Hindu Mandirs in Indiaਭਾਰਤ ਦੇ ਹਿੰਦੂ ਮੰਦਰ

What are the 12 Jyotirlingas?

A Jyotirlinga — ‘lingam of light’, from the Sanskrit jyotis, radiance, and linga, sign — is how Shiva is worshipped at twelve shrines across India. The Shiva Purana speaks of sixty-four such shrines, of which twelve are considered the most auspicious. Each takes the name of its presiding deity, and each is regarded as a different manifestation of Shiva.

Tradition holds that Shiva once appeared as an infinite pillar of light to settle an argument between Brahma and Vishnu over which of them was supreme — and the Jyotirlinga shrines are regarded as the temples where that fiery column touched the earth.

The pilgrimage traditionally begins at Somnath in Gujarat and runs, in no fixed order, through:

• Somnath — Prabhas Patan, Veraval, Gujarat (the first of the twelve)
• Mallikarjuna — Srisailam, Andhra Pradesh (Jyotirlinga and Shakti Pitha together)
• Mahakaleshwar — Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh (the only south-facing Jyotirlinga)
• Omkareshwar — an island in the Narmada, Khandwa district, Madhya Pradesh
• Baidyanath — Deoghar, Jharkhand
• Bhimashankar — Pune district, Maharashtra
• Ramanathaswamy — Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu (also one of the Char Dham)
• Nageshwar — near Dwarka, Gujarat (Aundha Naganath and Jageshwar also claim the name — most lists follow the Dwarka temple)
• Kashi Vishwanath — Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
• Trimbakeshwar — Nashik, Maharashtra, near the source of the Godavari
• Kedarnath — the Uttarakhand Himalaya, the northernmost (open about six months a year)
• Grishneshwar — near the Ellora Caves, Maharashtra

Three of the twelve — Mallikarjuna, Mahakaleshwar and Kashi Vishwanath — are also counted among the Shakti Pithas, the shrines of the Goddess.

The Char Dham: the four abodes

The Char Dham — ‘the four abodes’ — is the other great circuit: Badrinath, Dwarka, Puri and Rameswaram. Tradition credits the philosopher Adi Shankara with defining the four, one for each direction of the compass, and many Hindus believe that visiting all four helps towards moksha, liberation.

• Badrinath — Uttarakhand (north), a Vishnu temple in the Garhwal Himalaya, open roughly April to October
• Dwarka — Gujarat (west), Krishna's city on the Arabian Sea
• Puri — Odisha (east), home of Jagannath, famous for the Ratha Yatra
• Rameswaram — Tamil Nadu (south), the Shiva shrine linked in legend to Rama's bridge to Lanka

Not to be confused with the Chota Char Dham — a newer Uttarakhand circuit of Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, named by the religious tourism industry.

Iconic mandirs beyond the circuits

Beyond the two circuits stand temples every Indian knows by name — some among the most-visited pilgrimage sites in the world. Jugti is covering each in its own entry:

• Venkateswara Temple, Tirumala (Tirupati) — Andhra Pradesh
• Meenakshi Amman Temple — Madurai, Tamil Nadu
• Vaishno Devi — Katra, Jammu & Kashmir
• Ram Mandir — Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh (consecrated 22 January 2024)
• Siddhivinayak Temple — Mumbai
• Akshardham — Delhi (opened 6 November 2005)
• Padmanabhaswamy Temple — Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
• Brihadisvara Temple — Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu
• Konark Sun Temple — Odisha (UNESCO 1984)
• Amarnath Cave — Jammu & Kashmir (3,888 m; the ice lingam)
• Kamakhya Temple — Guwahati, Assam
• Belur Math — Howrah, West Bengal (the Ramakrishna Mission's monastic headquarters and temple complex — not a classical ancient mandir)

Three styles of temple

However grand the shrine, its architecture belongs to one of three classical schools — and knowing them changes how you look at every temple in this guide:

• Nagara — North India's curving-shikhara style
• Dravida — South India's pyramidal-vimana style
• Vesara — the Deccan's hybrid of the two (covered in the Dravida guide)

All Mandirs in India

Every mandir entry Jugti has published so far — this list grows with each new entry:

• Dravida Temple Architecture — the South Indian school: pyramidal vimanas, towering gopurams
• Nagara Temple Architecture — the North Indian school: curving shikharas, Khajuraho to Konark

Related guides

• Gurdwaras in India — Jugti's companion guide to India's Sikh shrines

What is the difference between Char Dham and Chota Char Dham?

The Char Dham is the classical all-India circuit — Badrinath, Dwarka, Puri, Rameswaram — traditionally defined by Adi Shankara. The Chota (‘small’) Char Dham is a newer, Uttarakhand-only circuit — Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath, Badrinath — named by the religious tourism industry. Both include Badrinath; only the classical circuit spans the whole country.