Nageshvara Jyotirlinga Temple / Shri Nageshvara Jyotirlinga Temple / Lord Shiva Famous Temple
Nageshwara Jyotirlinga is one of the twelve Jyotirlings, which are temples devoted to Shiva.
The Nageshwara Jyotirling is located in Aundha Nagnath, Maharshtra.
Dist : Hingoli, Aundha Nagnath
Maharashtra, India
Nageshwara Jyotirlinga is one of the twelve Jyotirlings, which are temples devoted to Shiva. The Nageshwara Jyotirling is located in Aundha Nagnath, Maharshtra. Some individuals believe that the Dwarka Shivalinga in gujrat represents the Nageshwara Jyotirlinga.
The Shiva Purana says Nageshvara Jyotirlinga is in 'the Darukavana', which is an ancient name of a forest in India. 'Darukavana' finds mention in Indian epics, such as Kamyakavana, Dvaitavana, Dandakavana.
A narrative in the Shiva Purana about the Nageshvara Jyotirlinga tells of a demon named Daruk, who attacked a Shiva devotee named Supriya and imprisoned him along with many others in his city of Darukavana, a city under the sea inhabited by sea snakes and demons. At the urgent exhortations of Supriya, the prisoners started to chant the holy mantra of Shiva and immediately thereafter Shiva appeared and the demon was vanquished, later residing there in the form of a Jyotirlinga. The demon had a wife, a demoness named Daruka who worshipped Mata Parvati. As a result of her penance and devotion, Mata Parvati enabled her to master the forest where she performed her devotions, and renamed the forest 'Darukavana' in her honour. Wherever Daruka went the forest followed her. In order to save the demons of Darukavana from the punishment of the gods, Daruk summoned up the power Parvati had given her. She then moved the entire forest into the sea where they continued their campaign against the hermits, kidnapping people and keeping them confined in their new lair under the sea, which was how that great Shiva devotee, Supriya, had wound up there.
The arrival of Supriya caused a revolution. He set up a lingam and made the prisoners recite the mantra Om Namaha Shivay in honour of Shiva while he prayed to the lingam. The demons' response to the chanting was to attempt to kill Supriya, though they were thwarted when Shiva appeared and handed him a divine weapon that saved his life. Daruka and the demons were defeated and Parvati saved the remaining demons. The lingam that Supriya had set up was called Nagesha; it is the tenth lingam. Shiva once again assumed the form of a Jyotirlinga with the name Nageshwar, while the Goddess Parvati was known as Nageshwari. Shiva then announced that he would show the correct path to those who would worship him.
History of Nageshvara Jyotirlinga Temple / Nageshvara Jyotirlinga Temple / Lord Shiva Famous Temple
This is called Ashtam Jyotirlinga Sri Nageshwar Jyotirlinga. The current name of this city is Aundha and earlier its name was Darukavan. This place is located in the Aundha taluka of Hingoli district in Maharashtra.
In the establishment of this Jyotirliga, the legend of a demon and demoness named Daruka and Darukaa is told. In ancient times, there was a demon called Daruka who performed severe penance to please Parvati. Parvati was pleased with her penance and gave her a forest. This forest was very miraculous. He followed Daruka wherever she went. In this forest, Daruka lived with her husband Daruk. Both Daruka and Daruk were very proud of their power. These two were brutally torturing all the people. Many Brahmins were killed by him. Some Brahmins were banned.
A Brahmin among the banned Brahmins was a devotee of Shiva. In prison he started worshiping Lord Shankara. When the demon Daruk realized this, he threatened to kill the Brahmin Shiva devotee and left. After some time the Brahmin Shiva devotee started worshiping Shankara again. As soon as Daruka realized this, he came running. He broke the worship with a kick. He started killing Brahmins. After that all the Brahmins prayed to Shankara. At that moment Mahadev was pleased with his devotees and killed Daruka and the Daruka demons. Then Mahadev told the Brahmins that I will live here forever in the form of Nageshwar Jyotirlinga. The same place is today famous as Nagnath or Nagesh Jyotirlinga. The forest surrounding the temple is called Darukavan. Later on, a large Amardak lake was formed at this place. And Jyotirlinga was included in that lake.