The 12 Shivling Names (12 Jyotirlingas), With Places and States
The twelve shivling names people search for are the twelve Jyotirlingas: Somnath, Mallikarjuna, Mahakaleshwar, Omkareshwar, Kedarnath, Bhimashankar, Kashi Vishwanath, Trimbakeshwar, Vaidyanath, Nageshwar, Rameshwaram and Grishneshwar. This piece gives the full list with town, state and river, explains why some sites are claimed by two states, and shows which details are worth memorising for Prelims.
The twelve shivling names people search for are the twelve Jyotirlingas: Somnath, Mallikarjuna, Mahakaleshwar, Omkareshwar, Kedarnath, Bhimashankar, Kashi Vishwanath, Trimbakeshwar, Vaidyanath, Nageshwar, Rameshwaram and Grishneshwar. This piece gives the full list with town, state and river, explains why some sites are claimed by two states, and shows which details are worth memorising for Prelims.
The 12 Shivling Names, With Place and State
The twelve shivlings are Somnath, Mallikarjuna, Mahakaleshwar, Omkareshwar, Kedarnath, Bhimashankar, Kashi Vishwanath, Trimbakeshwar, Vaidyanath, Nageshwar, Rameshwaram and Grishneshwar. They are spread across nine states. Maharashtra holds the most with three, followed by Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh with two each.
The order below follows the Dwadasha Jyotirlinga Stotra, which is how the list has been recited for centuries. If you are going to memorise it, memorise it in this sequence rather than alphabetically or state-wise. The shloka itself does the sequencing work for you.
| # | Shivling (Jyotirlinga) | Town / Site | State | River or Landmark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somnath | Prabhas Patan, near Veraval | Gujarat | Arabian Sea coast |
| 2 | Mallikarjuna | Srisailam | Andhra Pradesh | Krishna, Nallamala hills |
| 3 | Mahakaleshwar | Ujjain | Madhya Pradesh | Shipra |
| 4 | Omkareshwar | Mandhata island, Khandwa district | Madhya Pradesh | Narmada |
| 5 | Kedarnath | Rudraprayag district | Uttarakhand | Mandakini |
| 6 | Bhimashankar | Khed taluka, Pune district | Maharashtra | Source of the Bhima |
| 7 | Kashi Vishwanath | Varanasi | Uttar Pradesh | Ganga |
| 8 | Trimbakeshwar | Nashik district | Maharashtra | Source of the Godavari |
| 9 | Vaidyanath | Deoghar | Jharkhand | Near the Ajay basin |
| 10 | Nageshwar | Near Dwarka | Gujarat | Gulf of Kutch coast |
| 11 | Rameshwaram | Rameswaram island | Tamil Nadu | Gulf of Mannar |
| 12 | Grishneshwar | Ellora, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district | Maharashtra | Next to the Ellora caves |
Shivling and Jyotirlinga Are Not the Same Thing
Every temple of Shiva has a shivling. There are thousands of them. So a search for twelve shivling names is really a search for the twelve Jyotirlingas, which is a specific set.
The word jyoti means light. In the Shiva Purana, these twelve are described as sites where Shiva appeared as a column of light rather than as an installed stone. That is the distinction. A shivling is the aniconic form worshipped in any Shaiva temple, while a Jyotirlinga is said to be swayambhu, self manifested, at one of these twelve places.
This matters because people often add Lingaraja at Bhubaneswar, Brihadeeswarar at Thanjavur or Amarnath to the list. All three are major Shiva sites. None of them is a Jyotirlinga.
The Shloka That Makes the List Stick
Rote learning twelve names in a row fails after a week. The traditional verse works better because it pairs each name with its place, so you recall the geography and the name together.
The opening line is Saurashtre Somnatham cha Srishaile Mallikarjunam, Ujjayinyam Mahakalam Omkaram Amaleshwaram. Saurashtra gives you Gujarat. Srisailam gives you the Nallamala hills. Ujjayini is Ujjain. Each place name is embedded in the verse itself.
If you prefer a visual method, cluster them on a mental map instead. Western block: Somnath and Nageshwar in Gujarat, Bhimashankar, Trimbakeshwar and Grishneshwar in Maharashtra. Central block: Mahakaleshwar and Omkareshwar in Madhya Pradesh. North: Kedarnath and Kashi Vishwanath. East: Vaidyanath. South: Mallikarjuna and Rameshwaram. Five, two, two, one, two.
Three Sites Where the List Gets Disputed
This is where most lists online quietly disagree with each other, and where a careless answer goes wrong.
Nageshwar is the biggest one. The Dwarka site in Gujarat is the most widely accepted, but Aundha Nagnath in Hingoli district of Maharashtra and Jageshwar in Almora district of Uttarakhand both claim the same Jyotirlinga. Vaidyanath has a parallel dispute: Baidyanath Dham at Deoghar in Jharkhand is the mainstream answer, while Parli Vaijnath in Beed district of Maharashtra is the rival claim, and the shloka word Paralyam is read by some as supporting Parli.
Bhimashankar is contested more faintly, with claims from Assam and Odisha, but the Pune district site is the standard one. For any exam or quiz, go with Dwarka, Deoghar and Pune district. Just know that the alternatives exist, because a question can be framed around the disagreement itself.
What Actually Matters If You Are Preparing for an Exam
Memorising twelve names is the easy part. UPSC has never asked for a flat list, and it is unlikely to start. The questions that come from this territory are about architecture, patronage, destruction and reconstruction.
So attach history to each name. Somnath was raided by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1026 and rebuilt after independence on Sardar Patel's initiative, with the new temple inaugurated in 1951. Kashi Vishwanath was demolished under Aurangzeb in 1669 and rebuilt in 1780 by Ahilyabai Holkar, whose temple patronage across north India is a worthwhile thread on its own. Grishneshwar sits beside the Ellora caves, a UNESCO World Heritage site, where the Kailasa temple was carved under the Rashtrakuta ruler Krishna I. Rameshwaram's Ramanathaswamy temple has the longest temple corridor in India and is tied to the Ramayana and the Setu.
That is the layer where cultural history questions live. If you want to see how the examiner actually frames temple and art history questions before you decide what to memorise, working backwards through past papers with something like the PYQ Mastery Course is more productive than collecting another list.
Learn the twelve names once. Spend the rest of your time on who built, who broke and who rebuilt them.
FAQs
1. Which state has the most Jyotirlingas?
Maharashtra, with three: Bhimashankar in Pune district, Trimbakeshwar in Nashik district and Grishneshwar near Ellora. Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have two each, and the remaining five are spread across Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu.
2. Is Amarnath one of the 12 Jyotirlingas?
No. Amarnath in Jammu and Kashmir is a major Shiva pilgrimage where an ice lingam forms naturally each year, but it is not counted among the twelve Jyotirlingas listed in the Shiva Purana.
3. Which Jyotirlinga is the first and which is the last?
In the traditional Dwadasha Jyotirlinga Stotra, Somnath in Gujarat is first and Grishneshwar near Ellora in Maharashtra is last. The order is scriptural, not based on size, age or importance.
4. Which is the smallest Jyotirlinga temple?
Grishneshwar at Ellora is generally described as the smallest of the twelve. The present structure was rebuilt in the eighteenth century with patronage associated with Ahilyabai Holkar.
5. Which Jyotirlinga is the hardest to reach?
Kedarnath in Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand, at roughly 3,580 metres, requires a trek of about 16 km from Gaurikund and the temple stays closed for about six months in winter.
6. Why do some lists show Nageshwar in Maharashtra instead of Gujarat?
Three sites claim the Nageshwar Jyotirlinga: the temple near Dwarka in Gujarat, Aundha Nagnath in Hingoli district of Maharashtra and Jageshwar in Uttarakhand. The Dwarka site is the most widely accepted and is the safe answer in exams and quizzes.