Dvadasa Jyotirlinga
द्वादश ज्योतिर्लिंगद्वादश ज्योतिर्लिङ्गानि
12 temples in the tradition. Listed in the order tradition follows. The note at the foot of the page says how much of that order a text actually fixes.
In the traditional order
- 1
Somnath
સોમનાથ
Prabhas Patan, Gujarat
Soma's curse and the waxing moon. Soma — the moon — lost his lustre to a curse. He came to Prabhasa, bathed in the Saraswati where it reaches the sea, and worshipped Shiva at this place until it was restored. The account…
- 2
Mallikarjuna Swamy Temple, Srisailam
శ్రీశైల మల్లికార్జున స్వామి ఆలయం
Srisailam, Andhra Pradesh
The son who would not come home. Kartikeya returns from circling the earth to learn from Narada that his parents married off his brother Ganesha in his absence. He leaves for Mount Krauncha against their wishes and vows…
- 3
Mahakaleshwar
महाकालेश्वर
Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh
The god who came out of the ground. In Avanti the brahmin Vedapriya and his four sons worship Shiva. The Daitya king Dushana, empowered by Brahma's boons, besieges the city and orders the brahmins to abandon Shiva or die.…
- 4
Omkareshwar
ओंकारेश्वर
Omkareshwar, Madhya Pradesh
The mountain that wanted to be higher. Narada visits the Vindhya mountain, who boasts that he lacks nothing. Narada replies that Meru is loftier. Stung, Vindhya goes to Omkara, makes an earthen image of Shiva and meditates…
- 5
Vaidyanath, Parli
परळी वैजनाथ
Parli, Maharashtra
The linga Ravana could not carry home. Ravana performs severe penance below the Himalaya and offers his heads one by one until Shiva appears and restores them. He asks to take Shiva's linga to Lanka; Shiva agrees on condition…
- 6
Bhimashankar
भीमाशंकर
Bhimashankar, Maharashtra
Bhima, son of Kumbhakarna. Bhima, son of Kumbhakarna and Karkati, grows up on the Sahya mountain and learns that Rama killed his father. He wins unequalled strength from Brahma, defeats the gods and Vishnu, and…
- 7
Ramanathaswamy Temple, Rameswaram
இராமநாதசுவாமி கோயில்
Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu
Rama's earthen linga at the shore. Rama reaches the southern ocean with his army, knowing Sita is held in Lanka, and loses heart at the size of the task. Before drinking the water Lakshmana brings him, he makes an image…
- 8
Nageshwar Jyotirlinga
નાગેશ્વર જ્યોતિર્લિંગ
Dwarka, Gujarat
Supriya in the rakshasas' prison. The rakshasa Daruka and his wife, an ogress protected by a boon from Parvati, terrorise Darukavana on the western sea. Driven off the land by the sage Aurva's curse, they move to a city…
- 9
Kashi Vishwanath
काशी विश्वनाथ
Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
The city on the trident. Shiva creates a city five kroshas across for Prakriti and Purusha to perform penance in. Vishnu's penance there fills the void with water, a jewel from his ear becomes Manikarnika, and…
- 10
Trimbakeshwar
त्र्यंबकेश्वर
Trimbak, Maharashtra
Gautama, the cow, and the Ganga that stayed. In a hundred-year drought the sage Gautama obtains everlasting water from Varuna on Brahmagiri, and other sages settle around him. Their wives quarrel with Ahalya over water, and the…
- 11
Kedarnath
केदारनाथ
Kedarnath, Uttarakhand
Nara and Narayana ask Shiva to stay. Nara and Narayana, two incarnations of Vishnu, perform penance in Bharata Khanda and worship Shiva every day in an earthen linga. Shiva, pleased after a long time, offers them a boon.…
- 12
Grishneshwar
घृष्णेश्वर
Verul, Maharashtra
Ghushma's lake. The brahmin Sudharma and his wife Sudeha, living near Mount Deva in the south, have no son, so Sudeha has him marry her younger sister Ghushma. Ghushma makes and worships 101 earthen…
Plan the circuit
Side by side, so you can see the season, the walking and the nearest station for each. Where we have not confirmed something, the cell says so. Always check dates and conditions before you travel — especially with elders.
- Somnath
- Darshan hours
- 6:00 am – 10:00 pm
Not yet confirmed: main months, altitude, walking and access, nearest station / airport.
- Mallikarjuna Swamy Temple, Srisailam
- Darshan hours
- 5:30 am – 1:00 pm
- Nearest station / airport
- Markapur · Hyderabad
Not yet confirmed: main months, altitude, walking and access.
- Mahakaleshwar
- Darshan hours
- 4:00 am – 11:00 pm
- Nearest station / airport
- Ujjain Junction · Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Airport, Indore
Not yet confirmed: main months, altitude, walking and access.
- Omkareshwar
- Darshan hours
- 4:30 am – 5:00 am
- Nearest station / airport
- Sanawad · Devi Ahilyabai Holkar International Airport, Indore
Not yet confirmed: main months, altitude, walking and access.
- Vaidyanath, Parli
- Nearest station / airport
- Parli Vaijnath railway station · Nanded
Not yet confirmed: main months, darshan hours, altitude, walking and access.
- Bhimashankar
- Nearest station / airport
- Pune Junction · Pune
Not yet confirmed: main months, darshan hours, altitude, walking and access.
- Ramanathaswamy Temple, Rameswaram
- Nearest station / airport
- Rameswaram Railway Station · Madurai International Airport
Not yet confirmed: main months, darshan hours, altitude, walking and access.
- Nageshwar Jyotirlinga
- Main months
- Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb
- Walking and access
- The sanctum is underground, per the district administration; we have not yet found details of the steps or wheelchair access to it.
- Nearest station / airport
- Dwarka Railway Station · Jamnagar Airport
Not yet confirmed: darshan hours, altitude.
- Kashi Vishwanath
- Darshan hours
- 3:00 am – 11:00 pm
- Nearest station / airport
- Varanasi Junction · Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport, Varanasi
Not yet confirmed: main months, altitude, walking and access.
- Trimbakeshwar
- Darshan hours
- 5:30 am – 9:00 pm
- Nearest station / airport
- Nashik Road · Nashik (Ozar) Airport
Not yet confirmed: main months, altitude, walking and access.
- Kedarnath
- Main months
- Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov
- Altitude
- 3,584 m
- Walking and access
- There is no road to the temple. From Gaurikund the approach is on foot or by helicopter; the state trust page gives the trek as about 21 km, a figure that predates the post-2013 route and must be confirmed. We have found no official information on pony, palki or doli services or their rates. Helicopter seats are booked only through IRCTC HeliYatra after yatra registration. The shrine is at 3,584 m; the temple committee links the state health advisory from its home page.
- Nearest station / airport
- Rishikesh · Jolly Grant Airport, Dehradun
Not yet confirmed: darshan hours.
- Grishneshwar
- Darshan hours
- 5:30 am – 9:30 pm
- Nearest station / airport
- Aurangabad Railway Station (AWB) · Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar Airport (IXU)
Not yet confirmed: main months, altitude, walking and access.
Other identifications
Some places in this circuit are identified differently by different traditions or scholars. Each view is given; we do not settle it.
Mamleshwar
Identified by: The wording of the shloka itself, which reads Oṃkāram-Amaleśvaram — Amaleshwara being the linga on the south bank, not the island temple.
The other view
Common practice, which treats the island temple Omkareshwar as the Jyotirlinga. No reachable source resolves which of the two lingas at the site is meant.
Baidyanath Deoghar
Identified by: Deoghar tradition, which presents the Jharkhand temple as the Jyotirlinga.
The other view
The shloka reads Paralyām, which favours Parli in Beed district. The Government of India has notified no temple as the Jyotirlinga, and all claimants decline to withdraw.
Baijnath Kangra
Identified by: Kangra tradition, as a third claimant to the Vaidyanatha slot.
The other view
The shloka reads Paralyām. The claim is recorded without a reachable source establishing it.
Moteshwar Kashipur
Identified by: Kashipur tradition, for the Bhimashankara slot.
The other view
The mainstream identification is the temple in Pune district. Claimants also exist near Guwahati in Assam and at Bhimpur in Rayagada district, Odisha.
Jageshwar Almora
Identified by: Jageshwar tradition, for the Nagesha slot.
The other view
The mainstream identification is Nageshwar near Dwarka. The location of the Darukavana of the shloka is itself unsettled.
Aundha Nagnath
Identified by: Aundha Nagnath tradition in Hingoli district, for the Nagesha slot.
The other view
The mainstream identification is Nageshwar near Dwarka.
Where this list and its order comes from
- Hymn: Dvādaśa Jyotirliṅgāni, vv. 1–3 — the enumerative shloka beginning Saurāṣṭre Somanāthaṃ ca. Note that a longer 13-verse devotional stotram in a different metre also circulates under the name 'Dvadasa Jyotirlinga Stotram'; it is not this text. No Purana chapter and verse attribution for the enumerative shloka could be traced. greenmesg.org · seen 2026-09-18
A note for the curious
Twelve slots are fixed by the shloka. Four of them — Omkara, Vaidyanatha, Bhimashankara and Nagesha — are claimed by more than one physical temple, so the count is stable while the membership is not. See `contested`.