Nageshwar Temple

Nagesam/Naganath/Nageshwar

Nageshwar is located near Dwaraka on the route Bhet Dwaraka—Dwaraka, about 20 kms from Dwaraka. This place is also known as Devadaruvanam and Darukavanam. It is believed that Lord Shiva’s cosmic dance was enacted first here. Lord Vishnu was witness to that in the female form of Mohini. Sages who lived an ascetic life at this place along with their wives gained lot of yogic power by means of their worship and poojas. The power thus gained, instead of making them more humble, made them arrogant. They thought that they had gained these powers by their own effort and not due to any grace of the Lord. They even thought that they don’t have to worship him anymore. Their wives were even more arrogant. They thought that their chastity alone is capable of achieving any thing in this world for them. The Lord decided to teach them a lesson and also bring them back to the path of righteousness. Lord Shiva requested Lord Vishnu to assist him in this by again assuming the female form of Mohini. Shiva assumed the form of a naked Mendicant and along with Mohini reached Darukavanam. While Mohini enticed the sages by her voluptuous dances and obscene gestures, the Mendicant appeared before their wives and started teasing them. The wives fell for the Mendicant and the sages went crazy over Mohini and forgot their wives for some time. When they saw their wives completely bowled over by the Mendicant, the sages got angry and scolded the Mendicant for his behavior. The Mendicant stated that he only wanted to lead an ascetic life along with his wife, Mohini, like the sages. He can’t help if the sages and their wives fell for them. Thereupon, the sages got angrier and tried to eliminate the Mendicant by sending a tiger, snakes, fire and other weapons. The Mendicant being none other than Lord Shiva converted all these into ornaments and wore them. The snakes adorned his head, the tiger skin became his dress and the trishul became his weapon. The demons became his followers. He held the fire in his palm. Finding that all their efforts have gone in vain, the sages started cursing the Mendicant. The curses became his garlands. In the end, the sages realized that they couldn’t defeat or eliminate the Mendicant. They never realized that Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva have tested them.

After adorning all the weapons aimed at him, Shiva proceeded to dance with gay abandon. Thereafter, he disappeared into an anthill and Maha Vishnu left for vaikuntam.
After the departure of both the Lords, the sages were afflicted with all sorts of ailments and they couldn’t carry on with their daily rituals. They all went to Lord Brahma and requested him to save them. Lord Brahma told them that all their problems were as a result of their arrogance and due to that they couldn’t even recognize Lords Shiva and Maha Vishnu who had come to rescue them from their wrongdoings. Their sufferings were due to the fact they tried to kill Lord Shiva. Lord Brahma then told them that Shiva is in the anthill at Darukavanam and if they worship him with devotion, they can be sure of being blessed by the Lord. Thereupon, all the sages sat near the anthill and started praying to Lord Shiva. Pleased with their devotion the Lord appeared before them as a flame, which later became a Shivalingam. The sages worshipped him and asked for forgiveness and blessings. Acceding to their request he became a Jyotirlingam there only. Since he was adorned by a five-headed serpent, he came to be known as Nageshwar/Nagnath Mahadev/Nagesar/Nageshwar Jyotirlingam.

The place came to be known as Darukavanam for a different reason also. In the olden days, there lived an Asura couple called Darukan and Darukai. Darukai prayed to Goddess Parvati and got a boon by which she came to be in possession of a park, which can fly. The couple built castles in that park and settled along with other asuras. They used to fly with the park to conquer many areas. In the process, they destroyed many towns and harassed Brahmins and Sages. The Brahmins and Sages approached Sage Owra and prayed for relief. Due to the curse of Sage Owra, the asuras lost their power to conquer and the Devas lost no time in eliminating them.

To escape the wrath of the Devas, Darukai shifted the park with the castle to a new location in the Arabian Sea. The couple started waylaying all the ships passing that way and imprisoned and harassed the passengers. Once, they imprisoned a wealthy and philanthropic merchant by name Supriya. He was a great devotee of Lord Shiva. Daruka asked Supriya to teach him the path of devotion to Lord Shiva, the norms of performing pooja and penance. Fearing that Daruka would use any additional powers gained by such penance, to bad use, Supriya refused to guide him. The enraged Daruka began to torture Supriya. Supriya was, however, staunch in his faith in the Lord and was unmoved by torture. Daruka tried to kill Supriya and Lord Shiva killed the demon. The Lord also shifted the park back to its original location in Western India. Darukai now started giving even more trouble than her husband and Lord Shiva vanquished her too. The place thus came to be known as Darukavanam and some researchers say that the city built by Lord Krishna at this place thus came to be known as Dwaraka. The bad qualities of the asuras persist in human beings due to a boon granted by Goddess Parvati to Darukai.

The original temple was destroyed during the invasion by aliens and the present one owes its existence due to the munificence of Late Gulshan Kumar.

The Shivalingam is facing south with the Gomukham facing east. There is a story, which explains this. A devotee by name Namdev was singing bajans in front of the Lord and other asked him to stand aside to have a clear view of the Lord. Namdev asked them to suggest a direction in which the Lord doesn’t exist so that he can stand there. The enraged devotees carried him and left him on the southern side. To their astonishment, they found that the Lingam was now facing south with the Gomukham facing east.

Outside the temple, a few yards away from its entrance, we find a huge statue of Lord Shiva in a sitting pose. The statue is 85 ft tall and looks majestic and can be seen from very far.

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