Shiv Topics
Short pages, each stating its sources and what is still uncertain.
Hariharaहरिहर
Shiv and Vishnu in one figure
Harihara is a single figure combining Hari (Vishnu) and Hara (Shiv), usually carved split down the middle. It is a cross-deity form, so it sits beside Shiv's own forms rather than inside them.
Herathहेरथ
Shivaratri as Kashmiri Pandits keep it
Herath is the Kashmiri Pandit name for Mahashivaratri, commonly derived from 'Har Ratri', the night of Hara. It is observed over several days in the month of Phalguna and has customs not found in most Shiv worship elsewhere.
Amarnathअमरनाथ
The ice lingam cave in Kashmir
Amarnath is a cave shrine in Pahalgam tehsil, Anantnag district, Jammu and Kashmir, at about 3,888 m. Its lingam is a natural ice stalagmite regarded as self-manifested Shiv. It is not one of the twelve Jyotirlingas.
Mount Kailashकैलास
Shiv's abode in Tibet
Kailash is a 6,638 m peak in Ngari Prefecture, Tibet, near Lake Manasarovar, regarded in Hinduism as the abode of Shiv with Parvati and their children. It is also sacred to Buddhists, Jains and Bon followers.
Pashupatinathपशुपतिनाथ
Nepal's national Shiv temple
Pashupatinath is a Shiv temple on the Bagmati river in Kathmandu, Nepal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979. It is not one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, though some sources treat it as adjacent to them.
Ganeshaगणेश
Shiv's elder son
Ganesha's origin, his quarrel with the ganas, the severing of his head and his restoration as lord of the ganas are told in the Rudra Samhita's Kumara Khanda.
Kartikeyaकार्तिकेय
Shiv's younger son
Kartikeya's birth, his abhisheka and his killing of Taraka are told in the Rudra Samhita's Kumara Khanda; his retreat to Mount Krouncha leads to the Mallikarjuna jyotirlingam.
Parvatiपार्वती
Shiv's consort, born again as Himalaya's daughter
Parvati is Sati reborn as the daughter of Mena and Himalaya; the Purana follows her birth, austerities and wedding to Shiv. A full Maa section is planned separately.
Nandiनन्दी
Shiv's bull and chief attendant
Nandi is Shiv's bull and the leader of his ganas. The Shata Rudra Samhita tells his avatara, and a Nandi stotra is among the stotras on this site.
Stories Every Household Knowsकथा
A reading list from the Shiva Purana
The best-known Shiv stories, each linked to the chapters that tell them in the Shiva Purana: Sati and Daksha's sacrifice, the Shiv-Parvati wedding, Ganesha and Kartikeya, and the Ganga.
Hatha Yoga Pradipika and Adinathaहठयोगप्रदीपिका
Where the text names Shiv, and what it does not say
The Hatha Yoga Pradipika opens by saluting Adinatha, a name for Shiv, as the one who taught hatha yoga, and names him again as the teacher of the mudras and of countless methods of absorption. This page lists each place the text says so, from the full 1914 translation, and separates that from the popular Adi Yogi story, which the text does not contain.
Rudrakshaरुद्राक्ष
What the Rudrakshajabala Upanishad says, read from R.A. Sastri's translation
Rudraksha beads are the seeds Shiv's devotees wear and use for japa. This page reports what the Rudrakshajabala Upanishad itself says: where the beads came from, how to choose and wear them, and which deity it assigns to each number of faces. It reports the text's own claims and makes none of its own.
Festivals and Vratasव्रत
Mahashivaratri, Pradosha and the Monday fasts
A short guide to Shiv's main observances. Mahashivaratri is read from the Shiva Purana chapters on this site; Pradosha, Somvar and Shravan are described from devotional sources, which differ on fasting detail.
The Tamil Shaiva Traditionதிருமுறை
Tirumurai, the Nayanmars and the five-element temples
Tamil Shaivism is a distinct tradition with its own twelve-book canon, the Tirumurai, and its own saints, the Nayanmars. This is an outline only; the texts themselves are not yet on this site.
Origin of the Linga in the Linga Puranaलिङ्गोद्भव
The pillar of fire, and the letters of Om inside it
The Linga Purana's seventeenth chapter answers the question every reader of the Linga Purana eventually asks: where did the linga come from? Brahma tells it in the first person, as a quarrel with Vishnu that ends when a column of fire appears and a sound comes out of it. This page retells that chapter and notes where it differs from the Shiva Purana's version of the same event.
Tripura and the Pashupata Vow in the Linga Puranaत्रिपुरदाह
Why the gods agreed to be called pashus
The Linga Purana tells the burning of the three cities in chapters 71 to 73, and adds something the other tellings do not stress: before he would act, Shiva asked the gods to accept the status of pashu, a bound soul, with himself as Pashupati. The text offers this as the origin of the Pashupata vow. This page follows the chapters in order.
Sharabha and Narasimha in the Linga Puranaशरभावतार
Shiva restrains the Man-lion, as this Purana tells it
After the Man-lion kills Hiranyakashipu, he cannot be calmed. The Linga Purana tells twice how Shiva then restrained him, once briefly at the end of chapter 95 and once at length in chapter 96, through the form called Sharabha. This is a Shaiva account of a Vaishnava story, and it is reported here as the Purana's own view. The same story is also in the Shiva Purana on this site, so this page compares the two.
Upamanyu in the Linga Puranaउपमन्यु
The boy who wanted milk and asked for devotion
Upamanyu is a boy who begins by wanting only milk and ends with an ocean of it, adopted by Shiva and Parvati. The Linga Purana tells this in chapter 107 and follows it in chapter 108 with Krishna coming to Upamanyu for the Pashupata vow. It is one of the best-known stories of devotion in Shaivism. This page retells the Linga Purana's version.