Devalok

The Himalaya

Pan-India 94South India 66West India 30East India 22North India 15The Himalaya 12Northeast India 5Southeast Asia 4Central India 4

Stories told here 12

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Folk tale · 1 telling

Calling Bhairav into the room

In the Kumaoni jagar, singers call a deity into a gathering through song and drum until a medium falls into trance; Bhairav's tales are among those sung.

Legend · 5 tellings

Daksha's sacrifice and the death of Sati

At a gathering Shiva stays seated when Daksha enters; Daksha reads it as contempt.

In stone and bronze · 2 tellings

Dattatreya: the three natures in one son

The sage Atri and his wife Anasuya earn great merit through their conduct and austerity.

Legend · 4 tellings

Ganga comes down through Shiva's hair

King Sagara's sixty thousand sons, hunting his stolen sacrificial horse, accuse the sage Kapila and are burnt to ash by his glance.

Temple legend · 1 telling

Lakshmi as the badri tree at Badrinath

Vishnu meditates in the Himalaya while Lakshmi shelters him as a badri tree; the sages Nara and Narayana choose the site; Shankara recovers the image from the hot spring.

Festival story · 2 tellings

Nanda goes to Kailash as a bride

Every twelve years Garhwal and Kumaon walk the mountain goddess Nanda three weeks from her mother's home to Shiva's Kailash as a young bride.

Legend · 4 tellings

Shiva drinks the poison

Gods and demons churn the ocean of milk for the nectar.

Temple legend · 2 tellings

The Pandavas and the bull of Kedar

After Kurukshetra the Pandavas seek Shiva to be cleansed of the killing of kin.

Temple legend · 2 tellings

The antelope's horn at Pashupatinath

Shiva and Parvati, tired of the gods, wander the Kathmandu valley as an antelope and a doe.

In stone and bronze · 3 tellings

The five faces and the five acts

Shiva's eternal form is pictured with five faces turned to the quarters and upward.

Temple legend · 2 tellings

The secret of immortality in the ice cave

Parvati asks Shiva for the secret of never dying.

Festival story · 6 tellings

Why the night of Shiva is kept

A hunter named Gurudruha, or Lubdhaka, is caught in the forest by night and climbs a bilva tree to wait for game.

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