Stories 4
All kinds
Origin
Legend
Local story
Folk tale
From the epics
Festival story
Temple legend
In stone and bronze
How a tradition frames it
Everywhere
Pan-India 240
South India 81
West India 37
East India 37
North India 28
The Himalaya 17
Northeast India 8
Southeast Asia 6
Central India 5
Sri Lanka 1
✕ disguise
cursesacrificedevotionpridebooncreationmarriagetestbirthsupremacybargaindeathfirehealingpenancerescuepilgrimagerivercraftfestivaldancegiftrivalryearthemanationfriendshipnightdesirefear
Tradition: Shaiva · clear
Legend · 5 tellings · contested
Parvati wins Shiva
Sati is reborn as the daughter of Himavat and Mena and grows up loving Shiva.
Local story · 2 tellings · contested
Shiva's sixty-four games in Madurai
The Tamil Thiruvilaiyadal Puranam turns Shiva into Madurai's own god, who walks into the city in disguise across the reigns of fifty-two Pandya kings.
From the epics · 4 tellings · contested
Svaha, Agni and the birth of Skanda
Indra, needing a general, rescues Devasena and asks Brahma for a husband fit for her.
Temple legend · 4 tellings · contested
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.