JYOTIRLINGA TEMPLES / STHALANGAL
A Jyotirlinga or Jyotirling or Jyotirlingam Sanscrit:ज्योतिर्लिङ्ग),
(Devanagiri ज्योतिर्लिंग) is a
devotional object representing the Supreme God Shiva. Jyoti means 'radiance' and lingam the 'Image or Sign' of Shiva; Jyotir
Lingam thus means the The Radiant Sign of The Almighty Siva.
There are 64 Jothir linga sthalam of which twelve traditional Jyotirlinga shrines are
believed to be most auspicious and holy in
India.
It is believed
that Lord Shiva first manifested himself as a Jyotirlinga on the night of the Arudra nakshatra in the form of jothi ie as
column of fire piercing through the earth after he reaches a higher level of
spiritual attainment.
According to
Siva Mahapurana once Brahma (the
god of creation) and Vishnu (the
form of God during Preservation) had an argument over supremacy of creation. To settle the debate, Supreme God
Shiva pierced the three worlds
appearing as a huge Infinite column of Light. ( The Jyotirlinga
which later cooled into the Holy Mountain Annamalai, on which the Temple of
Arunachaleshwara is located). Vishnu in the form of varaha and Brahma in the
form anna bird, 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 and asked Thalam poo ( a flower ) to give witness to Shiva, while Vishnu accepted
his defeat. After this debate Shiva cursed that Brahma will not be worshiped in a separate temple and the flower
Thalampoo should not be offered for worship. The Jothirlinga in all Shiva
Temple are worshiped in the form of Lingothbavar just back side of Sanctum.
Sanskrit Sloka
The following
sloka (द्वादश ज्योतिर्लिंग स्तोत्रम् Dvādaśa Jyotirliṅga
Stotram)
describes the 12 Jyotirlingas:
In Sanskrit
Saurāṣṭre Somanāthaṃ ca Śrīśaile Mallikārjunam
Ujjayinyāṃ
Mahākālam Omkāram Mamleśhwaram
Paraly Vaidyanāthaṃ cha
Ḍākinyāṃ Bhīmaśhaṅkaram
Setubandhe tu Rāmeśaṃ
Nāgeśhaṃ Dārukāvane
Vārāṇasyāṃ tu Viśveśaṃ Tryambakaṃ
Gautamītaṭe
Himālaye tu Kedāraṃ
Ghuśmeśaṃ ca Śivālaye
etāni jyotirliṅgāni
sāyaṃ prātaḥ paṭhennaraḥ
saptajanmakṛtaṃ pāpaṃ smaraṇena vinaśyati
karmakṣayo bhavettasya yasya
tuṣṭo maheśvarāḥ
In DEvanagiri ( Hindi )
सौराष्ट्रे
सोमनाथं च श्रीशैले
मल्लिकार्जुनम्।
उज्जयिन्यां
महाकालमोङ्कारममलेश्वरम्॥
परल्यां
वैद्यनाथं च डाकिन्यां
भीमशङ्करम्।
सेतुबन्धे
तु रामेशं नागेशं
दारुकावने॥
वाराणस्यां
तु विश्वेशं त्र्यम्बकं
गौतमीतटे।
हिमालये
तु केदारं घुश्मेशं
च शिवालये॥
एतानि ज्योतिर्लिङ्गानि सायं प्रातः
पठेन्नरः।
सप्तजन्मकृतं
पापं स्मरणेन विनश्यति॥
एतेशां दर्शनादेव पातकं नैव
तिष्ठति।
कर्मक्षयो
भवेत्तस्य यस्य तुष्टो
महेश्वराः॥:
In Engilish
Somanath in
Saurashtra and Mallikarjunam in Shri-Shailam;
Mahakaal in Ujjain,
Mamleshwar in Omkareshwar;
Vaidyanath in
Parali and Bhimashankaram in Dakinya;
Ramesham
(Rameshwaram) in Sethubandh, Nagesham in Daruka-Vana;
Vishwa-Isham
(Vishvanath) in Vanarasi, Trimbak on bank of the river Gautami;(Godavari)
Kedar (
Khedharnath ) in Himalayas and Grushnesh (Gushmeshwar) in Shivalaya ( Shiwar ).
One who
recites these Jyotirlingas every evening and morning
is relieved of
all sins committed in past seven lives.
One who visits
these, gets all his wishes fulfilled
and one's Karma gets
eliminated as Maheshwara gets satisfied to the worship.
SL NO
|
GOD AND GODESS
|
PLACE
|
LOCATION
|
1
|
|
Somnath
|
Gujrat
|
2
|
|
Mallikarjuna
|
Srisailam,
Andhra Pradesh
|
3
|
|
Mahakaleswarar
|
Ujjain,
Madhya Pradesh
|
4
|
|
Omkareswarar
|
Madhya
Pradesh
|
5
|
|
Khethareswarar
|
Khadharnath,
Utrakhand
|
6
|
Sri Bhimashankar |
Bhimashankar
|
Pune,
Maharastra
|
7
|
|
Viswanath
|
Varanasi,
Uttar Pradesh
|
8
|
Sri Trimbakeswarar |
Tryambakeswarar
|
Nashik,
Maharastra
|
9
|
Sri Vaidyanath ( Sri Vijnath in Marathi ) |
Vaidyanath
|
Parli, in Beed district, Maharastra
|
10
|
Sri Nagnath |
Aundha
Nagnath
|
Aundha,
Hingoli district, Maharastra
|
11
|
Sri Parvathavardhini Samedha Sri Ramanatheeswarar |
Rameshwar
|
Rameswaram,
Tamil Nadu
|
12
|
Sri Ghrishneshwar or Sri Ghusmeshwar |
Ghrishneshwar
|
Ellora
near Aurangabad, Maharastra
|
|
|
|
|
