New Delhi: At Koliyak, a village in Bhavnagar district of Gujarat, people reach out to Lord Shiva's temple about 1.5 kilometers into the sea. This temple is known as Nishkalank Mahadev temple. ‘Nishkalank' has many meanings - they are clean, pure, guiltless, to cleanse, to purify, etc. This temple is buried inside the sea. On a heavy tide day, all that can be seen are the flag and a pillar. The temple has 5 distinct swayumbu Shiva lingams inside. Each lingam has a Nandhi facing it. The lingams are spread across a square platform. There is a pond called Pandavas pond, where devotees first wash their hands and legs and only then they visit the shrines.One can visit this temple only two times in 24 hours.The legend of the temples goes that Lord Krishna had sent Pandavas to atone for their sins of Mahabharata war with a black flag and a cow with assurance, that when these two would turn white, their sins would be removed.The Pandavas arrived at this place, where the flag and the cow became white in color.Lord Shiva appeared and blessed the Pandavas after their meditation, and resided in the form of Shiva Linga here on a new moon night of Shravan month of Indian calendar. Pandavas worshipped the lingas.Hundreds of people including children walk the distance and worship the idols on day after the New Moon day.The New Moon day that comes in August and corresponds to the Hindu calendar month of Bhadra is of special importance, and people throng here in large numbers.The temple is about 2000 ft long and about 500 ft in height.There is a guest house for people coming from far locations in name of ‘Dharamshala'.Since it is near an isolate area, there are no facilities for food and treatment. The Aartis are performed at 6 30 am and 7 pm.
