Jyotirlingas In India: A devotional Picture of Shiva
Jyotirlinga
A jyotirlinga in Hindu Mythology refers to the depiction of Lord Shiva. In Sanskrit Jyot is Radiance and Linga is a sign which in the end is a radiance sign. As per Shiva Purana, 64 Jyotirlingas Shrines are mentioned in India. According to a legend of Lord Shiva from the Shiva Purana once Brahma(the creator) and Vishnu (the god of preservation) had an argument for Supremacy, Lord Shiva settled the debate between these two gods he pierced the three worlds by appearing as a huge infinite pillar of light and names the test jyotirlinga the radiance sign. Lord Shiva set the two Gods Vishnu and Brahma to move in the opposite direction of this pillar and find the end, the two gods went ahead to the light pillar but found nothing there was no end. Lord Vishnu accepted that the light pillar (jyotirlinga) did not have any end, Lord Bhrama did not reach the end and lied that he reached the end and found a Ketaki flower. Knowing that this was a lie Lord Shiva cursed Bhrama that he wouldn't be worshiped and he said that Vishnu would be eternal and worshipped because of his honesty. The places where these lightning pillars ended on earth were Lord Shiva's shrines, later called Jyotirlinga. The Jyotirlinga's specify the infiniteness of lord Shiva. Rather been 64 Jyotirlingas only 12 Jyotirlingas are mentioned in Sanskrit sloka "Devadas Jyotirlinga Stotram".
Twelve Sacred Sites of Jyotirlinga's:
1) Somnath:
The first Jyotirlinga is Somnath present in the state Gujarat location Veraval and traditionally it was considered the first pilgrimage site of the Dhwdash Jyotirling. It is unclear when was the first version of Somnath Temple built but the estimates say it varies between the early centuries of the first Millennium and about the 9th century CE. Texts such as Mahabharat and Bhagwata Purana mention the pilgrimage site at Prabhas Pathan on the coastline of Saurashtra which was later where the later temple was built. In the past, it was reconstructed sixteen times and was attacked by Mohammed Ghajini in January 1026. The place Somnath refers to the lord of the moon and the site also called Prabhas relates to a place of Splendor. The Somnath place was near Dwarka a major site of Mahabharat stories. A very old Legend says that the moon God Soma is believed to have lost his luster due to a curse and regained its lustre he took a bath in the Saraswati river at this, giving the phenomenon of waxing and waning of the Moon. The name of the town Prabhas is also known as lustre and is an alternative to someshwara 'the lord of the moon or the moon God' came from this tradition.
2)Mallikarjun:
Mallika Arjun, also called Srisailam, is located in the mountains of the Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh. It is an Ancient Temple that is architecturally and structurally rich. Jyotirlinga and Shakti Peetha are also present there. As per the old Hindu Legend when Lord Shiva and Parvati decided to find brides for their children Ganesha and Kartikey they found Buddhi and Siddhi for Ganesha, as for Kartikey he was sent away to stay alone on Mount Karunacha in Palani in name of Kumara brahmachari on seeing his father coming to him to pacify him he tried to move to a different place but on request of devas, he stayed close to him the place where Shiva and Parvati stayed came to be known as Srisailam. It is also one of the 52 Shakti Peeth this temple is one of Padal Petra Sthalam.
3)Mahakaleshwar:
Mahakaleshwar the next jyotirlinga is present in the state of Madhya Pradesh and the city of Ujjain. The Lingam at this place is believed to be self-existing and the only one of 12 Jyotirlingas to be so. It is south-facing and the temple also has Shree Rudra Yantra perched upside down on the ceiling of the temple. It contains shaktipeeta and jyotirlingam together. The story behind Mahakaleshwar temple as Shaktipeetha is when Lord Shiva carried the corpse of Devi Sati the upper lip of Devi Sati fell here and the Shakti is called Mahakali. In the past this temple was destroyed by lltutmish during his raid of Ujjain and the Jyotirlinga was dismantled and believed to be thrown away in the nearby pond, the Jaladhari was stolen away during the invasion it was later reconstructed by Maratha Diwan and again Attacked by Jalaluddin Khilji and Alauddin Khilji.
4)Omkareshwar:
Omkareshwar the next Jyotirlinga present in the state of Madhya Pradesh on an island in the Narmada River it is also home to Mamaleshwar temple present in the city of Khandwa. The old Hindu Legend says when Vindhya the controller of the Vindhyachal mountain range worshiped Shiva for the sins he committed, he created a geometrical figure and a Lingam Made of Sand and clay. Lord Shiva was pleased with the worship and believed to have appeared in two forms named Omkareshwar and Amaleswara. The island appears in the form of Om thus named as Omkareshwar it is a shrine place for Parvati and Ganpati in the temple.
5)Baidhyanath:
Baidyanath Jyotirlinga in the state Jharkhand of the city Deoghar. It is also known as Baba Baidhyanath Dham a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva it is a shrine to Baba Baijnath along with 21 temples. As per old Hindu Legend once Ravana was performing his penance(punishment) in the Himalayan region to appease Shiva. He offered his 9 heads and before cutting his 10th head Lord Shiva appeared in front of him and was satisfied with his offering and asked Ravana to ask for a boon Ravana requested that he could take a Linga to the island of Lanka and expressed his desire to take Lord Shiva from Kailash Parvat to Lanka. Lord Shiva agreed but with only one condition he said that if the Linga was placed at any point in between the route he would be permanent in that position and would never move. All the celestial gods decided to stop Ravana from taking Lord Shiva to Lanka. Lord Vishnu planned with Varuna the deity associated with water to enter Ravana's stomach and fill it so that Ravana would need to urinate during the journey. When the journey started and Ravana reached Jharkhand, Deoghar he felt the urge to urinate, lord Vishnu took the form of a Shepherd named Baiju Gadariya, the place where Ravana stopped he gave the Linga to the Shepherd and told him to wait till he came back and took a very long time in urinating in anger the Shepherd left the Linga on the ground and went away. The condition was given by lord Shiva that if he was settled once he would permanently settle there and when Ravana came back he was not able to remove the Linga from the ground. Since then the Linga has been in the same place and now it is named Baidyanath.
6)Bhimashankar:
Bhimashankar is a Hindu Temple located in the district Pune of Maharashtra. The Mandir is situated on mountains 110 km away from Pune. The temple vicinity has rare plants and animal species. The Mandir is located in Khed Taluka in the Bhimashankar forest range. The Bhima River originates from Bhimashankar village. The Shrine over here is linked to the legendary Asura Tripura. The story goes through once Tripura was forming his punishments and Brahma was delighted with Tripura's penance manifest and grants him three wishes. Tripura demanded that he be invulnerable to gods, devils, yakasha's, and Gandhara, also his should be Unbreakable and the third wish he asked for was to travel anywhere in the universe. Bhrama fulfilled all his wishes on the conquest to subjugate all the three lokas. Lord Inrda associated with Heavens was also vanquished and decided to seek the blessings of Lord Shiva to annihilate Tripura. It is said that in the Sahyadri Mountains, the sweat drop of lord Shiva made the river Bhimarathi.
7)Rameshwaram:
Rameshwaram the 7th Jyotirlinga present in the state of Tamilnadu in the city of Rameswaram. It is also one of the char dhams. The Rameshwaram temple was established and worshipped by Lord Ram before he crossed the bridge called Ram Setu to the island Kingdom of Lanka in the epic story of Ramayana. The temple has the longest corridor among all the Hindu temples and it is considered a pilgrimage site for shevatis, vaishnavities, and smartas. Rama the 7th Avatar of Lord Vishnu prayed to Shiva here to absolve any sins that he might have committed during his war against the demon King Ravana in Sri Lanka who was a bhramin himself. Lord Rama along with his wife and his brother installed the Linga here to worship Lord Shiva. Rama directed his trusted lieutenant Hanuman (avatar of Shiva himself) to bring it from the Himalayas but since it took a long time Sita made linga from the sand present at the shore. This is well mentioned in Ramayan written by Valmiki.
Nageshwar Jyotirlinga is one of the jyotirlingas present in the Gujarat city of Dwarka. As per the Hindu legend and mentioned in Shiv Purana the Nageswara Jyotirlinga tells of a demon Daruk who imprisoned a Shiva devotee named Supriya along with many others in his city of Darukuvana a city under the sea inhabited by sea Snakes and Demons. With such an urgent imprisonment of Supriya, the Prisoner started to chant the Holy mantras of Lord Shiva, immediately thereafter Lord Shiva appeared and the demon was killed later forming a Jyotirling. Daruk had a wife named Daruka. Who worshipped Mata Parvati to enable her to master the forest which was later named after her as Darukavana. The place has been under location controversies due to different texts in different Puranas.
9)Vishwanath:
The next Jyotirlinga is Vishwanath in the state of Uttar Pradesh location Varanasi, the Kashi Vishwanath or Vishweshwar temple in Varanasi is home to Vishwanath Jyotirlinga. The Kashi Vishwanath Temple has also been in many redevelopments and building processes. Still, the major Re development took place in 2021 developing a temple complex joining the Kashi Vishwanath Dham corridor to the Ganga river under Prime Minister Modi. It was later inaugurated by the Prime Minister himself leading to many manyfold increase in visitors. The history of Kashi Vishwanath Temple is mentioned in Skanda Purana named as Kashi Khanda while in Brahmavaivarta Purana it is named as Kashi Rahasya both are dedicated to the city of Varanasi. As per Kashi Kandha, there was a total of 1099 temples of which 513 were devoted to Lord Shiva the sketches say that Vishwanath Temple was formally known as Moksha Lakshmi Vilas it had five Mandapas.
10)Trimbakeshwar:
Trimbakeshwar Temple near Nashik Maharashtra is a Jyotirlinga Shrine associated with the origin of the Godavari river. The temple is located between three Hills namely Brahmagri, Neelagiri, and Kalagiri, also the temple has three lingas (an iconic form of Shiva) representing: Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu, and Lord Bhrama. Due to the excessive use of water, the Linga has started to erode depicting the eroding nature of human society. The crown is said to be from the age of Pandavas which consists of diamonds, emeralds, and many precious stones. The crown is displayed every Monday from 4 to 5 PM.
11)Kedarnath:
Kedarnath the Northmost and closest Jyotirling to Lord Shiva's home Mount Kailash present in the state Uttarakhand in the city Kedarnath. It forms the smaller part of the Char Dham pilgrimage circuit it is in the snow-clad Himalayas and has a rich legend and tradition it is accessible only for 6 months a year.
The legend goes that the Pandavas after the war went to search for Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva on the other hand wanted to escape from Pandavas. The Pandavas tried to search him everywhere but Lord Shiva would escape before they would reach him. Lord Shiva transformed into a bull form of Nandi and was found grazing on the farm where he was recognized by Bhim the second eldest brother. Bhim caught the Bull by his hand and did not allow the bull to sink into the ground leaving the upper part of the bull on the ground and the rest body sinking in the ground. Lord Shiva impressed by the devotion cleared all the doubt of Pandavas and went away leaving the shivlinga on the ground shaped in triangle form. Later this became a Shivlinga worshipped across the world.
12)Grishneshwar:
The last Jyotirling is present in the state of Maharashtra in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar it is near to the Ellora Caves one of the UNESCO sites. The story of this place is a story of a Brahmin named Sudharma near Devgiri mountain his wife's name was Sudeha both of them had a lot of love for each other they had no problem of any kind but did not have children. So Sudeha requested Sudharma to marry her younger sister Ghusma and bring her home. At first, Sudarma did not accept this but in the end, he had to kneel down in front of his wife. Sudharma married Ghusma. Ghusma was a devotee of Lord Shiva she would make 101 earthly shivlings each day to show her devotion to Lord Shiva and she would then release the shivlings in the pond. After a few days of marriage, Sudharma and Gushma had a child, and immense happiness spread in the house Sudeha and Gushma were very happy. But a strong negative thought grew in Sudeha and she thought Gushma was taking control of her husband and child. Later Gushma had one more child who was killed by Sudeha in sleep and thrown in the same pond where Gushma would release the shivlings. All the people in the house bitterly cried after knowing that Sudeha killed the small child in his sleep. But Gushma behaved normally and went to the pond to release 101 shivlings while returning from the pond she found that her child came out of the water in a dead state. Seeing this lord Shiva appeared and asked for a boon from Gushma. Gushma requested lord Shiva to forgive Sudeha also asking for him to stay there. Lord Shiva accepted both of the wishes and forgave Sudeha. He also settled in that place forming a jyotirling Grishneshwar.
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