Nageshwar Jyotirling
Nageshwar Jyotirling or Nageshwar Jyotirlingam is one of the 12 Jyotrilnga (Dwadash Jyotirlinga) of Hindu religion's most supreme God shiva. The Rudra Samhita sloka refers to Nageshwar with the phrase '
Daarukaavane Naagesham'. Nageshwar is 10th Jyotirlinga.
Nageshwar Jyotirling is just 16 km from Dwarka. Popular, belief says that Nageshwar Jyotirlinga can protect from poisons, one who offers prayers here becomes poison free.
Nageshwar Jyotirlinga Legend
Dwarka was once called Darukayan, as there was a famous demoness Daruka lived near Dwarka, Daruka was very powerfull and had blessings of Parvati, With this power Daruka used to torture all the sage and hermits in the nearby forest. Tortured and tired the sages complained about this to UrvaMuni (Orvamuni), Orvamuni had powers to withstand all demons he cursed the demons of Daruka that they all will have to face massive attack and will be destroyed. Dev's or God's attacked the demons as a result of this curse. All demons flee and retaliats to Darukavan (present area near Dwarka), it is said that Daruka converted the whole area in sea and fight to Gods from sea, they captured many sages and among them one was a great Shiva devotee named Supriya. Supriya requested all captive sages to sang Shiva Strotam and the most powerfull mantra "Om Namaha Shivay" of Lord Shiva. All Demons were terrified and wanted to kill Supriya, this made Daruka upset as she was a devote of Parvati, she prayed and requested Lord Shiva to appear in Darukavan, Lord Shiva appeared and released all from demons. Pleased with devotion Parvati asked Daruka for a boon, Daruka wished that only and only Demons will rule this place, Lord Shiva not only accepted this but decided to keep his one of the form in Darukavan, Shiva was called Nageshwar and hence and the Jyotirlinga was named.
Nageshwar Name History
Jamnagar / Dwarka was known as Kushsthali
in ancient times, it was said that King Raivat of Kushsthali was an incarnation of Takshak Nag. Ancient hindu scriptures dated back to pre-aryan era suggests that this area (Near Jamnagar, Kutch, Dwarka and rest of Saurashtra) was one land of Giant Snakes or Nag, infact these snakes can take form of humans, Nag kanya (Lady) were very beautifull and often common man used to fall in love for them. One Yadu (Yadav - descendent of Krishna) king also married to a Nag girl. Many area near
Nagnath (Jamnagar) have stories of Naga
and the Bhuj (Kutch) has its name from Bhujang which literally means Nag. It is also said the present Nageshwar area was retained and established by aryans and made the temple of Nageshwar Jyotirlinga.
Nageshwar Temple
T-Series Music Company owner Late Gulshan Kumar renovated this temple and was completed by his family after his assassination, the cost fo this project was around 2 Crore. Gulshan Kumar Charitable Trust bore the entire expense renovation, A hug yet very attractive statue of Lord Shiva in "Pranayam" position is visible from 3 KM distance, Statue is 125 feet tall and 25 feet broad. Nageshwar temple has simple main enterence and has typical huge sabha mandap, This Jyotirlinga has South Indian syle architecture and the Jyotirlinga is in a basement. This is perhaps the only Jyotirlinga where Goddess Parvati is also with Shivalinga. Like all Jyotirlinga, only male devotees can enter in Garbhagriha, and it is must to wear a dhoti.
Nageshwar Puja
Nageshwar morning arti starts ar 5 AM, and the temple opens at 6 AM. The temple closes at 9 pm. Last darshan is Sringar darshan at 4 pm and after that entry to Garbhagriha is closed. Following are the rates for Puja in Nageshwar temple
- Rudrabhishek-Rs.105
- Dudhabhishek-Rs.155
- Rudrabhishek with Bhog-Rs.205
- Char Somvar(four Mondays) ek amavas Rudrabhishek-Rs.505
- Char Somvar ek amvas Rudrabhishek with dudh(milk)-Rs.751
- Char Somvar ek amvas Rudrabhishek with Bhog-Rs.1001
- Rudrabhishek for one year somvar-Rs.1101
- Rudrabhishek with milk for one year somvar-Rs.2101
- Ek Somvar 1008 Bilva patra Abhishek-Rs.251
- Ek Somvar 1008 Mahamrityunjaya Jaap-Rs.501
- Laghurudra by 11 brahimns-Rs.2101
- Ek Shravan mas Jalabhishek-Rs.551
- Ek Shravan mas dudh and bilva patra abhishek-Rs.1101
- Ek Shravan mas akhand Jyota-Rs.1501.
- Mahashivaratri char prahar Puja-Rs.1101
- Mahashivaratri Laghurudra by 11 brahmins-Rs.2101.
How to Reach
Nageshwar is just 15 km from Dwarka, Dwarka is the most famous tourist attraction in Gujarat, everyday thousands of pilgrims comes pay homage to Lord Krishna, Dwarka was the capital of Krishna's empire. Dwarka / Okha is very well connected to all major places by train with more than seven long distance trains coming to Dwarka. The major trains are:
5045/5046 : Okha Gorakhpur Express.
5635/5636 : Okha Guwahati Express.
6337/6338 : Okha Ernakulam Express.
6733/6734 : Okha-Rameshwaram Express.
8401/8402 : Okha-Puri Express.
9005/9006 : Okha Mumbai Saurastra Mail.
9569/9570 : Okha Varanasi Express.
One more way of reaching Dwarka is by bus from Ahmedabad, distance between Dwarka and Ahmedabad is around 500 KM, overnight journey takes 9-10 hours to reach Dwarka. There are night sleeper buses available from Payal travels in Ahmedabad. Sleeper buses charge Rs.300 (7$) while non-sleeper one charges Rs.200 (4$), From Dwarka, you can book a ticket in Dwarka darshan bus, for just 50Rs (1$) Dwarka Darshan offers a circular trip of five to six hours. It covers Nageshwar Jyotirlnga, Gopi Talav (Gopi Lake) ,Bet Dwarka (ferry charges Rs.20 per person extra ), Rukamini temple and returns Dwarka, You can also book private auto rickshaws for Rs.250 (5$) for Dwarka-Nageshwar-Dwarka round trip and Rs.400 (8$) for Dwarka-Nageshwar-Okha-Dwarka round trip. However for some adventure get onto a sharing rickshaws called shuttle rickshaws (open air) that charge Rs.20 per person for Dwarka-Nageshwar.
Those who can spend around 3-4 days in this region should go for
Jamnagar-Dwarka-Porbandar-Somnath circuit travel, You can
arrive in Jamnagar by flight (Direct flight from Mumbai) or train, and spend a day in sight seeing, next day take
a cab for 3 days (costs around 6000-7000 Rs. for 5-6 person) and head straight to Dwarka / Nageshwar.
Visit Dwarka / Nageshwar and have your stay in Dwarka, next morning start early and reach Porbander visit
Harsiddhi Mataji Temple on the way, Porbandar is just 75 km from Dwarka and it the
birth place of Father of India , Mahatma Gandhi. Spend the day in Porbandar and head for Somnath in the evening. Somnath is located at 150 km south of here. The journey is excellent as the road is on sea coast. Visit somnath the next day and return to Jamnagar on the eve of third day.