Shiva
శివుడుशिवசிவன்ಶಿವശിവൻશિવ
The deity of the Shaiva traditions. In temples he is most often worshipped as a linga rather than in anthropomorphic form, and the shrines in this corpus are recorded under the specific form each one uses.
44 temples
The temple takes its name from Airavata, the white elephant of Indra. The fuller account of why the elephant came, which circulates in later retellings, has not yet been found in a reliable written source, so it is…
Amararama Amaralingeswara Swamy Temple
అమరారామం అమరలింగేశ్వర స్వామి ఆలయం
Shiva · Amaravathi, Andhra Pradesh
The asura Tarakasura, a devotee of Shiva, carries a linga in his throat that makes him impossible to kill; even when Kumaraswamy cuts him down, his body rejoins. The linga has to be broken. Kumaraswamy shatters it…
- Pancharama Kshetra
Brahma and Vishnu quarrel over which of them is supreme. A column of fire rises between them, with no visible beginning or end, and a voice declares that whoever finds either end will be the greater. Vishnu becomes a…
- Pancha Bhoota Sthalam
Bhima, son of Kumbhakarna and Karkati, grows up on the Sahya mountain and learns that Rama killed his father. He wins unequalled strength from Brahma, defeats the gods and Vishnu, and imprisons Sudakshina, the…
- 6 · Dvadasa Jyotirlinga
Thanjavur's temple has no Puranic origin story; its story is the one its builder cut into its walls. Rajaraja I took the title Sri-Rajaraja around his 19th regnal year and named the temple Sri-Rajarajesvara after it.…
About eight hundred years ago, at a place then called Kuduma, the Jain chieftain Birmanna Pergade and his wife Ammu Ballalthi hosted guardian angels of Dharma who came to their house, Nelyadi Beedu, in human form. In…
Draksharama Bhimeswara Swamy Temple
ద్రాక్షారామం భీమేశ్వర స్వామి ఆలయం
Shiva · Draksharamam, Andhra Pradesh
The asura Tarakasura, a devotee of Shiva, carries a linga in his throat that makes him impossible to kill; even when Kumaraswamy cuts him down, his body rejoins. The linga has to be broken. Kumaraswamy shatters it…
- Pancharama Kshetra
In play, Parvati covers Shiva's three eyes, and the worlds fall into a darkness that lasts crores of human years. Shiva tells her to atone by doing penance at Kanchi, on the Kampa river, where a single mango tree…
- Pancha Bhoota Sthalam
Brihadisvara Temple, Gangaikonda Cholapuram
கங்கைகொண்ட சோழீச்சரம்
Shiva · Gangaikonda Cholapuram, Tamil Nadu
Rajendra I, son of the builder of the Thanjavur temple, sent his army north to the Ganges. When it returned with Ganges water he took the title Gangaikonda Chola, 'the Chola who took the Ganges', and named a new…
The brahmin Sudharma and his wife Sudeha, living near Mount Deva in the south, have no son, so Sudeha has him marry her younger sister Ghushma. Ghushma makes and worships 101 earthen images of Shiva every day,…
- 12 · Dvadasa Jyotirlinga
A man fighting a tiger recurs in the sculpture of the Hoysala temples. The man is Sala, who in the legend kills the tiger, and UNESCO's description of the Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas treats this episode as…
An elephant worshipped a linga of Shiva that stood under a jambu tree, cleaning it each day with water carried in its trunk. The account takes the temple's name from the tree — Jambukeswara, lord of the jambu — and…
- Pancha Bhoota Sthalam
The temple is named for Kailasa, Shiva's mountain, and its most celebrated relief shows Ravana, king of Lanka, trying to lift it. Carved almost in the round beneath the main hall, the panel sets Ravana's whirling…
After Kurukshetra, Krishna advises the Pandavas to seek Shiva's blessing and atone for the battle. Shiva, angered by the bloodshed, avoids them by taking the form of a bull and going into the Himalayas. The Pandavas…
- 5 · Panch Kedar
In the account the Ministry of Tourism publishes, the Chandela king Vidyadhara fought Mahmud of Ghazni and Mahmud withdrew. After repelling an attack in 1022, Vidyadhara built the temple to Shiva as a symbol of…
Sivanesan Chettiar of Mylapore meant his daughter Angam Poompavai to marry the boy-saint Tirujnanasambandar. She died of a snakebite, and her father kept her ashes in a pot, hoping the saint would revive her. When…
Shiva creates a city five kroshas across for Prakriti and Purusha to perform penance in. Vishnu's penance there fills the void with water, a jewel from his ear becomes Manikarnika, and Shiva holds the floating city…
- 9 · Dvadasa Jyotirlinga
Nara and Narayana, two incarnations of Vishnu, perform penance in Bharata Khanda and worship Shiva every day in an earthen linga. Shiva, pleased after a long time, offers them a boon. They ask for nothing for…
- 11 · Dvadasa Jyotirlinga
- 3 · Chota Char Dham
- 1 · Panch Kedar
Ksheerarama Ksheera Ramalingeswara Swamy Temple
క్షీరారామం క్షీర రామలింగేశ్వర స్వామి ఆలయం
Shiva · Palakollu, Andhra Pradesh
The asura Tarakasura, a devotee of Shiva, carries a linga in his throat that makes him impossible to kill; even when Kumaraswamy cuts him down, his body rejoins. The linga has to be broken. Kumaraswamy shatters it…
- Pancharama Kshetra
Kumararama Bhimeswara Swamy Temple
కుమారారామం కుమార భీమేశ్వర స్వామి ఆలయం
Shiva · Samalkot, Andhra Pradesh
The asura Tarakasura, a devotee of Shiva, carries a linga in his throat that makes him impossible to kill; even when Kumaraswamy cuts him down, his body rejoins. The linga has to be broken. Kumaraswamy shatters it…
- Pancharama Kshetra
The shrine at Courtallam was first a temple of Vishnu. The sage Agastya shrank the image of Vishnu and made it into Kutralanathar, a form of Shiva, and the temple has been Shaiva since. Temple tradition draws two…
- Pancha Sabha
Shiva is worshipped here as Harihara, a form combining Shiva and Vishnu.
After Kurukshetra, Krishna advises the Pandavas to seek Shiva's blessing and atone for the battle. Shiva, angered by the bloodshed, avoids them by taking the form of a bull and going into the Himalayas. The Pandavas…
- 4 · Panch Kedar
Ravana won the Atmalinga from Shiva through penance, on condition that he not set it on the ground before reaching Lanka. Near Gokarna Vishnu caused an artificial dusk, and Ganesha, disguised as a young Brahmin boy,…
In Avanti the brahmin Vedapriya and his four sons worship Shiva. The Daitya king Dushana, empowered by Brahma's boons, besieges the city and orders the brahmins to abandon Shiva or die. Having no army, they worship…
- 3 · Dvadasa Jyotirlinga
Mallikarjuna Swamy Temple, Srisailam
శ్రీశైల మల్లికార్జున స్వామి ఆలయం
Shiva · Srisailam, Andhra Pradesh
Kartikeya returns from circling the earth to learn from Narada that his parents married off his brother Ganesha in his absence. He leaves for Mount Krauncha against their wishes and vows to stay unmarried. Envoys…
- 2 · Dvadasa Jyotirlinga
Ravana won the Atmalinga from Shiva on condition that it never touch the ground before Lanka. The gods feared him with it, and Ganesha, in disguise, tricked him into setting it down at Gokarna, where it fixed itself…
The rakshasa Daruka and his wife, an ogress protected by a boon from Parvati, terrorise Darukavana on the western sea. Driven off the land by the sage Aurva's curse, they move to a city in the ocean and imprison…
- 8 · Dvadasa Jyotirlinga
When Shiva came to live at Chidambaram, the place was already the abode of the goddess Kali. The two settled the matter with a dance contest. Shiva danced the tandava, his cosmic dance; Kali danced the lasya. Shiva…
- Pancha Bhoota Sthalam
- Pancha Sabha
Vedha Sharma, a Brahmin devotee, gathers paddy as an offering to Shiva and spreads it out to dry. Rain strikes the town. He prays, and Shiva shelters the grain so that the offering is saved. For this the god is…
- Pancha Sabha
Narada visits the Vindhya mountain, who boasts that he lacks nothing. Narada replies that Meru is loftier. Stung, Vindhya goes to Omkara, makes an earthen image of Shiva and meditates for six months. Shiva grants him…
- 4 · Dvadasa Jyotirlinga
Around 740, Queen Lokamahadevi of the Chalukyas built the temple now called Virupaksha at Pattadakal to commemorate her husband's victory over the southern kings. The MAP Academy calls it by an older name,…
Rama reaches the southern ocean with his army, knowing Sita is held in Lanka, and loses heart at the size of the task. Before drinking the water Lakshmana brings him, he makes an image of Shiva out of earth and…
- 7 · Dvadasa Jyotirlinga
- Char Dham
After Kurukshetra, Krishna advises the Pandavas to seek Shiva's blessing and atone for the battle. Shiva, angered by the bloodshed, avoids them by taking the form of a bull and going into the Himalayas. The Pandavas…
- 3 · Panch Kedar
Mahabalipuram's monuments were carved and built along the Coromandel coast in the 7th and 8th centuries by the Pallavas. Under Narasimhavarman I Mamalla the dynasty cut temples out of the living rock. Under…
The asura Tarakasura, a devotee of Shiva, carries a linga in his throat that makes him impossible to kill; even when Kumaraswamy cuts him down, his body rejoins. The linga has to be broken. Kumaraswamy shatters it…
- Pancharama Kshetra
Soma — the moon — lost his lustre to a curse. He came to Prabhasa, bathed in the Saraswati where it reaches the sea, and worshipped Shiva at this place until it was restored. The account explains the moon's waxing…
- 1 · Dvadasa Jyotirlinga
Three creatures — a spider, a serpent and an elephant — each worshipped Shiva at this place, and each died in that devotion. Shiva revived them and granted all three liberation. The town and the temple take their…
- Pancha Bhoota Sthalam
In a hundred-year drought the sage Gautama obtains everlasting water from Varuna on Brahmagiri, and other sages settle around him. Their wives quarrel with Ahalya over water, and the sages have Ganesha, disguised as…
- 10 · Dvadasa Jyotirlinga
After the Kurukshetra war the Pandavas seek Shiva's forgiveness. He avoids them and becomes a bull at Kedarnath; when they catch up he sinks into the ground. His hump remains at Kedarnath, and his other parts appear…
- 2 · Panch Kedar
The region's main temple festival was once at Arattupuzha, south of Thrissur. When rain delayed several Thrissur temples and they were refused entry for arriving late, their officials appealed to Raja Rama Varma of…
Vadaranyeswarar Temple, Thiruvalangadu
வடாரண்யேசுவரர் கோயில், திருவாலங்காடு
Vadaranyeswarar · Thiruvalangadu, Tamil Nadu
The demons Sumbha and Nisumbha take refuge in the forest of Thiruvalangadu and terrorise the gods. Parvati takes the form of Bhadra Kali and destroys them, but her fury does not subside. To calm her, Shiva challenges…
- Pancha Sabha
Ravana performs severe penance below the Himalaya and offers his heads one by one until Shiva appears and restores them. He asks to take Shiva's linga to Lanka; Shiva agrees on condition that wherever it touches the…
- 5 · Dvadasa Jyotirlinga
In the account the Ministry of Tourism publishes, Parvati is born at Pampa, the old name of Hampi, and spends years in penance on the Hemakuta hills to win Shiva as her husband. Shiva accepts and marries her, and the…