12 Jyotirlingas

In Sanatana Dharma, a Jyotirlinga is a shrine where Shiva is worshipped as a pillar of light. The word joins jyoti, meaning light, and linga, meaning sign or mark. The twelve Jyotirlingas are honoured as the most sacred Shiva shrines in India.

The Shiva Purana tells how Brahma and Vishnu once argued over which of them was supreme. Shiva appeared between them as an endless pillar of light. Vishnu humbly admitted that he could not find its end. Brahma falsely claimed that he had found the top. The story teaches that the Supreme cannot be measured by pride, and that honesty and humility lead to the divine. The same Purana, in the Kotirudra Samhita, chapter 1, names the twelve places where Shiva is said to dwell as a Jyotirlinga.

A few shrines have more than one claimant. Baidyanath is claimed both by Deoghar in Jharkhand and by Parli in Maharashtra. Nageshwar is claimed by sites in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand. Bhimashankar is also claimed by more than one place, though this guide does not name those alternate sites. This guide follows the most widely accepted sites listed above and honours the devotion offered at every claimant.

There is no single fixed order for a pilgrimage to all twelve. The stotra below follows a geographical sweep, from Saurashtra in the west to the Himalayas in the north. Many pilgrims visit a few shrines at a time over several years, by region. Mahashivratri and the month of Shravan are especially auspicious days for darshan.

At each shrine, devotees bathe, offer water or milk and Bilva leaves, and chant Om Namah Shivaya. Many also keep a fast and silence on the day of darshan. The visit is a time to remember Shiva's formless nature, which the Jyotirlinga stands for.

The twelve Jyotirlingas have been a living part of Indian devotion for many centuries.

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  Tradition attributes the Dwadasa Jyotirlinga Stotram to Adi Shankaracharya, who lived in the 8th century.
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  Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore (1725 to 1795) supported the care of many Shiva shrines. She is remembered for re-installing Kashi Vishwanath in 1780 and for work at Somnath, Mahakaleshwar, Omkareshwar and Grishneshwar.
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  Saints and poets from many regions have sung of Shiva's places, and their songs are still sung by pilgrims today.

Reciting this traditional Sanskrit hymn, attributed to Adi Shankaracharya, remembers all twelve shrines at once.

Meaning of the last verse: "A person who recites these Jyotirlingas morning and evening finds the sin of seven births destroyed by their remembrance."