Lord shiva as लिङ्गोद्भव (Lingodbhava)
According to Shiv Purana, Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu had a dispute over who was the most superior deity. Their heated argument escalated to a point where all other gods were terrified. All gods request Lord Shiva to solve this debt. To settle their argument, Lord Shiva appeared between them as ज्योतिर्लिङ्ग (Jyotirlinga) means a massive, blazing pillar of light. The pillar seemed to have no beginning or end.
He asked them to find ends of the pillar, the one who finds this answer will be declared the superior. Lord Vishnu took the form of a वराह (Varaha) , which means boar and he dug deep into the earth to find the base of the pillar. Lord Brahma took the form of a हंस (Hamsa), which means swan and flew high skies to find the top. After searching for long, neither could find the end of the pillar. Lord Vishnu returned and humbly confessed that the pillar had no end, it was infinite.
Lord Brahma could not find the top but he decided to trick everyone. He met a falling Ketaki flower and asked him to bore a false witness to support his claim that he had reached the top.
Lord Shiva is omnipresent, he appeared from that pillar in his form. Lord Shiva cursed Brahma for lying, that he will never be worshipped on the earth. Lord Shiva cursed the Ketaki flower that he would never be used in rituals or offerings to Lord Shiva. It is said that ज्योतिर्लिङ्ग (Jyotirlinga) is the origin of the Shivalingam. This shows the supremacy of Lord Shiva.