About this site

An independent travel guide to the twelve jyotirlinga temples. It covers the part of the trip a traveller has to get right: how to reach each temple, when it is open, what darshan involves, and where to sleep near the gate.

Covers
12 temples
Type
Independent guide
Affiliation
None
Links
Some are affiliate

Who publishes this, and why

This is a privately run editorial site, published from India, with no connection to any temple trust, religious body, state tourism department or government office. It is not a temple authority: it has no role in darshan, bookings, rituals or admissions at any of the twelve, and it cannot make anything happen at a gate.

It exists because the logistics of this trip are scattered. The distance from a city people actually travel from, the railhead that saves a day, the queue that starts before dawn, the plain room next to the gate: that material is the reason for the site, and it is written for a traveller planning a trip rather than for a search engine.

Every fact here can be checked somewhere. Where it cannot be checked yet, the page says so outright rather than filling the gap.

How the travel data is checked

Four sources carry the site, and the order matters when they disagree.

Notices from the temple trustTimings, aarti slots, dress rules, festival schedules and closure dates are taken from the trust that runs the temple, not from another travel site.
Indian Railways and the airline sitesStation names, station codes and the airports serving each temple are checked against the railway and airline sources, rather than copied from an older guide.
Checked at the gate where it can beWhat a traveller meets on the ground, such as the shoe stand, the last point a car reaches and the length of the barefoot stretch, is checked at the temple itself wherever a visit is possible.
Every check carries a dateA checked fact has a date behind it. A fact that has not been checked yet is marked on the page instead of being filled in with a guess, and the marker names the source still to be read.

The twelve temple pages carry a data check marker wherever a number or a schedule still needs its source read: 12 temples, checked one at a time, with the date recorded against each.

What this site will not do

  • No invented timing, price, distance, phone number, train name or hotel name.
  • No paid reviews, no sponsored rankings and no placement sold inside a temple guide.
  • No priests, puja or ritual services offered, arranged or recommended for a fee.
  • No guarantee of darshan, of a queue time or of a seat in an aarti hall.
  • No claim of being an official temple site, a trust, or a government source.

Corrections

Temple rules and prices change without notice, and a page that was right last month can be wrong today. Corrections are welcome, and a correction with a source is acted on first.

Send the page address, what is wrong and where you read the correct detail: the temple notice, the railway listing, the trust website or a photograph of the board at the gate.

When the fix is made, the page is rechecked and the check date moves with it. Where two sources disagree, the notice issued by the temple trust wins.

Write to hello@jyotirlingaguide.com. Thecontact page sets out what to send and what to send elsewhere.

How this site is paid for

Some hotel and travel links are affiliate links, which earn this site a commission at no extra cost to you.

Nothing in the ranking of a stay option is for sale. The cheapest option at a temple, usually the trust rooms or a dharamshala, is listed first even though it earns nothing, and the plain judgement on a page is not for sale either.

The full wording sits in the legal page.

Next

Contact and correctionsWhat to send, and what to send elsewherePrivacy, terms and disclaimerThe same rules in fullThe 12 templesState, season and railhead for each