Jyotirlinga

There are Twelve (12) temples called Jyotirlingas dedicated to Lord Eshwara in the form of Shiva Lingas. These temples are situated across India and are considered very sacred by Hindus. There is a belief that, all these twelve Jyothirlingas are to be visited in the month of November-December (Kartika Masam). Below are brief details of each Jyotirlinga. Somnath : Somnath is located at Prabhas Patan in Saurashtra in Gujarat. Rameshwaram : This vast temple in the island of Rameswaram, in Southern Tamilnadu enshrines Ramalingeswarar. Srisailam : Srisailam new Kurnool enshrines Mallikarjuna in an ancient temple rich in architectural and sculptural wealth. Ghrishneshwar : Jyotirlinga shrine, in Aurangabad Maharashtra, is located near the rock-cut temples of Ellora. Ujjain : The ancient and historic city of Ujjain or Avanti in Madhya Pradesh is home to the Jyotirlinga shrine of Mahakaleshwar Varanasi : Varanasi - The most celebrated pilgrimage site in India. TheVishwanath temple in Banaras in Uttar Pradesh is the goal of the thousands of pilgrims that visit this ancient city. Dwarka : Dwarka, in Gujrat, is one of the 12 Jyotirlinga shrines of Shiva. Bhimsankar : Bhimsankar is located in the Sahyadri hills ofMaharashtra, accessed from Pune. Trimbakeshwar : The origin of the river Godavari is intimately linked with this Jyotirlinga shrine near Nasik in Maharashtra. Omkareshwar : Omkareshwar, an island in the course of the riverNarmada in Madhya Pradesh, is home to the Omkareshwar Jyotirlinga shrine and the Amareshwar temple. Vaidyanath : Vaidyanath is located in the Santal Parganas area of Bihar. Kedarnath : Kedarnath nestled in the snow clad Himalayas. It is accessible only on foot, six months in a year.

Legend

According to Śiva Mahāpurāṇa, once Brahma (the God of creation) and Vishnu (the God of Preservation) had an argument over supremacy of creation.^[1] To test them, Shiva pierced the three worlds as a huge endless pillar of light, the jyotirlinga. Vishnu and Brahma split their ways to downwards and upwards respectively to find the end of the light in either directions. Brahma lied that he found out the end, while Vishnu conceded his defeat. Shiva appeared as a second pillar of light and cursed Brahma that he would have no place in ceremonies while Vishnu would be worshipped till the end of eternity. The jyotirlinga is the supreme partless reality, out of which Shiva partly appears. The jyothirlinga shrines thus are places where Shiva appeared as a fiery column of light.^[2][3] Originally there were believed to be 64 jyothirlingas while 12 of them are considered to be very auspicious and holy.^[1] Each of the twelve jyothirlinga sites take the name of the presiding deity, each considered a different manifestation of Shiva.^[4] At all these sites, the primary image is lingam representing the beginningless and endless Stambha pillar, symbolizing the infinite nature of Shiva.^[4][5][6] The twelve jyothirlinga are Somnath in Gujarat,Mallikarjuna at Srisailam in Andra Pradesh, Mahakaleswar at Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, Omkareshwar in Madhya Pradesh, Kedarnath in Himalayas, Bhimashankar in Maharashtra, Viswanath at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh,Triambakeshwar in Maharashtra, Vaidyanath Jyotirlinga at Deogarh in Jharkhand , Aundha Nagnath at Aundha Nagnath in Maharashtra, Rameshwar at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu and Grishneshwar at Ellora near Aurangabad, Maharashtra. Kedarnath and Pashupatinath (Nepal) are considered half jyotirlingas counted together as one. There is also one new Jyotirlinga shrine "Bhubaneswar-Bhubaneswari" temple at Mathurapur, P/O- Balarampur, near Sundarban, 24 Parganas (South), W.B.

Sanskrit Sloka[edit]

The following sloka (द्वादश ज्योतिर्लिंग स्तोत्रम् Dvādaśa Jyotirliṅga Stotram) describes the 12 Jyotirlingas:

Sanskrit	transliteration	translation
सौराष्ट्रे सोमनाथं च श्रीशैले मल्लिकार्जुनम्।	Saurāṣṭre Somanāthaṃ ca Śrīśaile Mallikārjunam	Somanath in Saurashtra and Mallikarjunam in Shri-Shailam;
उज्जयिन्यां महाकालमोङ्कारममलेश्वरम्॥	Ujjayinyāṃ Mahākālam Oṅkāram Amaleśvaram	Mahakaal in Ujjain, Omkareshwar in Amleshwar;
परल्यां वैद्यनाथं च डाकिन्यां भीमशङ्करम्।	Paralyāṃ Vaidyanāthaṃ ca Ḍākinyāṃ Bhīmaśaṅkaram	Vaidyanath in Paralya and Bhimashankaram in Dakinya;
सेतुबन्धे तु रामेशं नागेशं दारुकावने॥	Setubandhe tu Rāmeśaṃ Nāgeśaṃ Dārukāvane	Ramesham (Rameshwaram) in Sethubandh, Nagesham (Nageshwar) in Darauka-Vana;
वाराणस्यां तु विश्वेशं त्र्यम्बकं गौतमीतटे।	Vārāṇasyāṃ tu Viśveśaṃ Tryambakaṃ Gautamītaṭe	Vishwa-Isham (Vishvanath) in Vanarasi, Triambakam at bank of the river Gautami;
हिमालये तु केदारं घुश्मेशं च शिवालये॥	Himālaye tu Kedāraṃ Ghuśmeśaṃ ca Śivālaye	Kedar (Kedarnath) in Himalayas and Gushmesh (Gushmeshwar) in Shivalaya (Shiwar).
एतानि ज्योतिर्लिङ्गानि सायं प्रातः पठेन्नरः।	etāni jyotirliṅgāni sāyaṃ prātaḥ paṭhennaraḥ	One who recites these Jyotirlingas every evening and morning
सप्तजन्मकृतं पापं स्मरणेन विनश्यति॥	saptajanmakṛtaṃ pāpaṃ smaraṇena vinaśyati	is relieved of all sins committed in past seven lives.
एतेशां दर्शनादेव पातकं नैव तिष्ठति।	eteśāṃ darśanādeva pātakaṃ naiva tiṣṭhati	One who visits these, gets all his wishes fulfilled
कर्मक्षयो भवेत्तस्य यस्य तुष्टो महेश्वराः॥:	karmakṣayo bhavettasya yasya tuṣṭo maheśvarāḥ	and one's karma gets eliminated as Maheshwara gets satisfied to the worship.

Twelve Jyotirlingas

The names and the locations of 12 other Jyotirlinga's are mentioned in the Shiva Purana (Śatarudra Saṁhitā, Ch.42/2-4). These shrines are:

#	Jyotirlinga	Image	State	Location	Description
1	Somnath		Gujarat	Prabhas Patan,Saurashtra	Somnath is traditionally considered the first pilgrimage site: the Dwadash Jyotirlinga pilgrimage begins with the Somnath Temple. The temple, that was destroyed and re-built sixteen times, is held in reverence throughout India and is rich in legend, tradition, and history. It is located at Prabhas Patan (Somnath - Veraval) in Saurashtra region of Gujarat state in western India.
2	Mallikārjuna Swāmi		Andhra Pradesh	Srisailam	Mallikārjuna, also called Śrīśaila, is located on a mountain in Kurnool District in Rayalaseema.[7] It enshrines Mallikarjuna in an ancient temple that is architecturally and sculpturally rich. It is a place where Shakti peetha and Jyotirlingam are together. Adi Shankara composed his Sivananda Lahiri here.[citation needed].
3	Mahakaleshwar		Madhya Pradesh	Ujjain	Mahakal, Ujjain (or Avanti) in Madhya Pradesh is home to the Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga temple. The Lingam at Mahakal is believed to beSwayambhu, the only one of the 12 Jyotirlingams to be so. It is also the only one facing south and also the temple to have a Shree Yantra perched upside down at the ceiling of the Garbhagriha(where the Shiv Lingam sits). It is a place where Shakti peeta and Jyotirlingam are together.
4	Omkareshwar		Madhya Pradesh	Island in theNarmada River,Omkareshwar	Omkareshwar is in Madhya Pradesh on an island in the Narmada River and home to a Jyotirlinga shrine and the Mamaleshwar temple.
5	Kedarnath		Uttarakhand	Kedarnath	Kedarnath in Uttarakhand is revered as the northernmost and the closest Jyotirlinga to Lord Shiva's eternal abode of Mount Kailash. It is considered to be half jyotirlinga along withPashupatinath in Nepal. Kedarnath forms a part of the smaller Char Dham pilgrimage circuit of Hinduism. Kedarnath, nestled in the snow-cladHimalayas, is an ancient shrine, rich in legend and tradition. It is accessible only for six months a year. It is also one of the Padal Petra Stalam ofVada Naadu mentioned in Thevaaram. Shiva assumed the form of wild boar and dived into the earth at Kedarnath to emerge at Pashupatinath. Pure ghee is applied at Kedarnath lingam as the boar was injured.
6	Bhimashankar		Maharashtra	Bhimashankar	Bhimashankar is very much debated. There is a Bhimashankara temple near Pune (pictured) in Maharashtra, which was referred to as Daakini country, but Kashipur in Uttarakhand was also referred to as Daakini country in ancient days and a Bhimashkar Temple known as Shree Moteshwar Mahadev is present there. Another Bhimashankar is in the Sahyadri range of Maharashtra. The Bhimashankar temple[8] near Guwahati, Assam is the jyotirlinga according to Sivapuran. According to "LINGA PURAN", Bhimasankar temple in Bhimpur near Gunupur of Rayagada district in South Orissa is also believed as Bhimasankar Jyotirlinga, which is situated at the western part of the holy Mahendragiri mountains and at the river bank of Mahendratanaya(which is also believed as the Daakini area by many historian), was excavated in the year 1974, having quadrangular Shakti around the Linga and decorated by a Upavita as per the puran.[9]
7	Kashi Vishwanath Temple		Uttar Pradesh	Varanasi	The Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh is home to the Vishwanath Jyotirlinga shrine, which is perhaps the most sacred of Hindu shrines. It is also one of the Padal Petra Stalam ofVada Naadu mentioned in Thevaaram. The temple is situated in Varanasi the holiest existing place of Hindus, where at least once in life a Hindu is expected to do pilgrimage, and if possible, also pour the remains of cremated ancestors on the River Ganges. The temple stands on the western bank of the holy riverGanges, and is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas. In fact, it is a place where Shakti peeta and Jyotirlingam are together. It is the holiest of all Shiva temples. The main deity is known by the name Vishwanath or Vishweshwara meaning Ruler of the universe. The temple town, which claims to be the oldest living city in the world, with 3500 years of documented history, is also calledKashi.
8	Trimbakeshwar Shiva Temple		Maharashtra	Trimbakeshwar, near Nashik	The Trimbakeshwar Temple, near Nasik in Maharashtra, is a Jyotirlinga shrine associated with the origin of the Godavari River.
9	Vaidyanath Temple		Jharkhand	Deoghar	Baijanath Jyotirlinga Temple (also known as Vaidyanath Dham) is located in Deoghar, Jharkhand. In the month of Shravana millions of devotee visit the temple. It is believed that once Ravan worshipped Shiva for years and requested Shiva to come to Lanka. Shiva manifested as shivaling and asked Ravan to not put it down anywhere until he takes it to Lanka. Vishnu intercepted Ravana in between and convinced him to keep it for sometime. Since then Shiva resides as Vaijanath in Deoghar.
10	Nageshvara Jyotirlinga		Gujarat	Dwaraka	Nageshvara Jyotirlinga is one of the 12 Jyotirlinga shrines mentioned in the Shiva Purana (Śatarudra Saṁhitā,Ch.42/2-4, referred as "nagesham darukavane"). Nageshvara is believed as the first Jyotirlinga on the earth. There are three major shrines in India which are believed as identical to this Jyotirlinga. Those are the Jageshwar temple near Almora in Uttarakhand state, the Nageshwara temple near Dwaraka in Gujarat state and the Nagnath temple in Aundha in Maharashtra state.
11	Rameshwar		Tamil Nadu	Rameswaram	Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu is home to the vast Ramalingeswarar Jyotirlinga temple and is revered as the southernmost of the twelve Jyotirlinga shrines of India. It enshrines theRameśvara ("Lord of Rama") pillar.[7] It is also one of the Padal Petra Stalam of Pandya Naadumentioned in Thevaaram.
12	Grishneshwar		Maharashtra	Aurangabad	Grishneshwar Jyotirlinga is one of the 12 Jyotirlinga shrines mentioned in the Shiva Purana (kotirudra sahinta,Ch.32-33 referred as "Grishneshwar Jyotirlinga"). Grishneshwar is believed as the Last or 12th (twelfth) Jyotirlinga on the earth. This pilgrimage site is located at a village called Verul which lies at a distance of 11 km from Daulatabad and 30 km from Aurangabad. It lies at a close proximity to the Ellora caves.