pillar of fire, which stretches above the
heavensand below the earth. The gods
Brahmaand Vishnutry to find this pil-
lar’s top and bottom but cannot. When
they admit their failure, the figure of
Shiva emerges from the pillar of light
and blesses them. Shiva’s devotees
(bhakta) believe that there are twelve
sites in India where this jyotirlinga came
down to earth; these twelve sites are
deemed extraordinarily holy, and at
each of them Shiva is believed to be
uniquely present. At each of these sites
the primary image is a linga, the pillar-
shaped image that is a symbolic form of
Shiva. Each of these lingas is considered
a different manifestation of Shiva, and
these twelve sites each take the name of
the linga that is their presiding deity.
The other eleven manifestations of
Shiva and their locations are: Somnath
and Nageshvarin the state of Gujarat;
Kedarnathin the HimalayaMountains;
Vishvanath in the city of Benares;
Vaidyanath in the state of Bihar;
Mahakaleshvar in the central Indian
city of Ujjain; Omkareshvarin the state
of Madhya Pradesh; Bhimashankar,
Ghrneshvar, and Tryambakeshvar in
the state of Maharashtra; and
Rameshvarin the state of Tamil Nadu.
Jyotir Math
One of the four maths or sacred centers
traditionally believed to have been
established by the great philosopher
Shankaracharya; the others are the
Sharada math, Shringeri math, and
Govardhan math. These four sacred
centers are each associated with one of
the four geographical corners of the
Indian subcontinent; the Jyotir math is
in the northern quarter, in the town of
Joshimathin the state of Uttar Pradesh,
high in the Himalaya Mountains.
Shankaracharya is traditionally cited as
the founder of the Dashanami Sanyasis,
the most prestigious Hindu ascetic
order. The Dashanami (“ten names”)
ascetics are devotees (bhakta) of the god
Shivaand are separated into ten divi-
sions, each with a different name. These
ten divisions are organized into four
larger groups—Anandawara, Bhogawara,
Bhuriwara, and Kitawara—each of which
has two or three of the ten divisions, and
each of which is associated with one of the
four sacred centers. Of these, the Jyotir
math is associated with the Anandawara
group of the Dashanamis.Jyotisha
In its most general usage, the word
jyotisha refers to astrology. The word
itself is derived from jyotis(“light,” and
by extension the heavenly bodies) and is
concerned with the movement of the
celestial bodies, their varying configura-
tions, and the divisions of time that are
derived from them. This attention to the
heavensis a very old cultural concern,
for jyotisha is one of the six Vedangas,
the auxiliary branches of knowledge
connected with the sacred scriptures
known as the Vedas. As one of the
Vedangas, jyotisha was concerned with
identifying appropriate days and times
to perform Vedic sacrifices.
Even in modern times, many tradi-
tional Hindus take astrology very seri-
ously, based on the assumption that the
results of one’s previous karmalead one
to be born at a particular moment. One’s
natal horoscope, or the positioning of
the celestial bodies at the time of birth,
thus provides a karmic “itinerary” indi-
cating where one has been and what one
might expect in the future. People fre-
quently consider astrology when mak-
ing important decisions, particularly in
arranging marriages—to determine the
couple’s compatibility, to see whether
any trouble is lurking ahead, and to
arrange an auspicious or lucky time for
the ceremony itself. In the same way,
some Hindus will consult an astrologer
before beginning any important under-
taking, to be sure that the work will
begin at an auspicious time and will
therefore be more likely to succeed.
The basic principles of Indian astrol-
ogy are very similar to those of Western
astrology. The zodiacsigns are nearly
identical. However, the two systemsJyotir Math