The Twelve Jyotirlingas -- Shiva's Pillars of Light

Brahma and Vishnu were arguing over which of them was the greater, the Shiva Purana says, when a column of fire appeared between them, so vast that neither its top nor its base could be seen. They agreed that whoever found its end would be the greater. Vishnu took the form of a boar and dug down; Brahma became a swan and flew upward. Neither found an end. Then Shiva emerged from the pillar, and both bowed before him. The image of this moment -- Shiva appearing out of the linga of light -- is called Lingodbhava, and it is carved on the outer wall of countless Shiva temples.

A jyotirlinga is a "linga of light". Tradition holds that there are twelve places where Shiva manifested himself in this luminous form, and that the lingas worshipped there are not set up by human hands in the ordinary way but are his own self-manifested presence. Together they form one of the great pilgrimage circuits of India, spanning the whole subcontinent.

Each of the twelve has its own story and character. Somnath, by tradition the first, was built, according to legend, by the Moon god Soma to be freed from a curse; its temple has been destroyed and rebuilt many times through history, most recently in 1951. Mahakaleshwar at Ujjain faces south, the direction of death, as the Lord of Time who conquers it, and is famous for its pre-dawn bhasma aarti with sacred ash. Kedarnath stands at about 3,580 metres, reached on foot and open only from spring to the onset of winter. Kashi Vishwanath, in the city where dying is held to bring liberation, is for many the holiest of all. And Rameshwaram is where, in the Ramayana tradition, Rama worshipped Shiva before crossing to Lanka.

A hymn, the Dwadasha Jyotirlinga Stotram, gives a verse to each shrine in turn, beginning with Somanatha in Saurashtra, and closes with a verse on the merit of reciting it. A shorter verse naming all twelve is recited daily by many Shiva devotees, with the traditional promise that remembering the twelve morning and evening wipes away the sins of seven lives.

Visiting all twelve is a lifetime ambition for many devotees, and today organised yatras make it possible in a few weeks; others visit one at a time across many years, often beginning with the shrine nearest home. The season matters for some: Kedarnath closes for winter, and Shravan and Mahashivaratri bring enormous crowds to all of them. Whichever is visited, the tradition's point is the same as the Lingodbhava story. Shiva cannot be measured or possessed -- but he can be met, in a particular place, by anyone who comes with devotion.