Most of Hindus who worship Lord Shiva wants to visit the holy places in their lifetime. There is a strong belief that visiting these temples, people can get rid of the sins, Mukti, and be happy without any problems. There are few temples in India where every devotee of Lord Shiva must visit these sacred holy places in their lifetime. Below are Top 13 Temples of Lord Shiva
Amarnath
Amarnath Temple is a holy place of the people where people worship Lord Shiva. Amarnath cave is covered with snowy mountains and the temple will be opened in the months of Shravana Masam, which is considered as an auspicious Hindu month.
The most popular story for the existence of the Amarnath Cave came to light after the discovery by Shepherd Buta Malik. The story is: A saint gave a bag full of coal, after going home, he opened the bag, for his surprise he found a bag full of gold coins. He was very happy and went to meet the saint, but Malik was unable to find the saint. Instead, he found the cave with Ice Shiva Lingam there, then he came back to the villagers, explained to them what had happened and the discovery of the holy place. Since then, this has become a holy place of pilgrimage
Somnath Temple is one of the Jyotirlinga temples which is located in Saurashtra, the environment is present and the temple is built beside the Sea. According to the Skanda Puranam, Moon(Soma in Sanskrit) has visited this holy place and he established shiva lingam temple. Hence, the name was derived as a Somanath Temple.
The Holy place is considered as the Sangam of Shiva Tirtam, Agni Tirtam, Surya Tristam. The template has been destroyed many times. Sardar Vallabhai Patel's vision to reconstruct the Somnath Temple and under the driving force of the KM Munshi, the temple was reconstructed successfully.
 |
| Somnath Temple Gujarat, A photo by Anhilwara |
Mallikarjuna Swamy: Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh
Mallikarjuna Swamy temple is popularly known as Srisailam. Mallikarjuna Swamy temple is one of the Jyotirlinga temples which is located in Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh near banks of the Krishna River.
 |
| A photo by Srinivas Chidumalla |
Mahakaleshwar: Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh
Mahakaleshwar temple is one of the Jyotirlinga temples which is located in Ujjain city of Madhya Pradesh on the banks of the Rudra Sagar Lake. The Mahakaleshwar is worshiped as a Dakshnamurthi which meaning idol facing in the south direction.
According to the Hindu Scriptures, the Chandrasana king and his people are devotees of Lord Shiva and when Channdrasana kingdom was conquered by the neighboring kings. Upon listening to the pleas of Chandrasana King and his people. Lord Shiva appeared as Mahakal and saved the Chandrasana Kingdom. From then, he was worshiped as a Mahakaleshwar.
Omkareshwar: Omkareshwar, Madhya Pradesh
Omkareshwar temple is one of the Jyotirlinga temples which is located in Khandwa District of Madhya Pradesh on the Mandhata Island in the Narmada River.
Kedarnath: Kedarnath, Uttarakhand
Kedarnath is one of the Jyotirlinga temples which is located in Kedarnath of Uttarakhand State near the Mandakini river. The temple will be opened from Akshaya Tritiya(April) to Karthika Purnima (November). During the rest of the months, the temple will be closed due to the unpleasant weather conditions.
Bhimashankar: Pune, Maharashtra
Bhimashankar one among the Jyotirlinga's, India's famous holy as well tourist places. It is situated on the Sahyadri hills in the Bhorigiri village near Pune of Maharashtra. Most Indian Hindu people prefer to visit this temple because as it is a hill area and covered with a very thick dense forest and recently it recognized as a wildlife sanctuary.
Kashi Vishwanath: Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
Vishwanath temple is popularly known as Kasi, it is India's most traditional temple dedicated to worship for Lord shiva. It is located in the Varanasi at the Western bank of the Ganga river. Most of the Hindu devotees have a strong belief once in a life span visiting Kasi that they can rid of sins that they have done by taking bath in the Ganga.
Trimbakeshwar: Trimbak, near Nasik, Maharashtra
Trimbakeshwar is the oldest and one of the Jyotirlingas. It is situated on the in Nasik district of Maharastra. This Temple was built by Pandavas during their Eile. This Jyothirlingam as the name resembles Trimbakeshwar have very beautiful Idol to see which it has three faces Brahma, Vishnu, and Krishna.
Vaidyanath: Deogarh, Jharkhand
Vaidyanath temple has twin names i.e., Vaijnath and Baidyanth Temple. One of the Jyotirlinga's temples and located at Deogarh in the Santal paragons of Jharkhand. People visit this temple to get Mukti and be happy. In ancient times, Ravana used to offer prayers to Lord Shiva.
Nageshwar: Jamnagar, Gujrat
Nageshwar temple also a Jyothirlingam and it is in between the Gomati and Bait Dwarka on the bank of Saurashtra. Since Jyotirlingam formed, Nageshwara considered the first temple.
This Temple is constructed under the ground and built by the black stone and this is a very good viewpoint of watch Lord Shiva idol of 25 Meters tall with a garden and pond nearby it. In ancient times, Lord Krishna used to offer prayers to Rudrabhishekam at Nageshwara temple. The main theme of offering prayers and devotees believe to be safe of poisons.
Ramanatha Swamy: Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu
Ramanatha Swamy is one of the Jyotirlinga temples which is located in Rameswaram Island of Tamil Nadu State. According to the Ramayana, Rama asked Hanuman to bring Lingam to worship from the Himalayas, but because of the delay, Sita and Rama built a lingam to worship Lord Shiva.
Grishneshwar: Ellora, Maharashtra
Grishneshwar is one of the Jyotirlinga temples which is located in Ellora of Maharashtra State. The temple was destroyed many times because of the Hindu and Muslim wars. According to local tradition, men should enter the temple bare-chested.
