Lard Shiva is always considered to be the one who creates, saves and destroys not just the physical form but also the various illness both mental and physical that any human being has. In most parts of India, the Lord Shiva is worshipped in the form of Shiva Linga.
Legend says - that once there was a fight between Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu as to who is the supreme one and to settle the debate Lord Shiva appeared as a very huge pillar of light and asked them to find the tip of his head and toe. That light later cooled down and became the holy hill of Arunachala - in Tamilnadu.
Both Brahma and Vishnu then split themselves to the upper and the lower world to find the tip of the head and feet respectively and when Brahma returned and lied that he saw the tip of Shiva's head The story goes that the fragrant screw pine flower - Thazhampoo in Tamil was falling down from Shiva's head and when Brahma saw that he requested the flower to lie to Shiva that he took it from his head and as the flower did so, both Brahma and the flower were cursed by Lord Shiva. That the flower will not be used for Shiva's pooja any more and that Lord Brahma though the creator of the world will not have physical temples to worship.
Jyothirlingas are the 12 Shivalinga moorthis of Lord Shiva strategically placed across the country in 12 different locations. The word Jyothi means the light. The Shiva Purana mentions 64 Jyothirlingas but amongst them 12 are more sacred and they are called Maha Jyothirlingas.
The places where Lord Shiva appeared in the form of light are regarded as the Jyothirlinga temple sites. The primary idol in all these temples are Shivalinga representing the beginningless and the endless sthamba - the pillar which represents the infinite nature of Lord Shiva.
The 12 Maha Jyothirlingas are located in the following places:
1. Somnath, Veeruval, Gujarat
2. Rameshwar, Rameshwaram, Tamilnadu
3. Kedarnath, Kedarnath, Uttarakhand
4. Nageshwar, Near Dwaraka, Gujarat
5. Mahakaleshwar, Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh
6. Mallikarjuna, Srisailam, Andhra Pradesh
7. Omkareshwar, Khandwa, Madhyapradesh
8. Viswanath, Kasi, Uttarpradesh
9. Bhimshankar, Pune, Maharashtra
10. Triambakeshwar, Nashik, Maharashtra
11. Baidhyanath, Deoghar, Jharkhand
12. Grishneshwar, Aurangabad, Maharashtra
Though these 12 places of worship of Lord Shiva are Jyothirlinga sites, still there are no individual significant marking to give these places a special reverence.
