Lord Shiva: Nageshwar Temple

Nageshwar Mandir is a Lord Shiva temple, and Nageshwar Jyotirlinga is believed to protect devotees from all poisons. There are many legends about Nageshwar. One of them is related to Daruka who lived with her community of demons in the forests near Dwaraka. The demons used to harass sages and they approached an enlightened sage Orvamuni. He cursed the demons for their destruction, and a war between the gods on demons followed.

To save the demons, Daruka used her special powers (boon) she had got from goddess Parvati and shifted the entire forest to the sea. From there they continued troubling the sages and once they captured the Shiva devotee Supriya, who made all other captives recite the powerful Om Namah Shivaya mantra of Lord Shiva. But when the demons decided to kill Supriya, it disturbed the Shiva-Parvati devotee Daruka. She prayed to Lord Shiva who appeared here and freed all from the demons. But Parvati granted a boon to Daruka that she would rule the region. Lord Shiva agreed to this and with Parvati stayed there, Shiva assuming the form of Jyotirlinga with the name Nageshwar and Parvati becoming Nageshwari.

According to Hindu scriptures, King Yadu of Yadu dynasty was married to a Nag girl. Skanda Purana mentions that the King Raivat of Kushsthali was an incarnation of Takshak Nag. Often Dwaraka is also named as Kushsthali in Hindu scriptures. Some historians think that the Aryans made the Nags a religious community and established Nageshwar Jyotirlinga.

The present temple was renovated by Late Gulshan Kumar, starting the work in 1996, before his assassination. The entire project cost of Rs 1.25 crores was born by Gulshan Kumar Charitable Trust.

Nageshwar Temple is visible from a distance of 2 km. A huge 125 feet high and 25 feet broad attractive statue of Lord Shiva in meditation pose greets devotees from outside the main temple. At the main entrance is a hall or Sabha Mandap. The main Jyotirlinga is situated under the Sabha Mandap floor, with a silver replica of Nag (snake) placed there. Behind the Jyotirlinga there is an idol of Goddess Parvati. Only male devotees wearing dhoti can enter and perform pooja/prayers at the Garbhagriha.

The morning Arti begins at 5 AM and the temple opens for devotees from 6 AM. Devotees can have a Sringar Darshan at 4 PM, after which entry to Garbhagriha for devotees is closed, though the rest of the temple closes only at 9 PM. During Holy Shravan, Navaratri, Diwali, Kartik Purnima and Mahashivaratri the temple remains open for longer hours.

The best time to visit is from August to September. The nearest (146 km) airport is Jamnagar. Nageshwar is situated between Okha (14 km) and Dwaraka (16 km). Visitors have to stay either at Dwaraka or Okha from where buses and taxis are easily available. Nageshwar is also on the circuit of Dwaraka Darshan tours of local tourist bus services. For nominal rates, Dwaraka Darshan offers a sight-seeing trip of five to six hours covering Nageshwar Jyotirlinga, Gopi Talav, Bet Dwaraka, Rukmini Temple.

The distance between Dwaraka and Nageshwar is only 16 km. Dwaraka, the ancient capital of Lord Krishna, is well connected with the other parts of India by railways, with more than seven long distance trains and many shorter distance trains. There are regular Government Transport buses and private buses between Ahmedabad and Dwaraka, taking nine to ten hours to reach Dwaraka. Night buses and sleeper coaches are also available.

Okha is the last stop for Dwaraka on railways and road routes. The distance between Dwaraka and Okha is 30 km. Distance from Dwaraka: by train to Ahmedabad = 471 km, Vadodara = 571 km, Surat = 700 km, Vapi = 798 km, Mumbai (Bandra) = 962 km, Puri = 2752 km, Jammu Tavi = 2154 km. Distance from Dwaraka by road to Ahmedabad = 457 km, Somnath = 230 km, Rajkot = 232 km, and Jamnagar = 144 km.

Many visitors prefer the Dwaraka-Porbandar-Somnath route, on the coastal road famous for its scenic beauty. Porbandar, the birth place of Mahatma Gandhi, is 75 km from Dwaraka. Devotees first visit Harsiddhi Mataji Temple (Harshad Mataji Temple) on seashore before Porbandar. Somnath is about 150 km from Porbandar. Private buses start from Dwaraka at 8 AM in the morning and reach Somnath at 2 PM covering Mool Dwaraka and Harsiddhi Mataji temple.

Dwaraka city has all the basic amenities for tourists and devotees. Power cut is rare. There are good hotels, guest houses and even community living accommodation (dharmashalas) at cheap/affordable rates. Food in North Indian, South Indian, Gujarati, Rajasthani and even Chinese styles are available in most eateries, including hotels and restaurants.

Lord Siva at Nageshwar in Gujarat, India

Nageshvara Jyotirlinga is one of the 12 Jyotirlinga shrines mentioned in the Shiva Purana. There are many shrines in India which are believed to be identical to this Jyotirlinga. The major three such shrines are the Nageshwara temple near Dwaraka (Gujarat) the Nagnath temple in Aundha in Maharashtra, and the Jageshwara temple near Almora in Uttarakhand. It is believed to be the first Jyotirlinga on earth.

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 legends, the Balakhilyas, a group of dwarf sages, worshipped Shiva in Darukavana for a long time. To test their devotion and intentions, Shiva came to Darukavana as a digambara (nude) ascetic, wearing only Nagas (serpents). The wives of the sages were attracted towards him and ran after the ascetic, leaving their husbands. The sages got very disturbed, frustrated, lost their patience and cursed the ascetic to lose his Linga. The severed Shivalinga fell on the earth and whole world trembled. Brahma and Vishnu came to Shiva and requested him to save the earth from destruction and take back his Linga. Shiva consoled them and took back his Linga (Vamana Purana Ch.6 and 45).

Then Shiva promised his divine presence in Darukavana as Jyotirlinga for ever. Later, Darukavana became the favorite place of Nagas, and Vasuki worshipped Shiva here for long, and thereafter 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 Daruka attacked a Shiva devotee, named 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.

Palitana - Jain Temple

Palitana - Jain Temple (India - Gujarat), originally uploaded by amar_v_vora.

Palitana, in Gujarat (India) is approximately 50 KM south west of Bhavnagar. It is in the Saurashtra region, which has a very large number of temples. It is historic too because Saurashtra always attracted foreign visitors, especially the invaders in the pre-Mughal period who were attracted to India because of the large quantities of gold and precious gem stones the temples in this region used to have. They primarily invaded for looting wealth to finance their war efforts to capture and enlarge their empires.
This region has a very large number of modern cities growing side by side with beautiful beaches and varied flora and fauna. Palitana is well connected by roads and railways to the major cities and to the other parts of India and the world.
It is interesting to note that many temples are located on hilltops or mountain ranges of India. The believers of religions like Hinduism, Jainism, etc., seem to place special importance to pilgrimages to holy places where they have to climb up mountainous tracts. The Jainism has many hill locations for pilgrimage, Shatrunjaya Hill, Palitana, being the most important among them. A group of temples in Girnar (Junagadh) in the nearby areas and similar temples in Rajasthan and Maharashtra are also worth a visit by anyone, especially for their location in beautiful surroundings and the rich temple architecture and sculptures.
Palitana and surroundings, with a very large cluster of Jain temples, has 863 temples. These temples were built in the 11th and 12th centuries. This period saw a frenzy of activities to promote spiritualism and temple architecture, in almost all parts of Indian subcontinent. Foreign invaders destroyed many of these temples in the 14th and 15th centuries.
As for these magnificent Jain temples, unlike many others built by Kings and Emperors, they were built by the Jain traders and the people of this area.

Shadows of flying birds at Somnath Temple

Shadows Of Flying Birds, originally uploaded by Arpana.

Shadows Of Flying Birds: Somnath Temple, dedicated to Lord Shiva and one of the 12 Jyotirlingas in India, was built in gold by Lord Soma (Moon). The temple was destroyed seven times and it rose to its splendid glory through the hands of Hindus, like a Phoenix bird. Somnath Temple is situated at Somnath on the shores of the Arabian Sea, on the western coast of Gujarat.

Big Shiva

Big Shiva, originally uploaded by Arpana.

Big shiva statue of 85 ft near to 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'.