After the short trek in the morning, we visited Jageshwar later in the day. Jageshwar is a Hindu pilgrim dedicated to Lord Shiva & is at a distance of 35KMs from Almora. Nestled between tall Deodar trees lies this small town where more than 100 small temples are grouped in one premise. Constructed in ‘Nagara’ architecture (temple shikhars in the shape of bee hive), the temples date back to eight and ninth centuries.
Inside the Jageshwar temple premises, smaller temples are dedicated to other gods & goddesses – Vishnu, Hanuman, Lakshmi and more. A light (akhanda jyoti) burns continuously 24/7 in one of the temples & I was told that it’s burning since ages & is still maintained. And a small stream which flows beside the premise adds serenity to the place.
Couple of kilometers from Jageshwar is Dandeshwar temple, another shrine of Lord Shiva. This premise is smaller in size and four-five temples are there along with the main Dandeshwar temple. Both the premises are maintained by ASI (Archaeological Survey of India).
One peculiar sign we observed on almost all the temples was the three faced sculpture on the temple shikharas in both Jageshwar & Dandeshwar. When we enquired about the same with the priests, we didn’t get any appropriate answer. And along with this one irritating issue we came across in the temple were the priests. They are no less than any of dacoits in extorting money from the tourists and devotees.
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Very nice Prashanth.
interesting..the three figure..will check with a friend of mine who knows a bit abt sculptures
Nice post. They have a slightly different three face sculpture of Shiva in the Elephenta caves. That is supposed to represent the creator, destroyer and yogi side of Lord Shiva.
@Anant, thanks.
@Lakshmi, let me know if you get any info on three faces
@Vamsee, as far my understanding the 3 faces are of trimurthis – Brahma, Vishnu & Maheshwar representing creator, conserver & destroyer respectively. But that doesn't make sense in a Shiva temple and above three faces are not of trimurthis.
And as far three sides of Lord Shiva – I haven't heard of it!