 The Naagar community and Shree HATKESHWAR Mahadev are considered to be synonyms - inseparable. Wherever a Naagar family or community settles, there will invariably be The HATKESHWAR temple nearby.
There are many legends popular for the origin of Shree HATKESHWAR.
Once Lord Shiva, feeling lonely due to separation from Parvati, was moving nude. With his "Kapalpatra" (begging bowl) he came in the hermitage of Saints. The wives of Saints got attracted towards him and followed him. Knowing this, the Saints got very upset and cursed Lord Shiva that his organ should fall off from his body. It so happened and the organ went into deep earth. Many disturbances took place. Saints had not recognized Lord Shiva. So INDRA and other Gods came and prayed to almighty Lord Shiva to bear and attach the organ back to his body. Lord Shiva replied, "I can do so if the world worships it. Lord Brahma worshipped the organ and established one gold organ there ( HATAK means Gold). This temple was later known as HATKESHWAR temple. Legend has it that, the place where Lord Shiva had traveled for the reclaiming of the organ, produced a river flow which later was brought to the earth by the efforts of king Bhagirath & was known as Ganga.
As is mentioned in Skandapurana, a man gets much benefit and spiritual advantage when he worships and prays Lord HATKESHWAR with devotion and faith. It is said that during winter, when there is heavy snowfall in Himalayas, the Lord Kedarnath comes to HATKESHWAR temple of Vadnagar. There are many facets of Lady Parvati also, established in and around Vadnagar.
When Shukhdevji, son of Lord Vyas, left this world soon after birth, Shree Vedvyas and his wife Chetika had performed a difficult penance in the HATKESHWAR region to get a son and got Kapinjal as a son due to the blessings of Lord HATKESHWAR. The holy place of Pushkar in Ajmer also had its origin in the HATKESHWAR temple. Due to a request from a Saint Narad, Brahma desired to throw a lotus flower in such a place, which is the most sacred and where Kali has not entered. The Lotus after moving all around the world, fell in the HATKESHWAR place. So this region is famous as second Pushkar area also. The three best holy places of India are, Prabhas temple, the Kurukshetra and HATKESHWAR temple.
Saint Durvasa had established one Shiv-ling in the HATKESHWAR region and Saint Gautam had performed penance for 100 years to make the holy homage of HATKESHWAR for his son and wife.
Once there was a competition amongst eleven Saints of Kashi to have the first sighting of HATKESHWAR. All ran in the direction of Vadnagar to lead and come first. Lord HATKESHWAR felt happy and gave this sight (Darshan) to all the eleven Saints simultaneously.
HATKESHWAR based NAAGARS have a boon from LORD HATKESHWAR that, whatever they speak will happen. (However, no NAAGAR family is able to permanently settle in Vadnagar.) - due to curse from LORD HATKESHWAR.
In olden days, some Muslim kings attacked Vadnagar. This went on repeatedly. So people of Vadnagar decided to build a fort around the town to save themselves from the invasions. The senior and older citizens of the town advised to build the fort in such a way that the temple of LORD HATKESHWAR would be inside the fort and remain protected. For some reason, this could not materialize. So the temple ended up being outside the fort. Hence, LORD HATKESHWAR gave a curse to the Naagar community, "Just as you have kept me out of the town, you also will always be out of the town for ever.” Even today, the temple of LORD HATKESHWAR is situated outside the town. It is said that, no NAAGAR family has been able to
permanently settle in Vadnagar…!!
Naagars, although a sub-caste of Brahmins, are much different in many ways. While people of other castes worship other GODS, Naagars and Brahmins - intellect oriented as they are - worship LORD SHIVA. Even LORD SHIVA has two faces in his worship. (1 ). One face of SHIVA surrounded by ghosts - a frightful one, and (2 ) A perfect Tandav based beautiful face of LORD SHIVA. Even in this beautiful face of LORD SHIVA, two interpretations are available. One is destruction and the other new creation from destruction. SHIVA does not have any births - as LORD SHIVA is omnipresent and his idol is absolute. Even amongst these facets, LORD SHIVA's complexion of beauty and new creation is more positive. Naagars, in order to live nicely with their original cultural values, have started devotion of this lustrous and creative beautiful complexion. Only as a result of this, the life style of Naagars is more culture oriented and illustrious - much different from that of other communities.
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