NAGNANTH TEMPLE
NAGNANTH TEMPLE Amye sadange nagare.atiramye vibhuShitangam vividhaishcha bhogaih | sadbhaktimuktipradamishamekam shrInaganatham sharaNam prapadye ||
Purana of Aunda Nagnath temple
Pandavas came here during their Vanvas (life in forests) build a
hermitage for themselves. Their cows used to go to the same river bank
to drink water. After drinking wate, milk used to automatically flow
into the river as if the cows were offering to the river. One day Bhima
saw this miraculous event. He promptly told Dharmaraja about the same.
Then Dharmaraja said, "Surely, some great God must be living in this
river”. Then the Pandavas started removing the water from te river. The
middle part of the river was so hot that the water there was boiling.
Bheema lifted his mace attacked the river thrice. The water gave
way instantly. At the very moment , instead, blood started oozing like a
spring. Lord Shankara’s Linga could be seen as the JyotirLinga.
On the west coast in an area of 16 Yojanas Daruka and Daruk need
to live. The hermits were tired of being harassed by Daruk, and others.
So they went and sought refuge with Orvamuni, who in turn cursed the
Demons that they would be destroyed. The Devas launched an attack on the
Demons. Now, the Demons began to worry. Daruka, who received some
special boons from Parvati, lifted the entire forest, took it away on
the path of the sky and put it in the middle of the sea. Only then, did
the Demons relax and continue to live there. They used to go by boats
and capture the hermits and imprison them the island. Once, there was a
Shiva devotee by the name Supriya who was among the prisoners. He never
ate food or drank water without worshipping Shiva. He continued to do
Puja even while in prison.
When the guards informed their chief about his, he ordered that
Supriya be put to death. Then Supriya prayed to Lord Shankara for his
life. The Lord appeared before him immediately and destroyed the entire
group of demons including their families. The Lord laid open the entire
island for all the four classes of people for living. On the other land,
Parvati here granted a boon to Daruka. As a result, at the end of that
era, only Demons would be created and she would rule Daruka. Lord Shiva
accepted this. Then Shiva and Parvati stayed there. Shiva once again
assumed the form of JyotirLinga, with the name Nageshwar and Parvati was
known as Nageshwari.
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