Somaskandar

In the form of representation of Lord Shiva, He is depicted as a family man. He has Parvati to his left and Skanda (Karthikeya) as a child seating in between them. The worship of Somaskanda became more popular during 6th and 8th century in South India. This idol is supposed to represent SAT, CHIT, ANANDA. Further it is stated that the figures of Shiva, Parvati and Skanda represent IcchaShakti, KriyaShakti and GyanaShakti.

Legend: According to legend KumaraSambhava, Lord Vishnu was desirous of a child. He worshiped Lord Shiva at Tiruvarur and Shiva blessed him with a male child named Kaama (Manmada). Parvati was enraged by the fact that Vishnu did not include her in the worship. Hence she cursed that the child should be burnt to death by Shiva. Upon realization of his mistake, Vishnu created a composite image of Shiva, Parvati and child Skanda and worshipped Parvati. She blessed him with a boon. According to the boon, Kaama would relive to create a force of attraction between Male and Female so that human race will continue to thrive. Somaskanda is the processional image of Shiva in most of the temples in South India.

Shaivam (Shaivism)

Shaivism

Shaivam or Shaivism is one of the four most widely followed sects in Hinduism. Followers of this sect are known as Shaivaites or Shaivam. They revere Lord Shiva as the Supreme Being. This path is also known as Shaivapantha or Saivam as in Tamil. The followers believe that Shiva is All in All. Shaivism spread to other parts of Southeast Asia including Java, Bali and Cambodia. It is widely practiced in India, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Shaivism has a vast literature. They represent multiple philosophical schools which include non-dualist, dualist as well as combination of both principles. Sacred ash is used as a sign of Shivaism. This sacred ash is worn as a mark on the forehead and other parts of the body. This Sacred ash is also known as Bhasma or Vibhuti. The method and the mantras to be recited while wearing this Vibhuti are clearly mentioned in the scriptures. Shiva worship was found to be in existence during Indus valley civilization dating to about 2500 BC. Artifacts have been found at Mohanjodaro, Harappa, and archaeological sites in northwestern India and Pakistan. The Shaiva traditions began to occur during the period between 200 BC and 100 AD. It developed and spread rapidly during Gupta period (320 - 500 BC). Its rise can be attributed to singers and composers of Puranik narrations. 

The development of Shiva can be shown as

Smartas

Another branch of Shaiva worship is known as Smartas (Smartism). This places emphasis on the group of deities - Shiva, Ganesha, Vishnu, Devi, and Surya instead of just a single deity. This worship of 5 forms is known as Panchayatana Puja. It was popularized by Adishankara 788 - 820 AD. This was preached by Shankaracharya which enables one to choose one of the 5 as principle deity and worship the other 4 deities as different form of the same. Shaiva siddhanta has more influence in southern India hence we find numerous Shiva temples in South India especially Tanjore district of Tamilnadu. This region was major
part of Chola empire between 800-1200 A.D. Shaivasiddhanta is popular in South India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, and wherever the Tamils are living. In the 6th and 7th century there were 63 traditional poet-saints in South India known as Nayanmars. They had their focus on Lord Shiva only and they composed devotional poems. There are 11 collections of these poems. 

Branches of Shaivism

1. Vedic-Puranik Shaivism: This branch has its origin in vedas. This was practiced by Smartha brahmins in South as well as North India. This propagates the practice of Vedic religion known as Sanatana Dharma. In this practice the Shiva Purana is the ultimate resource.

2. Non-puranik Shaivism: In this practice the devotees undergoes Diksha (initiation). This is further divided into Atimarga (seeking only liberation) and Mantra marga (seeking both liberation and worldly objectives).

3. Pashupathshaivism : It is the oldest form of Shaivism practiced by ascetics. This had its influence in Gujarat, Kashmir, and Nepal.

4. ShaivaSiddhanta : This is considered as normative tantrik shaivism. This tradition was once practiced all over India. It is restricted to South where it merged with Tamil Saiva cult. Hence this is commonly considered as Southern tradition and it is still very much alive.

5. KashmirShaivism: It is strongly based on monastic interpretation of Bhairava tantras. They were written by Kapalikas. 

6. NathSiddhaSidhanta: This was founded by Matsyendranath (800-1000 AD). It was expanded by Gorakhnath in 950 AD. The influential areas are Nepal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and parts of Maharashtra.

7. Lingayatism: This was made popular by Basavanna in 1105-1167. This primarily found in Karnataka and some parts of Andhra Pradesh. 

8. Shiva Advaita: This was formulated by Srikantha (1050 AD). Its influence is mostly found in Karnataka. Appaya Dikshit (1554 - 1626) attempted to resolve concept of Shiva Advaita.

Forms (Murtis) of Lord Shiva

Shiva Siddhanta - Considers the Lord Shiva to be arupa (formless). It is stated that for the salvation of human kind he took the form of Lingam (It is considered as Arupa of Arup Rupa). Lingam is considered as SadaShiva murti. From this SadaShiva murti, Lord Shiva manifested in various forms. These murtis are known as Maheshwara murtis. Of these 25 are known but there may be more. These murtis can be classified into Bhogamurtis, Yogamurtis, Vegamurtis. Generally SadaShiva murti is found in Sanctum Sanctorum (Gabhara). The Maheshwara murtis are found in the Prahaaram i.e. outside the Sanctum Sanctorum.

25 Maheshwara murtis are as follows

1. Bhikshatanar 
2. Kamari 
3. Kalari 
4. Kalyanasundarar 
5. Rishabharuder 
6. Chandrasekharar 
7. UmaMaheshwarar 
8. Natarajar 
9. Tripurantkar 
10. Jalandhari 
11. GajaSamharmurty 
12. Veerabhadrar (Karalar) 
13. ShankarNarayan 
14. ArdhaNarishwarar 
15. Kiratar 
16. Kankalar 
17. Chandeshanugrahar 
18. Chakrapradar 
19. Somaskandar 
20. Ekapadar 
21. Vighneshanugrahar 
22. Dakshinamurthy 
23. Neelkanthar 
24. Lingodbavar 
25. Sukhasanar

Besides these it is customary in the Shiva temples of South India to list the following 64 murtis also. These are kept in the Prahaaram (Parikrama) along with 63 ShaivaSiddhanta saints knows as Nayanmars.

1. Shivalingam 
2. Lingodbhavar 
3. Mukhalingam 
4. SadaShivam 
5. MahaSadaShivam 
6. Uma Maheshwar 
7. Sukasanamurty 
8. Umeshmurty 
9. Somaskandamurty 
10. Chandrasekharmurty 
11. Vrishabharudmurty 
12. Vrishantikarmurty 
13. Bhujangalitmurty 
14. Bhujangastarmurty 
15. Sandhiyanrittamurty 
16. Sadanrittamurty 
17. Chandatanadamurty 
18. Gangadharmurty 
19. Gajavisarjanamurty 
20. Tripurantakamurty 
21. KalyanSundarmurty 
22. Ardhanarishwarmurty 
23. Gajasamharmurty 
24. Jvarabhagnamurty 
25. Shardhulharamurty 
26. Pasupatmurty
27. Gangalmurty 
28. Keshavarthamurty 
29. Bhikhatanamurty 
30. Simhaganamurty 
31. Chandeshwaranugrahamurty 
32. Vyakhyahadakshinamurty 
33. YogaDakshinamurty 
34. Veenadhardakshinamurty 
35. Kaiantakamurty 
36. Kamanmurty (Kamadhanamurty) 
37. Vaghuleshwaramurty 
38. Bhairavamurty 
39. Apatuddranamurty 
40. Vadukamurty 
41. Kshetrepalmurty 
42. Veerbhadramurty 
43. Agorastramurty 
44. Dakshinagyaharamurty 
45. Kiratamurty 
46. Gurumurty 
47. Ashwarudhamurty 
48. Gajantikamurty 
49. Jalandharvatamurty 
50. Ekpadatrimurty 
51. Tripadatrimurty 
52. Ekpadmamurty 
53. Gaurivarapradamurty 
54. Chakradaneshwarswarupamurty 
55. Gaurisamanavitmurty 
56. Vrishbharanmurty 
57. Garudanikmurty 
58. Brahasirchetakamurty 
59. kurmasamharmurty 
60. Matsyrimurty 
61. Varaharimurty 
62. Prarthamurty 
63. Raktabhisekhapradhanmurty 
64. Shishyabhavmurty 

There are other swarupas also found in the temples of south India.

Shri Ghrushneshwar

This is the twelfth Jyotirlinga. According to Madhwamunishwar there is no other place on earth except this where Lord Ghrushneshwar resides. This Jyotirlinga is located at Verul in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra. It is about 30 km west of Aurangabad.

Legends

This place was original settlement of Naga tribes. The place was known as Bambi (place of Nagas) which is "Varul" in Marathi. With passing of time, the name changed to Verul or Yelur. 

There are number of legends associated with this place. A king that had gone on a hunting spree killed animals belonging to Rishis and Munis along with other animals. Due to the curse of Rishis, his whole body was infected with insects. After searching the entire forest for water, he found a water hole. When he drank water from the hole, he was cured of the disease. He did severe penance at that place and got the divine vision of Lord Brahma. Lord Brahma created Parastha-theertha at this place, which later became known as Brahma-Sarovar or Shivalay.

According to another legend in the puranas, the nearby Yelaganga river which takes its origins in the forest known as Kamyakavana. Once Parvati was about to fill her hair parting with vermilion and saffron. She mixed them with water from Shivalay. The vermilion turned into Shivalinga with a great light emanating from it. Lord Shiva removed this linga with his trident. Parvati installed this linga here and named it Kumkumeshwar. Since this was created with the thumb of her hand while mixing the vermillion, she named the linga Grushneshwar.

Another legend from the puranas, there was a pious brahmin named Sudharma who had no issue. His wife Sudeha made him marry her sister Ghushma, a staunch devotee of lord Shiva. Ghushma gave birth to a boy, but her elder sister Sudeha, out of jealousy, threw the boy in a pond where a shivalinga was immersed earlier by Ghushma. After the death of her son, Ghushma started worshiping Lord Shiva more intensely. Lord Shiva granted his vision to Ghushma who requested to forgive her sister. Highly merciful Lord Shiva brought the boy to life and stayed at that place as Ghushmeshwar which later became known as Ghrushneshwar. Devi Parvati accompanied Lord Shiva as Ghrushneshwari. The present temple was constructed by the patel of the village who had secured a treasure in a snake pit. The Ajanta and Ellora caves are close to this place.

This completes a small narration about the twelve Jyotirlingas. We have tried out level best to present the details.

Shri Vaidyanath

There are three locations that are considered for this Jyotirlinga. There is a legend associated with each location. Three locations are Parali near Ambejogai in Maharashtra, Deogarh in Jharkhand and Baijanath in Himachal Pradesh. 

Baijanath in Himachal Pradesh is considered as one of the most scared abodes of Lord Shiva. The Demon king Ravana was a staunch worshiper for Shiva. By cutting his ten heads one after the other he offered them as a sacrifice to Lord Shiva during a Tapasya. Pleased by his devotion, Lord Shiva cured Ravana of his injury. As Lord Shiva acted as a doctor in this case, he is known as Baijanath in Himachal Pradesh.

The second legend is associated with the Jyotirlinga at Parali. Devi Yogeshwari of Ambejogai was to be married to Lord Vaidyanatha of Parali. The marriage party arrived late at Ambejogai as a result of which the marriage party members were turned into stone by Yogeshwari (Parvati). Another legend at this place is attributed to Samudra-Manthan. After Samudra-Manthan, Lord Vishnu hid Danavantri, along with other gems, inside the Shivalinga. When the demons tried to snatch away the gems, huge flames came out of the linga and the demons had to retreat. Therefore there is a belief that the abhishek teertha that comes out from the shivalinga has properties to cure diseases. A banyan tree (Vata-Vruksha) near the vataveshwar temple is believed to be the spot where the incident of Savitri and Satyavan took place. A pond nearby is named after Markandeya rishi. This spot is believed to the place where the rishi got the boom of eternal life (Chiranjeevi) from Lord Shiva.

At Deogarh the legend is that, Ravana desired to perform ablutions and as there was no water nearby he hit the ground with his fist. Then there emerged a pond called ShivaGanga. He worshiped sivalinga and sacrificed his hands one by one. Finally Lord Shiva appeared and gave him a boom of invincibility and restored his hands. Hence the shivalinga is known as Vaidyanath.

Shri Tryambakeshwar

This is the tenth of the twelve Jyotirlignas. It is located on the banks of river Godavari, also known as Gautami, at Tryambakeshwar near Nashik in state of Maharashtra. The Linga has unique shape which resembles the bottom part of a founding stone (Ukhal) with a hollow portion in the middle. Inside this hole, there are three lingas having shape of the thumb, hence the linga is known as Tryambakeshwar. There is a constant water flow from an orifice (hole) located above the ShivaLinga. The place attracts thousands of people as darshan of this linga helps satisfy their material desire and find spiritual solace. Every twelve years, when the planet Jupiter comes in the zodiac sign of Leo, Kumbha Mela is held throughout the period when Jupiter is transiting through Leo.

Legends

Sage Gautama and his wife Ahilya were doing penance in Dakshina mountains. Once there was a long spell of drought in that region. They pleased Lord Varuna (Rain God) by their severe penance. They got a boon from him, which blessed them with constant flow of abundant water at their place resulting in abundant growth of grains in their ashram. This abundance of grain and water in the ashram of Gautam rishi caused jealousy in the minds of co-sages and their wives. They created a cow by their Maya (magic) which started destroying the grains. When Gautam rishi threw a small twig at thin cow to drive it away, the cow fell dead. The other sages accused Gautam rishi of go-hatya and banished him to a lonely place on the mountain named Bramhagiri.

Gautam rishi did severe penance at this place and worshiped Lord Shiva with ParthivaLinga. Lord Shiva was pleased by the penance and bestowed two boons. One was to create ganga in the form of Gautami and the other was to manifest as a JyotirLanga at Tryambakeshwar. According to another legend, Lord Bramha gave a curse to Lord Shiva during the manifestation of the first JyotirLinga of Ardra Nakshatra that Tryambakeshwar Linga should be pushed under the ground. Hence this linga is small in size in a depression on the floor with water flowing constantly on it from the top.

There is a teertha known as varaha-teertha where Lord Vishnu had a bath in river Gautami during Varaha-Avatar. The spring at Bramhagiri from where Godavari emerges is known as Ganga-Dwar. After emerging at this place Godavari almost disappears and re-appears at Tahalhati. 

When Gautami Ganga, that was received as boon, started flowing, due to its flow Sage Gautam could not take a bath in it and so he threw Darbha (Kusha) in the way of Ganga to stop her. The place is known as Kushavarta-teertha. 

On the parikrama path there are number of holy teerthas namely Ram teertha, Prayag teertha, Narasimha teertha etc. 

According to puranas, people can absolve of sarpa-dosha by performing Narayan-Naag bali and Pitru Dosha by performing Tri-Pindi Shraddha at Tryambakeshwar.

Shri Rameshwar

It is the ninth Jyotirlinga out of the twelve Jyotirlingas. It is located on the southern tip of India in Ramnad district of Tamilnadu. It is considered that the Char Dhaam yatra is complete only when the water from Ganga is carried to Rameshwar and offered to Lord Shiva. Then a little sand is taken from Rameshwar and immersed back in Ganga.

Rameshwar is depicted as important holy place in Skanda Purana and Shiva purana. After the victory over Ravana, Lord Rama decided to install a Shivalinga in gratitude and dutiful homage to Lord Shiva. He sent Hanuman to bring a facsimile of Kasi Vishveswara linga after due prayer at Varanasi. Hanuman could not return to Rameshwar before the auspicious time (muhurtha). Hence Sita devi created linga swarupa out of seashore sand. It was formally consecrated amid chanting of veda mantras. After returning from Kasi, Hanuman was not happy to see that Shiva Linga was already installed. Lord Rama told Hanuman that already installed Shiva Linga can be removed to install Shiva Linga brought by Hanuman. Hanuman tried with all his power to uproot Shiva linga already installed with no success. He realized the importance of Shiva Linga created by Sita. However, Lord Rama instructed to install Shiva Linga brought by Hanuman by the side of Shiva Linga created by Sita. He also instructed that one should first take darshan of Vishwalinga (linga brought by Hanuman) before taking darshan of Ramalinga (linga created by Sita). This custom is followed till date.

According to another legend, searching for Sita, Lord Rama reached Rameshwar. When he was about to drink water, he remembered that he had not performed Shiva pooja. Rama prayed to Lord Shiva who appeared before him. Shiva granted the wish of Rama and stayed as Rameshwar linga.

There are 24 odd holy water springs around here known as Rama tirtha, Seeta tirtha, Kapi teertha, Brahmakunda, and so on…

It is customary to take bath in these wells before going for darshana of Jyotirlinga in Rameshwar. It is believed that pitrukarma performed on the shores of Rameshwar relieves the pitrus from their Karma and help them attain the Moksha.