Everyone and everything
Shiva
Mahadeva · Maheshvara · Parameshvara · Shankara · Neelakantha · Gangadhara · Pashupati · Adiyogi
The great god of the Shaiva traditions and one of the three of the Puranic Trimurti, where he is assigned dissolution…
Parvati
Uma · Gauri · Aparna · Shailaputri · Bhavani · Haimavati
Daughter of the mountain Himavat and Mena, the rebirth of Sati, who won Shiva as her husband by long austerity after…
The Tripura demons
Tarakaksha · Kamalaksha · Vidyunmali · Tripurasura
The three sons of Taraka who won from Brahma three flying cities of iron, silver and gold, built by the architect Maya…
Andhaka
The blind demon born of the sweat of Parvati's hands when she covered Shiva's eyes, adopted by Hiranyaksha, who lusted…
Bhairava
Kala Bhairava · Mahakala Bhairava
Shiva's terrifying form. In the Lingodbhava cycle he cuts off Brahma's fifth head and wanders with the skull until…
Meenakshi
Angayarkanni · Tadatagai
The fish-eyed goddess of Madurai, born with three breasts to the Pandya king Malayadhwaja and queen Kanchanamalai from…
Trimurti cave, Mahabalipuram
Mamallapuram Trimurti cave temple
A Pallava rock-cut group of three shrines on one platform, dated by its 'Malla' inscription to Narasimhavarman I…
Kannappa
Thinnan · Kannappa Nayanar · Bhakta Kannappa
The hunter Thinnan who worshipped the Kalahasti linga with meat and water carried in his mouth and, when the linga's…
Sundareswarar
Sokkanathar · Chokkanathar
Shiva as the handsome lord of Madurai, Meenakshi's husband, who in the Tiruvilaiyadal Puranam walks into the city in…
Amarnath cave
The cave where an ice linga forms each summer, believed to wax and wane with the moon, held to be the place where Shiva…
Atmalinga
Shiva's own linga, granted to Ravana after his penance on the condition that it never touch the ground before Lanka…
Dakshinamurthy
Dakshinamurti · Adiyogi · Adinath (Nath usage)
Shiva as the silent teacher, seated under a banyan tree facing south, surrounded by sages, teaching yoga, music and the…
Karthigai Deepam
The lamp festival on the Karthigai full moon with the Krittika star (November–December), mentioned already in the…
Markandeya
The sage born to Mrikandu as a virtuous son fated to die at sixteen, who embraced the linga when Yama came; Shiva as…
Nandi
Nandikeshvara · Vrishabha
Shiva's bull, his mount and the gatekeeper who faces the linga in every Shiva temple. In the Ravana story he is mocked…
Nataraja
Adavallan · Koothan · Sabesan
Shiva as lord of the dance, performing the Ananda Tandava, the dance of bliss, in the Tillai forest for the sages…
Sankaranarayana
Sankara Narayanar · Shankaranarayana
The Tamil name and temple form of Harihara at Sankarankovil: Shiva as the right half and Vishnu as the left, appearing…
Sati
Dakshayani · Adi Shakti (in the yogic-fire telling)
Daksha's daughter and Shiva's first wife, who went uninvited to her father's sacrifice, was insulted, and gave up her…
Virabhadra
Veerabhadra
The warrior born from a lock of Shiva's hair dashed on the ground when Sati died; with Bhadrakali he wrecked Daksha's…
Ardhanarishvara
Shiva as half woman: right half male, left half Parvati, stating that the two principles cannot be separated. The…
Arudra Darshan / Thiruvathira
The Margazhi full-moon night with the Thiruvathirai star, the year's longest night: at Chidambaram a ten-day festival…
Basavanna
Basava · Basaveshwara
Twelfth-century minister of the Kalachuri king Bijjala II and the guiding figure of the Lingayats: founder of the…
Brahma Temple, Bindusagar
A fifteenth-century Gajapati-period temple in late Kalingan style beside the Bindusagar tank, housing a four-armed…
Dushana
Dushan
The demon of the Ujjain temple legend who joined two hostile kings against the city of the Shiva-devotee king…
Ghushma
Kusuma
The devotee who made a hundred and one clay lingas every day, kept worshipping when her jealous sister killed her son…
Jalandhara
The ocean-born asura whose wife Vrinda's fidelity made him invincible until Vishnu broke it; killed by Shiva.
Kailasa temple, Ellora (Cave 16)
Kailash temple · Ellora Cave 16
The rock-cut Shiva temple begun under the Rashtrakuta king Krishna I (757–772). Its galleries carry the genuine…
Kalantaka
Kalasamhara · Mrityunjaya
Shiva as the ender of death, the form that burst from the linga to strike down Yama when his noose fell on the boy…
Kashi (Varanasi)
Varanasi · Benares · Avimukta
Shiva's city on the Ganga, where Vishwanath is held to be king over every other deity and where death is believed to…
Kirata
Kiratamurti
Shiva disguised as a mountain hunter to test Arjuna, in the Mahabharata's Vana Parva and Bharavi's court epic…
Madurai
The Pandya capital of Meenakshi and Sundareswarar, whose temple was sacked by Malik Kafur in 1311, reopened under…
Mahakala
Mahakaleshwar · Kala
Shiva as great time and death, beyond time, with Mahakali as consort; the Shaktisamgama Tantra describes him and…
Mrikandu
Markandeya's father, who chose from Shiva a short-lived virtuous son over a long-lived dull one. Stub entity.
Sadashiva
Panchamukha · Maheshamurti (Elephanta)
Shiva with five faces and ten arms: Sadyojata (west, creation), Vamadeva (north, preservation), Aghora (south…
Sangan
Serpent king and Shiva devotee of the Sankarankovil sthala puranam, whose quarrel with the Vishnu-devoted Padman over…
Tiruvannamalai (Arunachala)
Arunachala · Annamalai
The hill that the Tamil tradition identifies with Shiva's pillar of fire, the fire element among the five element…
Akka Mahadevi
A 12th-century Kannada woman poet-saint of the Sharana movement whose vachanas address Shiva as Chennamallikarjuna, her…
Allama Prabhu
A 12th-century Kannada mystic and vachana poet, presiding figure of the Anubhava Mantapa at Kalyana, whose signature is…
Bhikshatana
The wandering mendicant
Shiva as the naked wandering beggar who carries Brahma's skull as his bowl to atone for cutting the fifth head. The…
Bhimashankar
Jyotirlinga in the Sahyadri forest at the source of the Bhima river, built up by Nana Phadnavis; both its legend and…
Bhimasura
In popular temple tellings, a son of Kumbhakarna who imprisoned the devotee Kamarupa and was struck down by Shiva's…
Bhringi
The sage who vowed to circle and honour Shiva alone, ignoring Parvati; her austerities won her union with Shiva's body…
Brahmapureeswarar Temple, Tirupattur
A Shiva temple with a self-manifest linga, a Brahma shrine in meditative lotus pose, twelve lingas installed by Brahma…
Chand Sadagar
The proud Shaiva merchant of the Manasamangal who refuses to worship Manasa, loses six sons and his ships to her, and…
Chidambaram
Tillai · Thillai
The temple of Nataraja in the old Tillai forest, the ether shrine among the five element temples and one of the five…
Deoghar (Baidyanath)
Baba Baidyanath Dham · Baiju-nath
The Vaidyanath jyotirlinga of Jharkhand, which also claims Ravana's atmalinga set down by Vishnu as the shepherd Baiju…
Dharumi
The poor poet to whom Shiva gave a verse answering the Pandya king's question, so that he might win the prize. Stub…
Ekamra Purana
Thirteenth-century Sanskrit treatise that is the charter of Bhubaneswar as Ekamra Kshetra. Stub entity.
Elephanta Caves
Gharapuri
Fifth- to sixth-century rock-cut Shiva temple, probably Kalachuri, whose Cave 1 carries the great three-faced Sadashiva…
Gautama
The sage whose long penance on Brahmagiri during a drought brought Shiva to release the Ganga there as the Godavari…
Gokarna
The Mahabaleshwar temple on the Karnataka coast that holds Ravana's atmalinga; the name (cow's ear) comes from the…
Grishneshwar
Jyotirlinga near the Ellora caves, rooted in the story of the devotee Ghushma; rebuilt by Maloji Bhosale and by Gautama…
Kamarupa
The Shiva devotee imprisoned by Bhimasura in the popular Bhimashankar legend, whose worship brought Shiva to the…
Kapalamochana tirtha
Kapala-mochana · Kapalmochan
The bathing place in Kashi where Brahma's skull finally dropped from Bhairava's hand and the sin of killing a brahmin…
Kedarnath
The northernmost jyotirlinga, a three-sided rock worshipped as the hump of the bull-Shiva that the Pandavas chased; the…
Ketaki flower
screwpine · kewda · Pandanus odorifer
The fragrant screwpine blossom that, in the Shiva Purana line of the pillar-of-light story, falls from the top of the…
Kudalasangama
Kappadisangama
The meeting place of the Krishna and Malaprabha rivers where Basavanna grew up and whose Shiva, 'lord of the meeting…
Linga Purana
Shaiva Purana that ties the pillar of light to Maha Shivaratri and gives its own accounts of Ganesha's making and…
Lingaraj Temple
Ekamra Kshetra
Bhubaneswar's 55 m Somavamsi temple, whose deity was first under a mango tree (hence Ekamra) and whose underground…
Maha Shivaratri
Herath (Kashmir) · Siwa Ratri (Bali)
The great night of Shiva on the dark fourteenth of Magha or Phalguna, kept with a vigil, fasting and bilva leaves. The…
Malayadhwaja Pandya
The Pandya king who, with queen Kanchanamalai, performed a sacrifice for an heir and received the three-breasted girl…
Malini
An elephant-headed goddess named in one Puranic account as Ganesha's birth-mother. Stub entity for that variant.
Manikarnika Ghat
The cremation ghat and well at Kashi where, per the Kashi Khanda, Vishnu dug with his discus and filled the pit with…
Manikkavacakar
The Pandya minister sent to buy horses who met Shiva as an ascetic at Tirupperunturai and spent the king's money on a…
Matsyendranath
Macchindranath · Luipa (Tibet)
The ninth- to tenth-century founder-figure of the Naths, said to have overheard Shiva teaching Parvati while hidden as…
Meenakshi Tirukalyanam
Chithirai festival
The Chithirai (April–May) festival at Madurai that re-enacts the wedding of Meenakshi and Sundareswarar, with Vishnu…
Nakkeerar
Nakkirar
The Sangam-academy poet who found fault with a poem that Shiva had given the poor poet Dharumi, held his ground even…
Neelkanth Mahadev
The temple at the meeting of the Pankaja and Madhumati streams, 32 km from Rishikesh, that claims the spot where Shiva…
Nepal Mahatmya
Section of the Skanda Purana that tells Pashupatinath's deer and bull legends together with the Himavat Khanda. Stub…
Nilamata Purana
Sixth- to seventh-century Kashmiri text that names Amareshvara, the earliest reference to the Amarnath shrine. Stub…
Pashupatastra
Shiva's own missile, granted to Arjuna after the hunter's duel in the Mahabharata's Vana Parva. Stub entity.
Pashupatinath
Nepal's great Shiva temple on the Bagmati, with a four-faced mukhalinga that only its four Bhatta priests may touch…
Periya Puranam
Sekkizhar's twelfth-century Tamil lives of the sixty-three Nayanars, the source for Kannappa. Stub entity.
Pinaka
Shiva's bow, the weapon of the Vedic archer Rudra and of the Tripura story, where Mount Meru serves as the bow and…
Rameswaram
The southernmost jyotirlinga and a Char Dham site, where Rama is said to have worshipped Shiva before or after the war…
Sankarankovil
Sankaran Koil · Sankarankoil
Tenth-century Pandya temple of Sankaralinga, Gomathi Amman and Sankaranarayana. Its sthala puranam tells of Gomathi's…
Shiva Purana
The great Shaiva Purana in the printed seven-samhita recension (Vidyeshvara, Rudra with its Srishti, Sati, Parvati…
Shiva linga
Lingam · Jyotirlinga · Mukhalinga · Ishtalinga
The aniconic pillar in which Shiva is worshipped in almost every temple, read by the tradition as the formless taking a…
Shrikhar
The boy of Ujjain who, with the priest Vridhi, prayed to Shiva when rival kings and the demon Dushana attacked the…
Shvetashvatara Upanishad
Krishna Yajurveda Upanishad of six chapters, dated by Olivelle to the last centuries BCE, where Rudra is first raised…
Sivadol, Sivasagar
The 1734 Ahom temple of queen Ambika on the Borpukhuri tank, 104 ft high and said to be India's tallest Shiva temple…
Somnath
Prabhas Patan
Traditionally the first jyotirlinga, built by the moon-god after Shiva eased Daksha's curse; tradition says the temple…
Srikalahasti
The air-element linga, named for a spider, a serpent and an elephant that each worshipped it and won release; the site…
Taraka
Tarakasura
The demon whose boon made him killable only by a son of Shiva, the reason the gods sent Kama and the reason Kartikeya…
Tarakeswar (Taraknath)
Bengal's Shiva shrine founded around 1634 after a cow poured milk on a stone; pilgrims come on Mondays, at Shivaratri…
Tevaram
The Tamil hymns of Sambandar, Appar and Sundarar, the first seven Tirumurai, which sing Ravana's music under Kailash…
The twelve Jyotirlingas
Dvadasha Jyotirlinga
The twelve shrines where, after the pillar of light between Brahma and Vishnu, Shiva's radiance is said to have…
Thirukkadaiyur
Temple of Amritaghateswarar and Abirami where Shiva is worshipped as the conqueror of death for Markandeya. Stub entity.
Thiruvilaiyadal Puranam
Tiruvilaiyatal Puranam · The 64 sacred games
Paranjothi Munivar's Tamil Shaiva text narrating sixty-four playful miracles of Shiva as Sundareswarar in Madurai…
Tiruvilaiyadal Puranam
Thiruvilaiyadal Puranam
Paranjothi Munivar's Tamil account of Shiva's sixty-four sacred games at Madurai in three cantos, revered with the…
Trimbakeshwar
The jyotirlinga at the source of the Godavari on Brahmagiri, with a three-faced linga read as Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva…
Trishula
Trident
Shiva's three-pronged spear, the weapon on which Andhaka was impaled and, in the popular Bhimashankar telling, that…
Ujjain (Mahakaleshwar)
Seat of the Mahakaleshwar jyotirlinga, named by Kalidasa, where the dawn bhasma aarti uses cremation ash; the legend of…
Upamanyu
The Shaiva sage in whose Himalayan hermitage Krishna performed six months of austerities for a son; in the…
Vadakkunnathan Temple
Kerala's Shiva temple where a sixteen-foot linga stands under a mound of ghee said never to melt; its legend has Shiva…
Vanthi
Chemmanachelvi
The old puttu-seller of Madurai for whom Shiva worked as a labourer on the Vaigai bund, paid in puttu; her name is…
Chandrasena
The Shiva-devoted king of Ujjain in the Mahakal legend, attacked by the rival kings Ripudamana and Singhaditya with the…
Elephanta Caves
Gharapuri
Rock-cut Shaiva caves whose Cave 1 holds the seven-metre three-faced bust popularly called Trimurti and read by most…
Gajasura
The elephant-demon whose head, in the Shiva Purana's telling as summarised, replaced the head of Parvati's son. Stub…
Medhatithi
The sage whose sacrificial fire Sandhya enters after her penance; she rises from it as Arundhati in the Shiva Purana…
Panch Kedar
The five Garhwal shrines where the bull-Shiva's body re-emerged: hump at Kedarnath, arms at Tungnath, face at…
Patanjali
The sage whose living tomb (jeeva samadhi) lies at the Brahmapureeswarar temple beside the Brahma shrine.
Srisailam
Mallikarjuna
Hill shrine of Mallikarjuna, one of the jyotirlingas, whose temple legend is Puranic; the Chenchu tribe's claimed link…
Sudeha
Ghushma's elder sister and co-wife of the brahmin Sudharma, who out of jealousy killed Ghushma's son and was forgiven…
The Shaiva schools
Pashupata · Shaiva Siddhanta · Kashmir Shaivism (Trika) · Lingayat / Veerashaiva · Nath
Five living or historical ways of framing Shiva that disagree at the root and are described, never harmonised: the…
Tiruchengode
Hill temple of Ardhanareeswarar, where an image of the half-woman form is taken in procession on Karthigai Deepam day…
Vyaghrapada
The tiger-footed sage who, with Patanjali, watched the Ananda Tandava in the Tillai forest. Stub entity.