Jageshwar Dham is situated in Almora district, which holds great religious significance and is serene for Hindus. It is 35km away from Almora at an elevation of 1870m. Jageshwar dham is considered the 8th amoung twelve Jyotirlingas in India. It is believed to be sacred to Lord Shiva. Many devotees visit this spiritual place, as it is about 2500 years old and one of the oldest temples in India. Jageshwar dham ranges in the period from8th century to 18th century.
The towering thousands-year-old deodar guarding the temples also seems to be coming from the time when Lord Shiva meditated amongst them. It is believed that it is here, from where worshipping Shiva in the form of Linga started.
Apart from the pristine aura and the sacred chants, the air of Jageshwar Dham blooms with enigma. It is said that these temples were built between the 7th and 11th centuries, though the architecture style resembles the styles of the 5th century. I even got to know that these temples were first built with wood, but who built them is unknown.
The temple has stunning examples of architecture in Uttarakhand, with 124 temples, both large and small, dedicated to Mahadev. The melodious sound of the Jata Ganga stream flowing and birds chirping makes the aura of the place mesmerizing.
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Your mind becomes calm, and you feel relaxed, just like you want to be there for hours and hours. There are many other temples inside Jageshwar Dham: Mrityunjay Temple, Hanuman Temple, Surya Temple, Neelkanth Temple, Temple Dedicated to the Nine Planets (Navagrahas), Pushti Mata Temple, Lakulisa Temple, Batuk Bhairav Temple, Navadurga Temple, and Kedarnath Temple inside it make an epic holy place.
The folklore says that they used to build the temples in one night. Strangely, they worked during the night so that nobody saw them. I wondered what was so secretive, but nobody knew the answer to my curiosity. Isn’t it splendid? This clandestine work of the builders of Jageshwar Dham truly needs to be researched!
After the exhilarating blind turns, the daunting combes, and the unending merry-go-round with the mountains, when we reached Jageshwar Dham, we could feel the sacred aura there.
His rage had shaken the world, but when he realized the destruction of his tandava, he settled in Vridh Jageshwar Dham (the other name of Jageshwar Dham) for meditation. So when the wives of the Saptrishis came to the forest to take wood for fire, they were charmed by his divine aura and turned unconscious near him.When the seven wives of the rishis didn’t return in the evening, they came looking for them.
They roared with fury and cursed himESH for their plight. But as they had acted in haste without knowing the truth, Lord Shiva cursed them to hang in the sky. The temple has two armed guardians at the door, Nandi and Skandi. Before that , Jageshwar Dham used to be a major stopover when people had to trek to the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.
Do visit Jageshwar Dham to feel the blessings of Lord Shiva
