Stories 11
Tradition: Shaiva · clear
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.
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.
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.
Shiva under the banyan at Thrissur
Parashurama asks Varuna for land and the sea draws back to make Kerala.
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 girl with three breasts
The childless Pandya king Malayadhwaja and queen Kanchanamalai perform a sacrifice for a son.
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.
Tirupattur: Brahma rewrites his own fate
Brahma grows proud and Shiva takes away his fifth head and his power to create.