Place · jyotirlinga temple · India
Nāgesha / Nāgeshvara
/naːɡeːɕʋɐrɐ/
What it says: Nageshvara is the Jyotirlinga of Shiva as lord of the nagas or serpents. Its principal claimed location is Nageshwar near Dwarka on the Saurashtra coast of Gujarat, where Shiva is said to have manifested to protect a devotee named Supriya from the demon Daruka. The identification is contested by Aundha Nagnath in Hingoli district of Maharashtra, and a third claim locates it at Jageshwar in Almora district of Uttarakhand. The Shiva Purana verses can be read to support each site.
- Periods
- Classical and Puranic Age, Regional Flourishing, Islamic Age and Bhakti Traditions, Early Modern Age, British Colonial Age, Republic and Living Practice
- Function
- Sacred site & pilgrimage
- Tradition
- Shiva Purāna
- Confidence
- Qualified / contested
- Location
- 22.336, 69.086
Worth knowing
A 25 metre statue of Shiva in Padmasana posture, one of the largest in India, stands beside the Gujarat temple. The Aundha Nagnath temple in Maharashtra is a Hemadpanti-style structure of the Yadava period and is significant in the Marathi Warkari devotional circuit as a stop associated with Sant Namdev. Jageshwar in Uttarakhand houses a cluster of over 100 stone temples of the Katyuri and Chand periods and is treated by Kumaon tradition as the original Nageshvara.
The identification of the true Nageshvara Jyotirlinga is not resolved, and each of the three sites maintains its claim. Pilgrimage guides list the Gujarat site most commonly, but the Maharashtra and Uttarakhand claims have longstanding textual and traditional support and cannot be dismissed as later interpolations.
Connections (4)
- Alternative toNagnath, Hingoli
Aundha Nagnath in Hingoli contests the Saurashtra site's claim to be the true Nageshvara. Its Hemadpanti temple of the Yadava period is associated with Namdev of the Varkari tradition, who is said to have been turned away from the front door and to have had the temple turn round to face him — so the Marathi claim carries a bhakti story about caste as well as an architectural one, and the identification remains open.
- Alternative toJāgeśwar
Jageshwar in Almora district of Uttarakhand is the third claimant, treated by Kumaon tradition as the original Nageshvara. Its cluster of over 100 stone temples of the Katyuri and Chand periods forms one of the most concentrated ancient Shaiva sites in the Himalayas, linking the contested Jyotirlinga to Kumaon architectural heritage.
- Mythic sequenceMount Kailāsa
Ravana is said to have carried a linga south from Kailasa and to have been tricked into setting it down, at which point it could not be lifted again — a story used to explain the origin of shrines from Gokarna to Deoghar to Vaidyanath. Each of the rival Nageshvara and Vaidyanatha sites draws on some version of it. The narrative is portable by design: it lets any southern shrine claim direct descent from the mountain without a lineage or a text.
- Jyotirlinga withOmkāreshvara
Omkareshwar and Nageshwara are two of the twelve Shiva Jyotirlingas, in Madhya Pradesh (Narmada island) and Gujarat (Dwarka coast) respectively — the pair that frames the Jyotirlinga circuit's westernmost reach. The traditional pilgrimage lists treat the twelve Jyotirlingas as one network and encourage completing the circuit; Omkareshwar and Nageshwara's westward positions make them common stopping points on the Dwarka-to-Mahakaleshwar route.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Nageshwar Jyotirlinga”. The Śiva Purāṇa, Koṭirudra Saṃhitā; and the temple establishments’ own published records.
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