Nageshwar near Dwarka in Gujarat is one of the 12 Jyotirlinga shrines of Shiva.The Jyotirlinga in the temple is known as Nageshwar Mahadev. The temple is visited by thousands of pilgrims every year. The Jyotirlinga situated in the temple is considered to protect everybody from all sort of poisons. It is believed that one who offers prayers in the temple becomes poison free. The temple is located between Dwarka and Dwarka island in Gujarat on the coast of Surat. According to the legends, a devotee called Supriya was attacked by a demon named Daaruka in a boat.
The demon imprisoned the devotee and several others in his capital called Daarukaavana. It is believed that Lord Shiva appeared in the form of Jyotirlinga and rescued the imprisoned and vanquished the demon. The Shivalingam in the temple faces South with the Gomugam facing East. There is a legend regarding the position of the idol. It is believed that a devotee called Naamdev was singing bhajans in praise of Lord Shiva and was asked by other devotees to stand aside and not to hide the image of Lord. On being asked to do so Naamdev argued and asked for one such direction where Lord is not present, this angered the devotees and they picked him up and placed him on the south side. To everyones astonishment even the Linga was then facing South with the Gomugam facing east. The other two temples dedicated to Nageshwar Jyotirlinga are situated near Audhgram near Purna and another near Almora in Uttar Pradesh. There are many more Jyotirlinga in India, named as Nageshwar Jyotirlinga. There have been many beliefs related to this fact. Jyotirlinga in Hyderabad and Andhra Pradesh is also famously known as Nageshwar Jyotirlinga. In Almoda, Jageshwar Shivalinga, is also popularly called Nageshwar Jyotirlings by the devotees. But in Shivapuran,the Jyotirlinga established in Dwarka is the only one considered as Nageshwar Jyotirlinga.According to many religious scriptures, Nagesh Dwarkavne is one of the 10 Jyotirlinga. This place today is well known as Jageshwar.
Recently some scholars found complementary evidences of the name Nageshwar from Hindu scriptures. Nag means snake. Panini, the famous grammatologist of 5th century BC has mentioned in his book Ganapatha that the region was known as Kutch,Saurastra and Anarta was the land of snakes.They were denizens of patallok and they used to come in this region. Nag girls were known for their beauty. Hindu scriputres narrate that King Yadu of Yadu clan fame was married to a Nag girl. Skand Puran mentions that the King Raivat of Kushsthali was an avtaar of Takshak Nag and he ruled over this region. Interestingly, Dwarka is also known as Kushsthali in Hindu scriptures.