Stories 33
Bhrigu's kick and the coming of Srinivasa
The sage Bhrigu tests the three gods and kicks the reclining Vishnu; in the Bhagavata Vishnu's humility settles the matter, while the Tirumala tradition adds Lakshmi's departure to Kolhapur and Vishnu's descent as Srinivasa, who marries Padmavati on borrowed money.
Brahma drives Lingaraj's chariot
Brahma comes to Bhubaneswar for the coronation of Lingaraj.
Gautama's penance and the Godavari
The sage Gautama and his wife Ahalya live on Brahmagiri in a long drought.
Ghushma's hundred and one lingas
The brahmin Sudharma and his wife Sudeha have no child.
How Ranganatha came to face south at Srirangam
The Ranga Vimana rose from the churning, passed from Brahma to the kings of Ayodhya and from Rama to Vibhishana, and would not leave the Kaveri island.
How Vishnu and Shiva became one body
Vishnu and Shiva merge into a single form — to end a dispute among devotees, to kill Guhasura whom neither could kill alone, or at Parvati's prayer to reconcile two serpent kings. Shiva is the right half, Vishnu the left, in every telling.
Kumbakonam: Brahma loses the Vedas and wins them back
Brahma boasts that he alone can create.
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.
Nila Madhava and the unfinished images of Puri
King Indradyumna's priest finds Nila Madhava worshipped by a Sabara chief; the image vanishes; new images are carved from a sea-borne log and left unfinished when the carver is disturbed.
Parvati's penance on the hill of fire
After the quarrel of Brahma and Vishnu the pillar of fire cools into the red hill of Arunachala.
Pundalik's brick
Busy serving his parents when Krishna calls, Pundalik tosses him a brick to stand on; the god waits there still, hands on hips, as Vithoba of Pandharpur.
Rama installs the linga at Rameswaram
Rama worships Shiva as a linga on the island of Rameswaram — before the bridge in the Ramayana, or after Ravana's death to expiate the killing of a brahmin in temple tradition, where Sita's sand linga and Hanuman's linga from Kailasa stand side by side.
Rama's linga at Rameswaram
Rama wishes to worship Shiva on the island before crossing to Lanka, or after killing Ravana, to be cleansed of killing a brahmin.
Ravana loses the atmalinga
Ravana wins Shiva's own linga by fierce penance, to take home to Lanka.
Shiva under the banyan at Thrissur
Parashurama asks Varuna for land and the sea draws back to make Kerala.
Shiva's own city
Kashi is held to stand on the point of Shiva's trident, apart from the earth.
Shrinathji from Govardhan to Nathdwara
Krishna's arm and then his face emerge from Govardhan hill; the image is carried away from Braj in 1672 and stops where its cart wheels sink in Mewar.
The Pandavas and the bull of Kedar
After Kurukshetra the Pandavas seek Shiva to be cleansed of the killing of kin.
The Pushkar sacrifice and Savitri's curse
Brahma kills the demon Vajranabha with his lotus-weapon.
The antelope's horn at Pashupatinath
Shiva and Parvati, tired of the gods, wander the Kathmandu valley as an antelope and a doe.
The birth of Ayyappa
Brahma's boon to Mahishi — that only a child of Vishnu and Shiva can kill her — forces Vishnu to take the Mohini form; Shiva's desire for Mohini yields a son, found and raised by the king of Pandalam, who kills Mahishi and takes his seat at Sabarimala.
The dance at Tillai and the contest with Kali
Two sages, the serpent Patanjali and the tiger-footed Vyaghrapada, ask to see Shiva's dance.
The demon of the Sahyadri and the Bhima river
A demon oppresses the gods and men from the Sahyadri hills.
The earring in Vishnu's well
Vishnu comes to Kashi and digs a pit with his discus.
The girl with three breasts
The childless Pandya king Malayadhwaja and queen Kanchanamalai perform a sacrifice for a son.
The image that came from Vaikuntha to Guruvayur
An image made by Vishnu himself passes from Brahma to King Sutapas to Uddhava, who has Brihaspati and Vayu install it in Kerala after Dwarka sinks.
The lord of the single mango tree
Shiva is worshipped under a lone mango tree, which names the place Ekamra.
The moon's curse eased at Somnath
Chandra marries the twenty-seven daughters of Daksha, the lunar mansions.
The secret of immortality in the ice cave
Parvati asks Shiva for the secret of never dying.
The spider, the snake and the elephant
A spider spins a web over the linga to shade it and, when a lamp sets the web alight, throws itself into the flame.
The twelve pillars of light
Brahma and Vishnu quarrel over who is supreme.
Tirupattur: Brahma rewrites his own fate
Brahma grows proud and Shiva takes away his fifth head and his power to create.
Two origins of Padmanabhaswamy
Either Parashurama consecrated the reclining image, or Vishnu appeared to the sage Vilwamangalam as a mischievous boy and became a falling tree that took the shape of Ananta Padmanabha.