taken to provide evidence that it is located in the south ['yamye'] at the town of Sadanga, the ancient name of Aundh in Maharashtra located 'south' compared to Jageswara shrine in Uttarkhand and Dwaraka Nageshvara at West end.
