The Nageswara Mahadeva temple is considered to be one of the twelve important jyotirlingams. Jyotirlingam actually means a column of light in the shape of a linga. The first jyotirlingam was an immeasurable column of light made by Lord Shiva in order to prove his superiority over the tri-murtis (Brahma, Vishnu and Mahadeva). Brahma and Vishnu were astonished to see this light. A voice emanated from the column asking each of them to find out the depth and height of the column of light. Vishnu opted to go down while Brahma chose to go up. Vishnu in the form of Varaha (the cosmic boar) went down for eons and could not discover the source of the light. He came up and declared his inability to do so. Brahma aslo went up for eons and also failed to discover the beginning of the light. As he was coming down disappointed, he saw a keora flower which was falling down from Shiva’s locks. He begged her to swear that she had seen him at the top. She agreed reluctantly. Brahma swore to Shiva that he had seen the top of the column of light and the keora flower nodded her head. Shiva was furious and cursed Brahma that he would never have any temples in his name and no one would worship him. He told the keora flower that henceforth she would never be used in his puja. She begged for forgiveness and he relented and said that she could be used outside the temple for decoration. Shiva also declared that Vishnu would be worshipped for all eternity and have many temples in his name.

The jyotirlingas commemerate this event and they denote the supreme indivisible reality from which Shiva appears. The first appearance is supposed to have happened in Thiruvannamali in Tamil Nadu and is still celebrated by lighting a huge bonfire on top of the hill every pournamai in the month of Kartika (November).

There are actually sixty-four jyotirlingas out of which twelve are considered to be specially auspicious. Each of these jyotiringas takes the name of the presiding deity and each is considered to be a separate manifestaton of Shiva. The twelve jyotirlingas are Somnath is Gujarat, Mallikarjuna in Srisailam, Andhra Pradesh, Mahakaleswara at Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, Omkareswara in Madhya Pradesh, Kedarnath in the Himalayas, Bhimshankara in Maharashtra, Kasi Viswanatha at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Triambakeshwar in Maharashtra, Vaidyanatha at Deogarh in Jharkhand, Nageswara in Dwaraka, Rameshwara at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu, and Grishneshwara in Aurangabad in Maharashtra.


The Shiva Purana says that the Nageshvara Jyotirlinga is in 'Darukavana', which is forest mentioned in many puranas. The Pandavas are supposed to have spent some time there during their twelve years of exile. Once there was a demon called Daruka who had a wife called Daaruki who worshipped Parvati. Seeing her great devotion Parvati gave her a boon that the forest in which she performed her tapas would be called Darukavana in her honour and wherever she went the forest would follow her. In order to save the demons from punishment from the gods she removed the forest into the sea from where they started to harass the hermits and other devotees of Shiva whom they caught and confined in their under water lair. Her husband, Daruka once attacked a Shiva devotee called Supriya and imprisoned him along with many others in his city of Darukavana, under the sea inhabited by sea snakes and demons. Supriya made a lingam and urged all the prisoners to chant the five lettered mantra of Shiva, „AumNamashivaaya“. Shiva appeared and gave him a divine weapon that saved his life. The demons were killed. The lingam was given the name of Nageshwara. Parvati was known as Nageswari. This is the 10th of the jyotirlingas.  It has the power to take away the effects of all types of poisonous bites by snakes and insects. All Shiva temples have the gomukham, or the channel through which the water  is poured over the deity, facing north. Here it is facing east. It is said that once a devotee called Namadev was singing bhajans in front of the Lord. Some other devotees asked him to stand to a side so that he would not hide the lingam. Namadev promptly asked them to show him one direction in which the Lord does not exist. This angered them and they promptly carried him and dumped him on the south side. To their surprise they found that the lingam now turned to the south so that the gomukham faced east.

This temple is located on the road leading from Dwaraka proper to the island of Bet Dwaraka. I went there on my return from Bet Dwaraka.

The compound is dominated by a huge statue of Shiva. I knew that the lingam was inside a cave but it was all built up so that the cave was covered by a huge modern structure. From the door to the cave people were selling puja things at exorbitant rates without which you were not allowed to enter the cave. Even after buying you were held up just before entering the cave by priests who demanded more money for various purposes. This was the only temple in Gujarat to which I had so far gone that this has happened so I was really sad. However having come all this way I was determined to get in even if I had to pay. Once inside I was overpowered by the peace and purity of the place.The lingam was of sandstone I think and was possibly being eroded so they had covered it with glass. There was a hole on top through which we could do abhishekam and offer flowers etc. Only about ten people would be let in at a time since there was no place inside the cave. Unfortunately the priest kept shouting at some of those who had entered with me for some offence or other. Anyway I finished my own puja and got out before he started shouting at me. I had come here after Bet Dwaraka so it was a marked contrast. Anyway it was all a lesson in acceptance I suppose and I accepted it as such.

Grishneswara is the twelfth and last of the jyotirlingas. It is situated close to the famous caves of Ellora. Once there was a Brahmin called Sudharma who had a wife called Sudeha. They had no children and so his wife asked him to marry her niece, Ghrishna in order to get a son. She was a great devotee of Lord Shiva and she made a vow that she would make one hundred and one lingams of Shiva daily and worship them. At the end of her puja she would immerse the lingams in the pond near by. After having completed one lakh of pujas she conceived and got a lovely baby boy. As can be expected her aunt’s nature changed with the birth of the child and one day she killed the baby and threw the body into the pond in which the lingams were immersed. Next morning Ghrishna got up and started her daily ritual of worshipping Shiva. She refused to be distracted even when her husband announced the disappearance of the baby. At the end of her puja, Shiva who was pleased with her devotion restored the baby to her. When he raised his trident to kill her aunt, Ghrishna begged him to spare her life and asked for the boon that he would stay near the pond in the form of a lingam. He agreed and this lingam is known as




The lingam is a formless figure representing the beginingless and endless nature of Shiva, the Absolute.

A jyotir-lingam is a shrine where Lord Shiva is worshipped in the form of a jyoti or radiance. Traditionally there are twelve jyotirlingams in India. Out of these six of them are to be found in Maharashtra. Fortunate indeed are the people who are lucky enough to visit all twelve at some point of time in their lives.

The origin of these jyotirlingams is to be found in a story in the Shiva Mahapurana. The Trinity in Hinduism is known as Brahma, the creator, Vishnu, the preserver and Shiva, the destroyer. Once it is said that Brahma and Vishnu had an argument as to which of the three was superior. In the midst of this argument, Shiva took the form of a huge pillar of light or jyotirlingam and asked Brahma and Vishnu to find out the beginning and end of this pillar of light. Brahma went upwards for thousands of years but failed to find the source. Vishnu went down and returned without discovering the end of this pillar. Shiva asked Brahma if he had seen the top and he untruthfully said that he had. He asked Vishnu if he had reached the bottom and Vishnu said he could not find out where the light ended. Shiva cursed Brahma that nobody would worship him and that no temples would ever be built for him!

The place where this first jyotirlingam manifested was on the holy hill known as Annamalai around which grew the city called Tiruvannamali in Tamil Nadu. This is the first of the jyotirlingas and Shiva is known as Arunachala at this place. Originally there were supposed to be 64 jyotirlingas in India but out of these 12 are considered to be most important.

These twelve jyotirlingas are Somnatha in Gujarat, Mallikarjuna at Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh, Mahakaleswar in Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, Omkareshwara in Madhya Pradesh, Kedarnatha in Uttarakhand, Bhimashankara in Pune, Maharashtra, Vishwanatha in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh,  Tryambakeshwara at Nasik in Maharashtra, Vaidyantha in Deoghar in Jharkhand, Nagesha near Dwaraka in Maharashtra, Rameshwara at Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu and Grishneshwara near Ellora in Maharashtra. It is said that those who are in a higher state of consciousness can see the column of light emanating from these jyotirlingas, connecting them to the Shiva consciousness.

About 30 km to the west of Aurangabad is the village of Verul in which is situated the famous Ellora caves. The 12th jyotirlinga called Grishneshwar is also found in this village. This is the last of the jyotirlingas and a visit to this is compulsory for those who wish to make a round of all the 12. Originally this was a settlement of the Naga tribe. The village of Verul is situated on the banks of the river called Yelaganga. The legend goes that once the king called Yela went hunting. He killed some animals which belonged to the sages who were living in the forest. The sages cursed him that his body would become infested with insects. He wandered all alone in the forest, in great distress. Once his throat was parched with thirst. He found a small bit of water made by the hooves of a horse. As soon as the king drank the water, the insects left his body. The king did severe tapas at that place. Lord Brahma appeared and created a lake nearby. This is the place which later came to be known as Shivalaya. The river Yelagana flows near it.

According to the Shiva Purana, a Brahmin called Sudharma lived at this place along with his wife Sudeha. The couple was childless. Both of them undertook many types of rituals in order to get a child but all in vain. At last Sudeha begged her husband to take her sister, Ghushma as a second wife. She told Ghushma to worship Shiva with 101 lingas every day and immerse them into the lake at the end of her worship. With the blessings of Lord Shiva, Ghushma conceived and gave birth to a baby boy. Even though she was the one who encouraged her husband to marry her sister, Sudeha became bitterly jealous of her own sister and one night she killed the baby and threw him into the lake into which Ghushma used to immerse her 101 lingas. In the morning the couple were devastated when they discovered that their son was missing. Undeterred even by this unbearable sorrow Ghushma continued her usual worship of 101 lingas. At the end of her worship Shiva restored her son. He appeared before her and told her to ask for a boon. She begged him to remain at that spot in the form of a jyotirlinga for the benefit of humanity and to take on her name. This is the famous jyotirlingam called Grishneshwara. The word Grishneshwara also means “the Lord of compassion.”

The temple is an exquisite work of art. Of course it was also devastated during the Moghul rule but was renovated by the famous queen Ahalyabai Holkar of Indore in the 18th century. There is a beautiful hall in front of the linga with a huge figure of Nandi. The ten incarnations of Vishnu are carved around the temple.

One has to go down a few steps from the hall to reach the sanctum which is on a lower level. The lingam is quite small.


My visit to Ellora was actually prompted by my desire to visit Grishneshwara which is the 12th jyotirlingam to which I had not gone. Needless to say I ran to the temple as soon as we reached Ellora. It was sunset time, the time for arati and the temple was crowded. I must admit I was a bit disappointed.  However I was prompted to go again in the morning and had a wonderful darshana. There was no one around and I could go in and pour water over the lingam in the ritual called abhishekam and offer flowers and bel leaves to him. The priest hardly noticed me as I sat in a corner of the sanctum blissfully filled with the compassion of the Lord.

Aum Namashivaaya!