Nageshwar Jyotirling:
Shree Nageshwar jyotirlinga or Nagnath temple is located on the route between Gomati Dwaraka and the Bait Dwaraka island on the coast of Gujrat state in India. Nageshwara is believed to be known as ‘Darukavana’, which is an ancient name of a forest in the subcontinent.
However, there are two other sites with the same name in India. One in the state of Andhra Pradesh and the other in Uttar Pradesh.
There are two legends about this temple. We know that Lord Shiva is coiled with snakes around his neck. The name Nageshwar literally means the god of snakes(nag-cobras\snakes).
It is believed that Shri Krishna used to pray Lord Shiva in this place and used to perform rudrabhishekham, which is the favorite form of worship to Lord Shiva. It is also believed that Shree Shankaracharya founded Kalika peeth, his western math in this place.
According to the first legend,`Balakhilyas` or dwarf sages worshipped Lord Shiva in this place with sincerity and discipline. The Lord wanted to test the saints and disguised himself as a naked aesthetic with only snakes on him. He was very attractive and the wives of sages went after him leaving the sages behind.
This made the sages angry and they cursed the aesthetic sage that he would lose his linga. Because of this, the lingam fell on the ground from the saint and the world started shaking terribly. Lord Vishnu and Brahma prayed Shiva to save the world from destruction. Lord Shiva promised his divine presence in the Daarukavan as jyotirlinga forever.
Another legend:
There lived a demon couple named Daaruka and Daaruki in this region. Daaruki was a devotee of Parvati and was blessed by her. The couple misused the powers and started torturing people living in that place including a dear devotee of Lord Shiva named Supriya.
The demon imprisoned Supriya and many others in the capital Daarukavana, which was named after this demon couple. Supriya insisted all others to chant `Om Namah Shivaya` so that they would be saved by the lord. This angered the demons and they came running to kill Supriya.
Suddenly lord Shiva came out of the ground in the form of a lingam but could not kill the demons because they were blessed by Parvati but assured the devotees that he would protect them. Thus devotees believe worshipping Nageshwar lingam would save them from demons and evils of the world.
