Jyotir Linga Shiva Temples

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                             Jyotir Linga Shiva Temples


Of the three gods of the Hindu trinity, Shiva is the most commonly worshipped in India today, Vishnu being the second, and Brahma the third. The origins of Shiva are found in a pre-Aryan fertility god and also in a fierce deity of the Vedas called Rudra. Shiva is a god of many and often contrasting characteristics. He is associated with the creative energy of the universe, and at the same time with its destruction. Literally his name means 'One in whom the universe sleeps after destruction and before the next cycle of creation'. It is said that all that is created must one day disintegrate; this disintegration is a return to the formless void from which creation may once again spring forth. Shiva is the dynamic power behind this endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.

Shiva may be worshipped in both his anthropomorphic form, as a statue of a man, or more commonly in his aniconic form, the linga. The word linga means sign or mark and it is understood to be the symbolic representation of the creative and destructive energies of Shiva. 


Shiva temples are abundant throughout India's many thousands of cities and villages, yet only a small number of these temples are places of pilgrimage. This distinction arises from the fact that, while any structure may house an idol of Shiva, and thereby be used in the worship of the deity, true pilgrimage shrines are those places where Shiva has actually manifested some aspect of his divine nature. Hindu texts delineate three distinct categories of Shiva shrines: the Jyotir Lingas, the Bhuta Lingas, and the Swayambhu Lingas. The Jyotir Lingas, twelve in number and located throughout the country, are considered the most important.

The Swayambhu Linga temples contain representations of Shiva that are believed to have risen up by themselves in the primordial past. In the commentary by Nigamajnanadeva on his Jirnoddharadasakam, sixty-eight Swayambhu Lingas are listed along with commentary. For further information and a listing of these sites, consult Gopinatha Rao in the bibliography. For other information to  Jyotir Linga Shiva Temples visit now - See









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