JAGESHWAR DHAM : A Memorable journey to the pristine abode of lord Shiva

After darshan at Chitai Golu Devta Temple we proceed to our next destination which was Jageshwar Dham. Jageshwar is a hindu pilgrimage town in Almora district, Uttarakhand, India dedicated to lord Shiva believed to carry one of the jyotirlinga i.e. Nagesh Jyotirlinga which is the eight one among the twelve Jyotirlinga which has phenomenal religious value. Jageshwar Dham comprises of 124 large and small stone temple dating 9 to 13th century A.D.  Jageshwar Temple is one of the oldest Shiva temple in India located at an altitude of 1870 meters along with the Jataganga river valley adjacent to the deodar forests.

Jageshwar Temple

The journey to Jageshwar dham itself is a treat to the eyes full of natural beauty, untouched and pristine environment. I grew up with this landscape, it just refreshes all my childhood memories altogether.




All the above beautiful landscape pics I took somewhere on way from Chitai to Jageshwar Dham from my mobile camera 

It gives an amazing feeling when you enter the Jageshwar Dham surrounded with thick, lush green Deodar forests all around. The peaceful and pristine environment takes you to some other world which is untouched and beautiful. It channels peace and tranquility to mind and body.

When we reached Jageshwar Dham I noticed the market area was not that full fledged. Usually, we used to go there during the Hindu calendar month of Shravan when the Jageshwar monsoon festival took place between 15 July to 15 August and the annual Mahashivratri mela which takes place during the spring. During these occassion the market is full with the vendors with their stalls and huge number of devotees came for darshan. Jageshwar Dham has very spiritual significance among the devotees in the kumaon region.


Stalls in the Jageshwar Dham

Rudraksha beads
    Before entering the temple we bought the prasad thali which was of Rs 100. You can pay Rs100 after visiting temple and return the plate to the shopkeeper.

Entrance of the Jageshwar Temple
                    

After that we went inside the temple and washed our hands and feet. Shoe racks area and drinking water facility is on the left side as you enter the temple.

Shoe racks

Drinking water
First we went towards the main temple for the prayer. There was not so much of rush still some people are so impatient they believe in jumping over the people to get the darshan first. I don't understand why people behave like this in such a serene place. There was an aunty behind me, she was literally falling over me to get the attention of Pandit, then pandit ji told her to wait for her turn. Still she was so impatient she somehow adjusted herself beside me.
After darshan and taking prasad we went outside and clicked some photographs and visited the other temples.

Main Temple: Jyotirlinga Jageshwar temple
                                

Just a random pic

It just fascinating to see the architecture of such a huge temple....How people in that era would have built such temples without any modern facilities

Here also I met a Body Builder Monkey (Haha)




Hanuman Temple
                              
Archaeological Museum Jageshwar

There is one Archaeological Museum in the market area in Jageshwar Dham which is also good. This time we didn't go there as we have been there earlier.

One thing I forget to tell you that there is also a small pond with lotus plants in the temple premises. After coming out of the temple and returning the plate to the vendor we went towards our car. We also bought some chips packet to eat as we were hungry by that time. We decide not to have food at jageshar instead to have lunch at Panwanaula ( which is on the way to almora). We had lunch at Panwanaula and went towards home.

How to reach Jageshwar Dham from Almora:


  • Jageshwar is 35.5 km from almora
  • Via L.R Sah road almora take right turn to takula by pass-NTD- Chitayi-Barechina-Panwanuala- Jageshwar.






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