Famous Shiva Temples in India: 20 Must-Visit Shrines

A Shiva dham thronged with kanwariyas offering jal · Shiv Kavar Samiti

Which are the most famous Shiva temples in India? Here is the direct answer: at the heart of Shaivite pilgrimage stand the twelve Jyotirlingas — self-manifested shrines of Lord Shiva spread from Somnath in Gujarat to Rameshwaram in the far south — and around them cluster some of the most beloved temples in the land, such as Kedarnath in the Himalayas, Kashi Vishwanath in Varanasi, Mahakaleshwar in Ujjain, the cave shrine of Amarnath, the great Lingaraj of Bhubaneswar and the towering Brihadeeswara of Thanjavur. This guide gathers twenty must-visit Shiva shrines across North, South, East and West India, tells you plainly what each is known for, and offers gentle tips for planning your darshan — especially in the holy month of Sawan. Every temple named here is a real, well-known pilgrimage site; always confirm the current darshan timings, yatra registration and travel arrangements locally before you set out.

The 12 Jyotirlingas: the most sacred Shiva shrines in India

If a devotee asks for the single most important set of Shiva temples in the country, the answer is the twelve Jyotirlingas. The word Jyotirlinga means 'pillar of light' — in tradition, Lord Shiva is said to have manifested himself at these twelve places as an endless column of radiance, and each shrine marks a spot where that divine light took form as a Shivling. To complete a darshan of all twelve is the lifelong dream of many Shiva bhakts. They are scattered across the whole of India, so a full Jyotirlinga yatra is also a journey through the length and breadth of the country.

Each Jyotirlinga carries its own legend, its own presiding form of Mahadev, and its own regional flavour of worship. Some sit on lonely Himalayan heights, some on the sea shore, some in ancient temple cities. What unites them is the belief that at each one, Shiva is uniquely near.

The complete list of the 12 Jyotirlingas

Here is the traditional list of all twelve Jyotirlingas, with the state where each stands, so you can plan a darshan region by region:

• 🔱Somnath — Prabhas Patan near Veraval, Gujarat. The first Jyotirlinga, on the Arabian Sea coast, famed for being rebuilt again and again through history.
• 🔱Mallikarjuna — Srisailam, Andhra Pradesh. Set on the Nallamala hills above the Krishna river, revered as both a Jyotirlinga and a Shakti Peeth.
• 🔱Mahakaleshwar — Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh. Home of the famous Bhasma Aarti, offered before dawn with sacred ash.
• 🔱Omkareshwar — Mandhata island, Madhya Pradesh. On an island in the Narmada shaped like the sacred syllable Om.
• 🔱Kedarnath — Rudraprayag district, Uttarakhand. The highest Jyotirlinga, in the Garhwal Himalayas, open only in the warmer months.
• 🔱Bhimashankar — Pune district, Maharashtra. Amid the Sahyadri hills, near the source of the Bhima river.
• 🔱Kashi Vishwanath — Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. The 'Lord of the Universe' in the holiest of cities, on the bank of the Ganga.
• 🔱Trimbakeshwar — near Nashik, Maharashtra. At the source of the Godavari river, with a rare linga bearing three faces.
• 🔱Vaidyanath (Baidyanath) — Deoghar, Jharkhand. The 'divine physician', a major destination for the Shravani Mela kanwar pilgrimage.
• 🔱Nageshwar — near Dwarka, Gujarat. The Jyotirlinga of the serpent lord, with a giant seated Shiva statue nearby.
• 🔱Rameshwaram (Ramanathaswamy) — Tamil Nadu. On Rameswaram island, said to have been worshipped by Lord Rama; famed for its long temple corridors.
• 🔱Grishneshwar — near Ellora, Maharashtra. The last of the twelve, close to the world-famous Ellora caves.

Traditions differ slightly on one or two entries — some count Vaidyanath differently, and a few regions revere additional lingas — but this is the widely accepted list recited in the Dwadasa Jyotirlinga Stotram. Whether you visit one or all twelve, each darshan is complete in itself.

Famous Shiva temples in India at a glance

If you are deciding which shrine to visit, this table gathers the best-known Shiva temples of India — where each one is and what it is chiefly known for. It mixes the Jyotirlingas with other great temples so you can see the range at a glance. Treat it as a starting map and confirm travel and darshan details locally before you go.

Famous Shiva temples in North India

North India holds some of the most visited Shiva shrines in the country, from the snow-bound Himalayas to the banks of the Ganga. These are the temples most North Indian devotees name first when they think of Mahadev.

• 🔱Kedarnath, Uttarakhand — the highest Jyotirlinga, reached by a mountain trek from Gaurikund, and one of the four Char Dham shrines of Uttarakhand.
• 🔱Kashi Vishwanath, Varanasi — the Jyotirlinga in the eternal city on the Ganga, now approached through the wide Kashi Vishwanath Corridor.
• 🔱Amarnath, Jammu & Kashmir — the Himalayan cave where an ice Shivling forms naturally each year, visited on the annual Amarnath Yatra.
• 🔱Neelkanth Mahadev, near Rishikesh — a beloved hill temple linked to the legend of Shiva drinking the halahal poison, busy through Sawan.
• 🔱Baijnath and Tungnath, in the hills — Baijnath in Himachal is an ancient stone temple, and Tungnath in Uttarakhand is counted among the world's highest Shiva shrines and part of the Panch Kedar.

Many of these mountain temples are seasonal, closing in deep winter, and the Himalayan yatras such as Kedarnath and Amarnath require registration and careful preparation. Always check the current yatra dates and rules before planning your journey.

Famous Shiva temples in South India

South India is a treasure-house of ancient, magnificent Shiva temples — grand Dravidian structures with soaring gopurams, carved from stone a thousand years ago and worshipped without a break ever since. If you ask which Shiva temple is famous in the south, these are the great names:

• 🔱Rameshwaram (Ramanathaswamy), Tamil Nadu — the southern Jyotirlinga on Rameswaram island, famed for its immense pillared corridors and its sacred theerthams (bathing wells).
• 🔱Brihadeeswara Temple, Thanjavur — the 'Big Temple' built by the Chola emperor Raja Raja, a UNESCO World Heritage Site with one of the tallest temple towers and a colossal Nandi.
• 🔱Meenakshi Sundareswarar, Madurai — the vast twin temple where Sundareswarar (Shiva) is enshrined beside the goddess Meenakshi, one of the most visited temples in India.
• 🔱Chidambaram Nataraja, Tamil Nadu — where Shiva is worshipped as Nataraja, the cosmic dancer, and as the formless element of space.
• 🔱Mallikarjuna at Srisailam, Andhra Pradesh — both a Jyotirlinga and a Shakti Peeth, high on the Nallamala hills above the Krishna.

The Pancha Bhoota Sthalam: five temples of the elements

A special group of South Indian Shiva temples honours the Lord as the five great elements — earth, water, fire, air and space. Together they are called the Pancha Bhoota Sthalam, and a pilgrimage to all five is deeply cherished:

• 🔱Earth (Prithvi) — Ekambareswarar Temple, Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu.
• 🔱Water (Jal) — Jambukeswarar Temple, Thiruvanaikaval near Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu.
• 🔱Fire (Agni) — Annamalaiyar (Arunachaleswarar) Temple, Thiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, famed for the Karthigai Deepam.
• 🔱Air (Vayu) — Srikalahasti Temple, Andhra Pradesh.
• 🔱Space (Akasha) — Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu.

These temples show the southern genius for turning philosophy into stone: at each, the worship is shaped around the element it represents, so that Shiva is seen as the very substance of creation itself.

Famous Shiva temples in East India

The east of the country holds its own great Shiva shrines, from the temple city of Bhubaneswar to the pilgrim town of Deoghar that fills every Sawan with kanwariyas:

• 🔱Lingaraj Temple, Bhubaneswar, Odisha — the largest and most revered of the many ancient temples in Odisha's 'city of temples', enshrining Shiva as Harihara.
• 🔱Vaidyanath (Baidyanath) Dham, Deoghar, Jharkhand — a Jyotirlinga known as the divine physician, the destination of the vast Shravani Mela when lakhs of kanwariyas walk from Sultanganj carrying Ganga jal.
• 🔱Bhubaneswar's cluster of old Shiva temples — around Lingaraj stand numerous smaller ancient shrines such as Mukteshwar, prized for their exquisite Kalinga-style carving.
• 🔱Kamakhya and the shrines of the north-east — while Kamakhya in Assam is a Shakti Peeth, the region also holds revered Shiva temples that draw pilgrims through the year.

Famous Shiva temples in West India

Western India carries several of the twelve Jyotirlingas and some of the most powerful centres of Shiva worship in the country, especially across Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat:

• 🔱Somnath, Gujarat — the first Jyotirlinga, standing proud on the Arabian Sea shore, its rebuilding a symbol of enduring faith.
• 🔱Mahakaleshwar, Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh — a Jyotirlinga world-famous for its Bhasma Aarti, performed with sacred ash in the early hours.
• 🔱Omkareshwar, Madhya Pradesh — a Jyotirlinga on an Om-shaped island in the Narmada, twinned with the nearby Mamleshwar shrine.
• 🔱Bhimashankar, Trimbakeshwar and Grishneshwar, Maharashtra — three Jyotirlingas of the western Ghats, near Pune, Nashik and the Ellora caves respectively.
• 🔱Nageshwar, near Dwarka, Gujarat — the serpent-lord Jyotirlinga, marked by a great seated statue of Mahadev.

Kedarnath and Amarnath: the great Himalayan yatras

Two Shiva shrines stand apart for the sheer devotion it takes to reach them. Kedarnath, the highest of the Jyotirlingas, sits at over 3,500 metres in the Garhwal Himalayas and is reached on foot from Gaurikund; it opens around Akshaya Tritiya and closes near Diwali as the snows return. Amarnath, deep in a cave in Kashmir, holds a Shivling of ice that forms naturally with the seasons, and the Amarnath Yatra each summer is one of the most demanding and beloved pilgrimages in all of Hinduism.

Both journeys are hard, high and cold, and both require official registration, medical fitness and proper preparation. If either calls to you, plan well in advance, follow the yatra rules, and travel with patience and care — the road itself becomes part of the worship.

From the snows of Kedar to the sands of Rameshwar, Mahadev is one and the same — it is not the distance that is measured, but the love with which the devotee walks it.

Visiting India's Shiva temples during Sawan

Sawan — the monsoon month of Shravan — is the holiest time of the year to worship Lord Shiva, and every famous Shiva temple in India draws its largest crowds in this month. On the Mondays of Sawan, the Sawan Somwar, the queues are longest of all, and the air rings with the chant of Bol Bam as devotees pour water and milk over the Shivling. At Jyotirlingas like Kashi Vishwanath, Mahakaleshwar and Baidyanath, and along the great kanwar routes, this is the peak of the pilgrim year.

• 🔱Expect very heavy crowds in Sawan, especially on a Sawan Somwar — go early morning or late evening, and always keep extra time in hand.
• 🔱Confirm current darshan timings, special queue arrangements and any online booking before you travel, as temples change these for crowd management during the month.
• 🔱For Himalayan shrines such as Kedarnath and Amarnath, check the yatra dates and registration well ahead; these are seasonal and weather-dependent.
• 🔱Carry a simple, clean offering — plain water or Ganga jal, bel patra and flowers. Remember never to offer tulsi, turmeric, ketaki flowers or coconut water on the Shivling.
• 🔱Be patient and considerate in the crowd, keep the queue flowing, and let the spirit of Sawan be devotion and seva rather than hurry.

Which is the biggest and oldest Shiva temple in India?

Devotees often ask which Shiva temple is the biggest or the oldest, and the honest answer is that it depends on how you measure. By sheer grandeur, the Brihadeeswara Temple at Thanjavur — the Chola-era 'Big Temple' with its soaring vimana — is among the largest and most magnificent Shiva temples in India, while the Lingaraj Temple dominates the temple city of Bhubaneswar. For the largest Shivling, the Bhojeshwar Temple at Bhojpur in Madhya Pradesh is famous for its huge monolithic linga.

As for the oldest, several Shiva shrines trace their origins back well over a thousand years, and many carry temple legends of far greater antiquity; because histories and traditions differ, it is best to treat such 'biggest' and 'oldest' claims with reverence rather than as a fixed ranking. What matters to the bhakt is not the record but the presence of Mahadev, felt as strongly in a village Shivling as in the grandest gopuram.

Turn your pilgrimage into seva

A yatra to the great Shiva temples of India stirs something deep in the heart — and that same devotion can become seva for others who walk the road. Every Sawan, lakhs of kanwariyas travel on foot to offer Ganga jal at their chosen Shivling, and along the highways free sewa shivirs give them food, water, rest and first aid at no cost so that their journey can be completed with dignity.

Our own Shiv Kavar Samiti runs such a free Kanwar Sewa Shivir on NH-8 at Mahipalpur, New Delhi, and has done so for over thirty years — open day and night through the busiest stretch of Sawan, serving pure vrat-friendly bhojan and clean water to every bhakt who passes, without charge. If this guide has helped you plan your own darshan of Mahadev, you might consider helping the shivir serve those walking towards him.

How you can be part of the seva

Every plate of langar, every glass of water and every night the shivir stays lit is made possible by the daan of well-wishers. If you would like to contribute, you can donate online at our /donate page through Razorpay's secure checkout, or by bank transfer to our Punjab National Bank account (A/C 0149000104323988, IFSC PUNB0014900, Khan Market branch). To offer ration and supplies, to volunteer as a sewadar, or simply to ask how to reach us, message us on WhatsApp at +91 98189 08237. Whether you journey to a distant Jyotirlinga or bow before the Shivling in your own colony, may Mahadev keep you on every road. Har Har Mahadev.