The stories of 12 Jyotirlinga have been mentioned in the Shiva Purana as well as the other Puranas. The Shiva Purana is a book dedicated to Lord Shiva. Therefore, I think it is more authoritative than the other Puranas in terms of Lord Shiva. Hence, most of the stories of 12 Jyotirlinga mentioned here are taken from the Shiva Purana.
The Stories of 12 Jyotirlinga:
1. Somnath Jyotirlinga in Gujarat (Shiva Purana, 4.14):
The Moon-god (Soma or Chandra) married 27 daughters of Daksha Prajapati, but he paid more attention to Rohini only. His other 26 wives complained to Daksha about this. Daksha told Moon-god to give equal attention to all his wives, but the Moon did not listen. The infuriated Daksha cursed him that he would fall prey to the wasting disease. Chandra’s body started wasting immediately, but this was diabolical for the world. Therefore, gods went to Lord Brahma for a solution, who in turn advised Chandra to worship Lord Shiva in the form of a lingam.
Chandra did penance for six months. Propitiated Lord Shiva appeared there in the form of a Jyotirlinga and blessed Chandra and reduced his curse (Because Chandra had sinned greatly previously, he did not clear his curse completely). He told him that he would decline day by day in one fortnight and increase steadily in another. For increasing the glory of the region and the moon, Lord Shiva stayed there in the form of Someshwara.
2. Mallikarjuna Jyotirlinga in Andhra Pradesh (Shiva Purana, 4.15):
When Lord Kartikeya returned to Mount Kailash, Sage Narada informed him about the marriage of Lord Ganesha and corrupted his mind (Lord Ganesha is his younger brother. He got upset because he was supposed to get married before him). Upset Kartikeya went to Mount Krauncha for ascetic practice against his parents’ advice. His distressed parents went there to convince him, but he went further out of disregard for their love. Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati stayed behind assuming the fiery form. After this, Lord Shiva started visiting him on every no-moon day and Goddess Parvati on full-moon day.
3. Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga in Madhya Pradesh (Shiva Purana, 4.16):
In the Avanti city, there lived a Brahmin named Priyamedhas and his four sons who were staunch devotees of Lord Shiva. Once a puissant Asura, Dusana, along with his great army attacked Avanti. But the Brahmin and his four sons were not afraid of him and performed worship of Lord Shiva in the form of a linga. On seeing this, Dusana ordered his people to kill them.
When the Asuras desired to kill the Brahmins, a spot near the linga caved in with a loud report and Lord Shiva rose in his Mahakala form. Then he reduced Dusana and his army to ashes with a mere sound of Hum. Propitiated by the devotion of the Brahmin and his sons, Lord Shiva asked the Brahmins to choose the boon they wished to have. Brahmins requested him to stay there to protect people. Lord Shiva accepted their request and stayed there.
4. Omkareshwar Jyotirlinga in Madhya Pradesh (Shiva Purana, 4.18):
One day, Sage Narada visited Vindhya mountain and found that it had become very arrogant. To dispel its pride, he told it that Mount Meru was loftier than it. Then Vindhya made a linga and started penance to please Lord Shiva so that he could excel Mount Meru. After six months, propitiated Lord Shiva told him to ask for a boon he wished.
Vindhya asked for the intellect to achieve its object. Lord Shiva fulfilled his desire. After getting enlightenment, Vindhya came to know how petty his desire was and abstained from it. At this time, gods and sages requested Lord Shiva to stay there. Therefore, Lord Shiva stayed there for the happiness of the world.
5. Kedarnath Jyotirlinga in Uttarakhand (Shiva Purana, 4.19):
Nara and Narayana performed their penance in Badarikashrama. They requested Lord Shiva to come to the Shiva Lingam installed by them. Lord Shiva accepted their request and came every day to that linga. A long time elapsed in this way. On one occasion, propitiated Lord Shiva asked them to choose a boon they wished. They requested him to stay there in his form and accept the devotion of his devotees.
One day with some desires in mind, Pandavas came to Kedareshwara. On seeing them, Lord Shiva assumed the form of a buffalo and began to run away, but undeterred Pandavas caught him by the tail and implored him to grant their wishes. He stood there with his face bent down. His head portion went and remained fixed in the city of Nayapala. He asked them to worship him in that trunkless form. Pandavas did so and obtained what they desired. That is why the Shiva Lingam at Kedarnath is in a pyramid shape.
6. Bhimashankar Jyotirlinga in Maharashtra (Shiva Purana, 4.20):
Bhima was a very powerful Asura who was living with his mother on Sahya Mountain. He was an illegitimate son of Karkati and Kumbhakarna. When he was a boy, he asked his mother about his father. She told him that Lord Rama, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, killed his father and step-father both.
On hearing this, Bhima was infuriated and decided to take revenge on Lord Vishnu. With Brahma as his goal of meditation, he performed great penance for a thousand years. Propitiated Brahma appeared before him and told him to ask for a boon. Bhima asked for unequaled strength as a boon. After getting the boon, he defeated Indra and other gods in battle, including Lord Vishnu. Then he started conquering the Earth.
Sudakshina, the king of Kamapura, was a great devotee of Lord Shiva, but he was defeated by Bhima in a terrible battle. Bhima imprisoned him and his wife in an isolated jail. The king made an earthen linga there and started worshiping Lord Shiva, but the arrogant Asura spoiled his worship and told him to worship him.
After that, he conquered the Earth and started torturing innocent people. The dejected gods and sages sought refuge in Lord Shiva and eulogized him. They requested him to kill the Asura. Lord Shiva accepted their request. He told the gods to tell Sudakshina to continue worshiping him.
The king started a great meditation in front of the Shiva lingam. Then someone informed Bhima that the king was performing black magic against him. Infuriated Bhima went to Sudakshina and tried to strike the Shiva lingam with his sword. The moment the sword touched the lingam, Lord Shiva manifested himself from the Shiva lingam and broke his sword. A fierce battle broke out between them. In the end, he reduced Bhima to ashes only with the Hum sound.
Then the gods requested Lord Shiva to stay there for the welfare of the people. Therefore, he stayed there in the form of a Jyotirlinga.
7. Kashi Vishwanath Jyotirlinga in Varanasi:
Once Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma were arguing over superiority. The argument soon turned into a furious fight. Seeing this, the gods got scared and approached Lord Shiva to intervene. Lord Shiva appeared as a cosmic pillar of light between them and told them to find its end. One who would find the end first would be declared the greatest.
Therefore, Lord Vishnu took the form of a wild boar and traveled towards one end while Lord Brahma took the form of a swan and flew towards the other end. Even after a long time, both of them could not find the ends and returned where they started. Lord Vishnu accepted that he could not find the end, but Lord Brahma, out of his arrogance, lied that he found the end of the pillar and presented the flower of Ketaki as a witness. This infuriated Lord Shiva and he cut one of the five heads of Lord Brahma and cursed him not to be worshiped. He also banished the Ketaki flower from his worship. He declared that Lord Vishnu is superior to Lord Brahma and is equivalent to him.
The Kashi Vishwanath Jyotirlinga is the miniature form of the cosmic pillar of light out of which Lord Shiva appeared before Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma.
8. Tryambakeshwar Jyotirlinga in Maharashtra (Shiva Purana, 4.27):
Sage Gautama used to live in Brahmagiri mountain along with his wife, Ahalya. Once there was a terrible drought for many years. Sage Gautama did penance and propitiated Varuna, the god of rain. The sage asked for water from the god. The god told him to dig a ditch there and filled it with divine water. He told the sage that there would be a perennial supply of water in that ditch and would become famous by the name Gautama Kunda. After this, there was ample water for everyone and the region became green again. Many other sages shifted to this area along with their families.
One day, Sage Gautama sent his disciples there for water, but the wives of other sages prevented them from taking water telling them to take water afterward. The disciples returned and informed Ahalya about the incident. So, she went with them and pacified the other women. She took water and gave it to her husband.
The wives of other sages returned home and told their husbands the distorted form of the story. The infuriated sages of crooked intellect worshipped Lord Ganesha with various articles of worship to put an obstacle in the activity of Gautama. Lord Ganesha appeared before them and asked them what they wished. They wished to let Sage Gautama be turned out of his hermitage after being rebuked by them. Lord Ganesha tried to convince them to not do this but they were adamant.
Then he assumed the form of a feeble cow and went into the farmland of Sage Gautama. The cow began to eat food-grains and barley. On seeing this, the sage tried to ward her off with a bunch of grass blades, but as soon as the blades touched the cow, she died. On seeing this, the sages and their wicked wives began to shout. They rebuked him and his wife and asked them to leave the hermitage. They pelted them with stones and insulted them.
To atone for his sins, Sage Gautama and Ahalya made a Shiva lingam and did the penance. Lord Shiva appeared before him and granted him a boon. He asked for the river Ganges to come there. Ganga appeared there in the form of a lady and told Lord Shiva that she would leave the place after she sanctified the sage, but Lord Shiva told her to stay there until the end of Kali Yuga. Ganga then requested Lord Shiva to stay there along with her. He accepted her request and stayed in the lingam. Ganga became famous as Gautami and the Shiva lingam as Tryambaka.
9. Baidyanath Jyotirlinga in Jharkhand (Shiva Purana, 4.28):
Ravana, the king of demons, performed severe penance to propitiate Lord Shiva. When asked for a boon, he demanded to take the image of Lord Shiva with him to Lanka. Lord Shiva was in dilemma and a bit disinclined but granted him the boon with one condition. He told him that wherever that lingam is placed on the ground, it would become stationary. Ravana accepted his condition.
But because of the delusion caused by Lord Shiva, he became desirous of passing urine while yet on his way and could not stop this urge. He saw a cowherd there and requested him to hold the image. About an hour elapsed. When Rāvaṇa did not return, the cowherd became nervous. He was distressed by its heavyweight. He placed it on the ground. The lingam remained fixed there. This Shiva lingam is known as Baidyanatha.
10. Nageshwar Jyotirlinga in Gujarat (Shiva Purana, 4.30):
Once upon a time, there was an ogre named Daruka and his wife Darukaa. They used to torture the sages and innocent people living in the forest and around. The people took refuge in a sage named Aruva. Aruva cursed the demons that they would die if they torture living beings on earth. Therefore, they started living in the ocean. They abducted travelers in the boats and imprisoned them in the city within the ocean.
One day, they imprisoned a great devotee of Lord Shiva named Supriya, who was a Vaishya. Supriya continued to perform mental worship of Lord Shiva. One day, Daruka asked him what he meditated upon, otherwise, he would kill him. Supriya said, “I don’t know.”
The infuriated demon ordered his people to kill him. The scared Supriya remembered Lord Shiva and requested him to save him. Thus implored, Lord Shiva appeared out of the crevice with an excellent temple with four doors. He immediately slew all the demons with all their attendants and adjuncts. He saved thus his devotee. The Jyotirlinga form of Lord Shiva came to be known as Nageshwara.
11. Rameshwaram Jyotirlinga in Tamil Nadu (Shiva Purana, 4.31):
Lord Rama, Lakshmana, Hanuman, and the army of monkeys had gathered at the shore of the sea. They wanted to cross the ocean to defeat Ravana and get back Goddess Sita. Lord Rama made a Shiva lingam there and worshiped Lord Shiva with devotion. Delighted by his worship, Lord Shiva appeared before him and told him to ask for a boon. Lord Rama requested to be victorious in the imminent fight with Ravaṇa. He granted him the boon.
Then Lord Rama also requested him to stay there for the welfare of the people. Therefore, Lord Shiva stayed there in the form of a Jyotirlinga named Rameshwara.
12. Ghrishneshwar Jyotirlinga in Maharashtra (Shiva Purana, 4.32):
Once upon a time, there was a pious Brahmin named Sudharma. He was living with his wife Sudeha. The couple was childless. Sudharma did not mind it, but his wife was very sad about this. She forced him to marry her younger sister, Ghushma, so that he would have a child. By the mercy of Lord Shiva, a son was born to her. He was beautiful, fortunate, and endowed with all auspicious qualities.
Seeing their happiness, Sudharma became jealous of her sister. She wanted to see tears in her sister’s eyes. One night, she killed her son and cut off his limbs. She cast off the limbs into the lake where Ghushma used to hurl the earthen lingams she made daily.
In the morning, when the daughter-in-law of Ghushma woke up, she saw the bed wet with blood and a few scattered pieces of the body. Sudharma acted as if she was gloomy. Ghushma heard the pitiable lamentation of her daughter-in-law but did not leave off her sacred rite, the daily worship of Lord Shiva’s earthen image. Her mind did not exhibit any agitation. The husband too remained calm till the completion of the sacred rite. At noon when she finished her worship, she looked at the terrible bed. Still, Ghushma did not show signs of grief.
Taking the day’s earthly phallic image, she went toward the bank of the lake repeating the names of Shiva, maintaining the normalcy of her mind as afore. When she cast off the earthen Shiva lingam and returned, she saw her son standing on the bank of the lake. On seeing her son restored to life, the mother was not delighted as she was not distressed before.
At that time, Lord Shiva appeared before her. He told her that her sister killed his son, and he would kill her sister if she had wanted. She declined to do so. He told her to ask for a boon. She asked him to stay there in her name for protecting the world. Therefore, Lord Shiva stayed there in the form of a lingam and came to be known as Ghushmeshwar or Ghrishneshwar.
Interesting Scientific Facts in the Stories of 12 Jyotirlinga:
1. In some stories, Lord Shiva kills the armies of demons with just a Hum sound. It seems to be some kind of a sonic weapon.
2. In the story of Nageshwar Jyotirlinga, there is a mention of an underwater city. Also, the appearance of Lord Shiva from the crevice with an excellent temple with four doors points to it being some kind of underwater vehicle like a submarine.
3. The column of fire in the story of Kashi Vishwanath Jyotirlinga could be the radiation emitted by a black hole.
If you know more about the stories of 12 Jyotirlinga, please use our comment section to let us know.
Reference: Shiva Purana