12 Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva

12 Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva

As we all know  Lord Shiva is worshipped in the form of Linga all over India.However, there are 12 jyotirlingas of lord shiva which are most revered and worshipped far and wide .Here we are going to list those 12 jyotirlingas and their significance.

1.Somnath (Gujarat)

The Somnath temple located in Prabhas Patan near Veraval in Saurashtra on the western coast of Gujarat, India, is the first among the twelve Jyotirlinga shrines of Shiva.It is an important pilgrimage and tourist spot. The temple is considered sacred due to the various legends connected to it. Somnath means “Lord of the Soma”, an epithet of Shiva. 

2.Mallikarjuna Jyotirlinga (Andhra Pradesh)

Mallikarjuna, also called Srisaila, is the name of the pillar located on a mountain on the river Krishna. Srisailam, near Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh enshrines Mallikarjuna in an ancient temple that is architecturally and sculpturally rich. Adi Shankara composed his Sivananda Lahiri here.

3.Mahakaleshwar (Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh)

Mahakal, Ujjain (or Avanti) in Madhya Pradesh is home to the Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga temple. The Lingam at Mahakal is believed to be Swayambhu, 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 Garbha Graha (where the Shiv Lingam sits).

4.Mamleshwar (Omkareshwar, Madhya Pradesh)

Mamleshwar Jyotirlinga temple is a protected Ancient Monument with good architectural stone work. Since the time of Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar who expired in 1795, 22 Brahim paid by the Holker state, daily performed Lingarchan Puja. Each Brahmin was Provided with a wooden board having 1300 little holes. In each they put very small miniature clay lingam to represent Shiva Lingas and when nearly 14300 lingas were manufacture and worshipped, they used to be submerges in the Narmada. In the early part of the 20th century the number of Brahmins was reduced to 11 and at present the number is only 5. the wall of the temple contains the inscription of Mahims Stotra dated 1063 A.D 

5.Kedarnath (Uttarakhand )

is a Hindu temple dedicated to Bhagwan Shiva. It is on the Garhwal Himalayan range near the Mandakini river in Kedarnath,Uttarakhand in India. Due to extreme weather conditions, the temple is open only between the end of April (Akshaya Tritiya) to Kartik Purnima (the autumn full moon, usually November). During the winters, the vigrahas (deities) from Kedarnath temple are brought to Ukhimath and worshipped there for six months. Lord Shiva is worshipped as Kedarnath, the ‘Lord of Kedar Khand’, the historical name of the region 

6.BhimaShankar (Maharashtra)

Bhimashankar, in the Sahyadri range of Maharashtra, contains a Jyotirlinga shrine associated with Shiva destroying the demon Tripurasura. There is also a Bhimashankara temple at Kashipurnear Nainital, which was referred to as Daakini country in ancient days. It is believed that Bhima the Pandava prince was married to Hidamba, a Daakini here. Mahashivaratri is celebrated in great splendour here too. This temple also has shrines to Bhairavanath and Devi, and a temple tank by name Shivaganga.

7.Kashi Vishwanath (Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh)

Kashi Vishwanath Temple is one of the most famous Hindu temples and is dedicated to Lord Shiva. It is located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. The temple stands on the western bank of the holy riverGanga, and is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, the holiest of Shiva temples. The main deity is known by the name Vishvanatha or Vishveshvara meaning Ruler of The Universe. The Temple has been referred to in Hindu Scriptures for a very long time and as a central part of worship in the Shaiva philosophy. It has been destroyed and reconstructed a number of times in the history. The last structure was demolished by Aurangzeb, the sixth Mughal emperor who constructed the Gyanvapi Mosque on its site.The current structure was built on an adjacent site by the Maratha monarch, Ahilya Bai Holkar of Indore in 1780.

8.Trimbakeshwar (Maharashtra)

The Trimbakeshwar Temple, near Nasik in Maharashtra, is a Jyotirlinga shrine associated with the origin of the Godavari River. The temple lies in the foothill of mountain Bramhagiri which is the origin of river Ganga (called here by name Godavari).

The most attractive part of this temple is presence of 3 linga’s each representing Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. All three resides in a hallow space within the Shiva lingam. 

9.Vaidyanathdham (Deoghar, Jharkhand)

Vaidya Nath Jyotirlinga temple, is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, the most sacred abodes of Shiva. It is located in Deoghar in the  Santhal Parganas  division of the in the state of Jharkhand. It is a temple complex consisting of the main temple of Baba vaidya Nath, where the Jyotirlinga is installed, and 21 other temples. 

According to Hindu beliefs, the demon king Ravana worshipped Shiva at the current site of the temple to get the boons that he later used to wreak havoc in the world. Ravana offered his ten heads one after another to Shiva as a sacrifice. Pleased with this, Shiva descended to cure Ravana who was injured. As he acted as a doctor, he is referred to as Vaidhya (“doctor”). From this aspect of Shiva, the temple derives its name.

10.Nageshwar (Gujarat)

Nageshvara Jyotirlinga is one of the 12 Jyotirlinga shrines mentioned in the Shiva Purana. Nageshvara is believed to be the first such shrine. A narrative in the Shiva Purana about the Nageshvara Jyotirlinga tells of a demon named Daaruka, who attacked a Shiva devotee named Supriya and imprisoned him along with many others in his city of Darukavana, a city under the sea inhabited by seasnakes and demons. At the urgent exhortations of Supriya, the prisoners started to chant the holy mantra of Shiva and immediately thereafter the Lord Shiva appeared and the demon was vanquished,later residing there in the form of a Jyotirlinga. 

11.Rameshwaram (TamilNadu)

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 the Rameśvara (“Lord of Rama”) pillar.It is also one of the Padal Petra Stalam of Pandya Nadu mentioned in Thevaaram. 

12.Ghrishneshwar (Maharashtra)

The word Ghrneshwar means “lord of compassion”.The temple is an important pilgrimage site in Shaivism tradition of Hinduism, which considers it as the last or twelfth Jyotirlinga . This temple was destroyed by the Delhi Sultanate during the Hindu-Muslim wars of 13th and 14th-century. The temple went through several rounds of rebuilding followed by re-destruction during the Mughal-Maratha conflict. It was rebuilt in the current form in the 18th century under the sponsorship of a Hindu queen Rani Ahalyabai of Indore, after the fall of the Mughal Empire. It is presently an important and active pilgrimage site of the Hindus and attracts long lines of devotees daily. Anyone can enter the temple premises and its inner chambers, but to enter the sanctum sanctorum core (garbha-ghrya) of the temple, the local Hindu tradition demands that men must go bare chested.

source: jyotirlinga and Wikipedia

The Four Famous Pilgrimage Sites for Hindus

The Four Famous Pilgrimage Sites for Hindus

These famous four pilgrimages sites also popularly known as char-Dham was first defined by Adi-Sankaracharya .These four temples are revered sites for  Vaishnavite people.Vaishnavite people are those who believe that Vishnu is the supreme god and Lord Vishnu is the presiding deity of these famous four pilgrimages sites . It comprises Badrinath, Dwarka,Jagannath Puri and Rameswaram. It is considered highly sacred by Hindus to visit Char Dham during one’s lifetime. These pilgrimages sites are located in four different directions and regions of India namely East West North South.

1. Jagannatha Temple, Puri  (Odisha, East)

Puri located at the East, is located in the state of Odisha, India. Puri is one of the oldest cities in the eastern part of the India. It is situated on the coast of the Bay of Bengal. The presiding deity is Shri Krishna, an avatar of Lord Vishnu celebrated as Lord Jagannatha.The main temple  is about 1000 years old and constructed by Raja Choda Ganga Deva and Raja Tritiya Ananga Bhima Deva. Puri is the site of the Govardhana Matha, one of the four cardinal institutions or Mathas established by Adi Shankaracharya. 

2. Dwarakadheesh Temple, Dwarka (Gujarat, West )

The Dwarkadhish temple, also known as the Jagat Mandir is a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Krishna, who is worshipped here by the name Dwarkadhish, or ‘King of Dwarka’. The main shrine of the 5-storied building, supported by 72 pillars .It is said to be around 2000-2200 years old.  According to tradition, the original temple was believed to have been built by Krishna’s grandson, Vajranabha, over Lord Krishna’s residential place. Dwarka located in the west is in the state of Gujarat, India. The city derives its name from the word “dwar” meaning door or gate in the Sanskrit language. It is located confluence to where the Gomti River merges into the Arabian Sea. However, this river Gomti is not the same Gomti River which is a tributary of Ganga River The city lies in the westernmost part of India. 

3. Badrinath Temple, Badrinath (Uttarakhand, North)

Badrinath or Badrinarayan Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu which is situated in the town of Badrinath in Uttarakhand, India. It is open for six months every year (between the end of April and the beginning of November), because of extreme weather conditions in the Himalayan region. The temple is located in Garhwal hill tracks in Chamoli district along the banks of Alaknanda River at an elevation of 3,133 m (10,279 ft) above the mean sea level. It is one of the most visited pilgrimage centres of India, having recorded 1,060,000 visits. The image of the presiding deity worshipped in the temple is a 1 m (3.3 ft) tall, black stone statue of Vishnu in the form of Badrinarayan. The statue is considered by many Hindus to be one of eight  self-manifested statues of Vishnu.

4. Rameswaram (TamilNadu, South)

According to Hindu mythology, this is the place from where Lord Rama, built a bridge Ram Setu to Lanka. The Ramanatha Swamy Temple devoted to Lord Shiva occupies a major area of Rameswaram. The temple is believed to have been blessed by Shri Rama Chandra. Rameswaram is important for the Hindus as a pilgrimage to visit Rameswaram in their lifetime. The main deity here is in the form of a Linga with the name Sri Ramanatha Swamy, it also is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas. Rama wanted a huge shiva lingam to worship Lord Shiva at this place. Hanuman was dispatched to Varanasi to bring the image of the lingam from the Kashi temple there. However he was delayed and the auspicious moment was about to pass. Therefore Sita built a lingam of sand and the prayers were conducted. This lingam is referred to as Ramalingam. When Hanuman returned with the lingam from Varanasi he was peeved to find that the prayers were completed. To placate him Sita also installed the Kashilingam and decreed that this lingam should be worshipped before the Ramalinga. Ramanathaswamy (Lord Shiva) is the primary deity of the Rameshwaram Temple. The inner sanctum has 2 lingams – the one brought by Hanuman from Himalayas (Kashilingam/Vishwalingam) and the one built by Sita (Ramalingam). 

In Hindu Puranas Hari (Vishnu) and Har (Shiv) are referred as eternal friends. It is said wherever there resides Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva also resides nearby. Char Dhams are also not exception of this. So the Kedarnath is considered as the pair of Badrinath, Ranganath Swami is considered the pair of Rameshwaram. Somnath is considered as the pair of Dwarka. However one thing is also to be noted here that according to some traditions the Char Dham are Badrinath, Ranganath-Swami, Dwarka and Jagannath-Puri all the four of which are Vaishnav sites and their associated places are Kedarnath, Rameshwaram, Somnath andLingaraja Temple, Bhubaneswar (or may be Gupteshwar) respectively.