Nageshvara Jyotirlinga Temple

The Shiva Purana tells the story of the Nagesha Jyotirlinga in chapters 29 and 30 of its Kotirudra Samhita, and the popular Dvadasha Jyotirlinga stotra recalls it in the line 'Nagesham Darukavane', 'Nagesha in the forest of Daruka'. In most lists it is counted as the tenth of the twelve Jyotirlingas.

Where Darukavana lay has been debated for centuries. The Shiva Purana describes the demons' forest as lying along the western ocean and stretching sixteen yojanas, and this is the main reason the shrine on Gujarat's Arabian Sea coast, between Dwarka and Beyt Dwarka, is identified with the Jyotirlinga. The economist and Sanskrit translator Bibek Debroy, retelling the chapter, notes that its exact geography is hard to pin down. The Devbhumi Dwarka district administration describes the site as the place believed to have been known as Darukavana.

Two other temples hold the same tradition. Jageshwar near Almora in Uttarakhand links 'Darukavana' with 'daruvana', a forest of deodar (devdaru) trees, which grow abundantly there. Aundha Nagnath in Hingoli district, Maharashtra, cites the Dvadasha Jyotirlinga stotra attributed to Adi Shankaracharya, which praises 'Naganath' in a city called Sadanga in the south, understood as an old name of Aundha. Each tradition rests on a reading of scripture, and the question remains open.

No documented building history of the old shrine near Dwarka survives in published sources. Before its modern rebuilding it was a small temple that pilgrims describe as having fallen into poor condition. The present temple complex was funded by Gulshan Kumar, founder of the T-Series music company, who, according to widely repeated accounts, decided to rebuild it while on a pilgrimage to all twelve Jyotirlingas. Gulshan Kumar was killed in Mumbai in 1997; a portrait of him hangs near the temple entrance. The new building was raised over the old one, and the original sanctum was kept in place below ground level.

Today the temple is a regular stop on the Dwarka pilgrim circuit, usually visited on the way between Dwarka's Dwarkadhish temple, one of the four Char Dham, and Beyt Dwarka, which has been linked to the mainland at Okha by the Sudarshan Setu road bridge since 2024. With Somnath, it is one of the two Jyotirlingas in Gujarat.

The present Nageshvara temple is a modern building in red and white, raised in the late 20th century over the old shrine. Gujarat Tourism describes a large hall that leads to the main sanctum at its far end. According to the Government of India's Incredible India portal, the plan follows Vastu Shastra and is based on the reclining (shayana) posture of the human body, with the sanctum placed at the head.

The garbhagriha lies below ground level, and devotees step down into it for darshan, an arrangement unusual among the Jyotirlingas. The Jyotirlinga is of a stone known as Dwarka shila, marked with small chakra-like circles, and is often compared to a three-faced (tri-mukhi) rudraksha. Pilgrims point out that the lingam faces south while the gomukh (the spout that drains the abhishek water) faces east. An image of the goddess Nageshvari (Parvati) is worshipped in the sanctum with the lingam.

The grounds are dominated by a seated statue of Shiva about 25 metres (roughly 80 feet) high, visible from far across the flat coastal land, with a large garden and pond. A statue of Durga added during the renovation faces the main shrine, and a smaller image of Shiva's family sits beneath a banyan tree.