Lord Shiva is one of the supreme deities of our culture. He is one of the three principal and supreme deities who are responsible for creation, preservation and destruction and Lord Shiva is considered as the God of destruction.
It is believed that when iniquity rises then Lord Vishnu takes an avatar to destroy that iniquity and when there is no hope for the establishment of religion in the world, then Lord Shiva destroys the world and then Lord Brahma recreates the universe .
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Lord Shiva is also called as "Mahadev - God of gods". We worship Lord Shiva in form of a Linga. Linga of Lord Shiva represents the infinite and formless form of Lord Shiva. It is believed that Lord Shiva resides in every particle of the universe, everything around us and even us who are originated from him and ultimately dissolves in him.
Shivlinga of Lord Shiva is worshipped in every temple but there are some divine Shivalinga's where we believe that Lord Shiva is present there in the form of that linga. There are 12 Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva which are :
1. Somnath - Gujarat
2. Nageshwar- Gujarat
3. Bhimashankar-Maharashtra
4. Trimbakeshwar-Maharashtra
5. Grishneshwar-Maharashtra
6. Vaidyanath-Jharkhand
7. Mahakaleshwar- Madhya Pradesh
8. Omkareshwar- Madhya Pradesh
9. Kashi Vishwanath- Uttar Pradesh
10. Kedarnath- Uttar Pradesh
11. Rameshwaram-Tamil Nadu
12. Mallikarjuna- Andra Pradesh
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1. Somnath Jyotirlinga :
It is considered as the oldest and the first jyotirlinga from 12 jyotirlingas and is als called as Deo Patan. The meaning of word "Somnath" is "Lord of Moon". It is situated in verval region of Gujarat. It was invaded many times by muslim invaders and rebuilt several times by many Hindu Rulers.
It is believed that once Chandra Dev ( Moon God ) was once cursed by Daksh Prajapati due to which he lost his lustre and he bathed and worshipped Lord Shiva at this place which is a Triveni Sangam of three rivers ( Hiran, Saraswati and kapila ). Lord Shiva removed the curse of Chandra Dev and in gratitude towards Lord Shiva, he built a temple of gold of Lord Shiva which came to be known as Somnath.
2. Mallikarjuna Jyotirlinga :
Second jyotirlinga is Mallikarjuna Jyotirlinga which is located in the Srisailam region of Andra Pradesh. It is believed that Lord Shiva and Devi Parvati came here to meet Lord Kartikeya at this place.
According to story , Once Lord Shiva and Devi Parvati decided to marry there sons - Lord Ganesha and Lord Kartikeya. But they were in confusion whose marriage would be done first.
So they called their sons and asked them that who will complete one round of whole universe will be married first.
On this lord Kartikeya flew high in the sky to complete the task but Lord Ganesha took a round of Lord Shiva and Devi Parvati. On this they asked Lord Ganesha why did he did this. Lord Ganesha told that you both are my universe for me.
Lord Shiva and Devi parvati were impressed by the answer of Lord Ganesha. So they decided to marry him with daughters of Lord Vishwakarma - Riddhi and Siddhi.
When Lord Kartikeya returned , he was sad to see all this. Lord Kartikeya left kailash and decided not to get married. After this Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati went to that place to bring back Lord Kartikeya, but seeing them coming Lord Kartikeya went 12 km away from that place. At that place Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati were established in the form of Jyotirlinga- MallikaArujna.
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3. Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga :
Third Jyotirlinga of Lord Shiva is situated in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh. The person who Lord Mahakaleshwar will be relieved from all his sins. Nothing can harm those who worship Mahakal.
According to legends, Chandrasen was the king of Ujjain and he was a great devotee of Lord Shiva.Once Manibhadra ( One of Gana of Lord Shiva ) gave Raja Chandrasen a Chintamani due to which the fame of Chandrasen was spreading far and wide.
Many kings tried to get that Mani from him but he refused to gave that mani to anyone. So some kings attacked him and to seek help he went to temple of Lord Shiva and worshipped him. At that a five year child with his widow mother came and saw King worshipping Lord Shiva.
That child decided to Worship lord Shiva like his king was doing. So he took a stone and worshipped it like Shivalinga in his home. His mother called him but he did not answered as he was in deep consciousness. In anger his mother took everything and throwed it outside.
When the child came to his senses , he saw and felt unconcious on the ground. But again when he came to his senses , he was shocked to see a temple was built with a mighty linga in the middle of the temple at the place where he was worshipping Lord Shiva.This Linga of Lord Shiva is worshipped as Mahakaleshwar in Ujjain.
4. Omkareshwar Jyotirlinga :
Fourth Jyotirlinga of Lord Shiva is situated in Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh.This place is covered with from water of Narmada River from three sides and it looks like a beautiful island. The Shape of this place is said to be like OM “ॐ” Symbol,this is also a reason this jyotirlinga is known as Omkareshwar .
There are various stories related to Omkareshwar. Once Vindya-Lord of Vindya Mountain wanted to worship Lord Shiva to get rid of his sins,so he created a geomtrical structure on which he made shivlinga of Lord Shiva and pleased by worship of vindya, Lord Shiva appeared in form of sacred linga which is known as Omkareshwar.
There is a another story which states that King Mandatha of Ikshvaku Clan was a devotee of Lord Shiva and he did severe penance of him. He worshiped Lord Shiva until he emerged in the form of jyotirlinga.
5. Grishneshwar Jyotirlinga :
This Jyotirlinga of Lord Shiva is Grishneshwar is located near Vairool village, Maharashtra.The story of this Jyotirlinga is related to Ghushma who was a great devotee of Lord Shiva.
According to story, Once there was a brahmin who lived near Devgiri Mountain with his sudeha. They don't have any child. So sudeha married her younger sister - Ghushma with her husband. But Ghusma was a devotee of Lord Shiva. She everyday made 100 Shivlingas for worshipping and then she used to immerse them in the pond.
By the grace of Lord Shiva, she became mother of a son. All family was happy after that but her sister was very jealous as her sister gave the son to his husband. In her jealously, she killed the son of her sister and throwed him in the pond.
All were very sad after the death of that boy. But Ghusma was very determinent regarding her worship to Lord Shiva. She did her pooja of Lord Shiva . Lord Shiva was very pleased by the worship of Ghusma. Due to Mahadev's grace, when she was going immerse the Shivlinga's. She was shocked and happy at same time to see her son coming out of pond alive .
All came to see that boy alive, Lord Shiva also appeared in front of Ghusma and others and he wanted to punish her sister- Sudeha. But Ghusma prayed to Lord Shiva not to punish her sister and to stay here in form of linga . This linga we known it as Grishneshwar Mahadev.
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6. Vaidhyanath Jyotirlinga :
This jyotirlinga of Lord Shiva is located in Deoghar, Jharkhand.This jyotirlinga is also known as Baba Baidyanath.The story of Vaidhyanath goes likes this. Once Ravana, the demon king of Lanka and great devotee of Lord Shiva started penance of Lord Shiva to get Kamna Linga as a boon. And he also expressed his desire to take Lord Shiva to his home Lanka.
During his penance, Ravana sacrificed his nine heads to please Lord Shiva, when he was about to sacrifice his tenth head, Lord Shiva appeared before him and granted him his desired boon. But there was a condition that if Ravana would place the linga anywhere in the middle before going to Lanka, it would be established there and no one would be able to lift it.
When the deities heard about it they went to Lord Vishnu for the solution because they did not want Lord Shiva to go to Lanka. When Ravana departed for lanka with the linga, he experienced a urge to urinate but he was unable to do it as for this he have to place Linga on the ground.
He saw a cowherd named Baiju and told him to hold the linga while he will do the thing he wanted to do. But cowherd was none other than Lord Vishnu. He placed the linga on the ground and when Ravana returned he was furious to see it. He tried and tried to pull out the linga from the ground but failed everytime. That shivlinga was worshiped by Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and other deities. That shivlinga is known as Vaidyanath Jyotirlinga.
7. Kashi Vishwanath :
This Jyotirlinga is situated in Varansi region of Uttar Pradesh. It is considered as the beloved City of Lord Shiva. It is believed that Kashi will not destroyed during the end of everything because Lord Shiva holds Kashi on his trishul.When the universe will end, then Lord Shiva will lift Kashi on his trishul so that Kashi can survive in the time of Doomsday.
According to legends, when Lord Shiva and Mata Parvati were married, the abode of Bholenath was Mount Kailash and Parvati Maa lived in her father's house. But he did not feel like here. Once when Lord Shiva came to meet Mother Parvati, the mother prayed to take him with her. By obeying Mother Parvati, Lord Shiva brought her to Kashi and since then settled here.
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8. Nageshwar Jyotirlinga :
This Jyotirlinga of Lord Shiva is located in the Dwarka region of Gujrat.
Once there was a demon named Daruka who worshipped Devi Parvati and got the boon that she will become the only authority there and no one can kill her in the jungle where she was living. Also she can take the jungle with her where she wants to take it.
After that she started killing and humilating peoples there with her husband. Once they merchants and prisoned them. One of the merchant named Supriya was devotee of Lord Shiva, even in that worse condition he did not gave up on praying Lord Shiva. He also made other merchants to worship Lord Shiva.
When Daruk ( Husband of Daruka ) saw this, he gone mad at him and he ran at Supriya to kill him. Supriya prayed Lord Shiva and he appeared in front of him and killed the Demons who were present at that time. To save peoples from other demons Lord Shiva appeared there in the form of a Linga which we know by the name of Nageshwar Jyotirlinga.
9. Bhimashankar Jyotirlinga :
This Jyotirlinga of Lord Shiva is located in Khed region of Pune District in Maharashtra. This is of the 12 jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva.
There are many legends related to this Jyotirlinga. One is when Kumbhakaran was killed by Lord Ram in the battle. Then his son Bhima from his wife karkati take a vow to take revenge of his father.
So he worshiped Lord Brahma and got a boon. With help of that boon he started torturing the sages and good peoples. Once he captured a kong who was great devotee of Lord Shiva. In prision the king was worshipping Lord Shiva by making a Shiv linga there.
When Bhima ran towards the king to kill him, at that time Lord Shiva emerged from that Linga and killed that demon. The linga from Lord Shiva was emerged is known as Bhimashankar Jyotirlinga.
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10. Rameswaram Jyotirlinga :
This Jyotirlinga is situated on Pamban Island or Rameswaram Island in Tamil Nadu. This Jyotirlinga is considered even more special and sacred because it is also one of the Char Dhams.
The legends states that when Lord Ram returned on the shore of Dhanushkoti after defeating the demon king Raavan of Lanka. The sages told them to get rid from sin of Brahmahatya ( Sin of killing a Brahmin ) by worshipping Lord Shiva. So Devi Sita made a Lingam from Sand and Lord Ram along with his brother Laxman and Devi Sita worshipped Lord Shiva which we know that linga as Rameshwaram Linga.
11. Trimbakeshwar Jyotirlinga :
This jyotirlinga is located in the Nashik District of Maharashtra. It is also the place from where River Godavari is origanted .
The story states that once a great sage Rishi Gautam and his wife Ahiliya lived in a Ashram in Trimbak . Due to some incident other sages and their wives wanted Rishi Gautam to be out of the ashram. So they worshipped Lord Ganesha and pleased him. Lord Ganesha appeared in front of the sages and asked them to wish for there boon. They said that they wanted Rishi Gautam to be out from the place where he was staying.
Lord Ganesha told them that this is an inappropriate thing to do as it has very bad impact on everyone . But the sages wanted the same thing so Lord Ganesha transformed into a very weak cow and went to the field of Rishi Gautam where he was working on his crops. Seeing a weak cow,Rishi gautam started feeding the cow by himself. But the cow died while eating from the hands of Rishi Gautam.
The Rishis and other people placed a sin of killing a cow on Rishi Gautam and they insulted him badly. On this Rishi Gautam asked what he had to do to get rid from this sin. On this the wicked sages told him to do three revolutions of earth and do fast for 1 month and after that do 101 revolutions of Brahmagiri Mountain or make River Ganga to come here and make 1 crore temporary Shivlingas to worship Lord Shiva and seek blessings to get rid froms sin of Gauhatya.
Rishi Gautam does the same and Lord Shiva pleased from the penance of him asked him to wish for his boon. Rishi Gautam wanted to get rid of his sin which he has not committed. Lord Shiva told him that he didn't committed any sin, it was all conspiracy of his fellow sages. Lord Shiva wanted to punish those sages but Rishi Gautam prayed to Lord Shiva not to punish the sages. After this many deities came there and prayed Lord Shiva to stay there in form of a linga .We know that Jyotirlinga by name of Trimbakeshwar.
12. Kedarnath Jyotirlinga :
This jyotirlinga of Lord Shiva is located in Garhwal region of Uttarakhand. This jyotirlinga is one of the sacred destination of Choti Char dham yatra.
According to legends , When Pandava's after defeating kaurava's in the great battle of Mahabharata wanted to get rid from the sin's of there karma of killing their relatives and Brahmahatya ( killing of Brahmins). So to do so first Pandava's went to Kashi Vishwanatha to please Lord Shiva. But on the other hand Lord Shiva does not want to appear in front of them as he was very incensed by the killings of thousand peoples and dishonesty in the war.
Lord Shiva took the form of a bull and hid in the region of garhwal . After not finding Lord Shiva in kashi Pandava's came to Himalayas where Bhima saw Lord Shiva in the form of a bull and he caught the bull from the legs and tail but again Lord Shiva disappeared in the ground and after some time seeing the will of Pandava's to meet Lord Shiva. He again reappeared as bull but in different way. His hump appeared in kedarnath, arms appeared in tungnath, face at Rudranath, nabhi and stomach at Madhyamaheshwar, and hair in kalpeshwar. And at these places Pandava's built temples and worshipped Lord Shiva.
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These are stories and legends regarding the 12 mighty Lingas of Lord Shiva. I hope you like it.
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