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 94
South India 66
West India 30
East India 22
North India 15
The Himalaya 12
Northeast India 5
Southeast Asia 4
Central India 4
✕ austerity
devotionbooncreationdisguisesupremacycursemarriagepenancepridetestdancepilgrimagesacrificebirthemanationfirebeheadingdemon slayingdesireiconographychurningcombined formcosmogonyhomecominglingapoisonrebirthriveratonement
Legend · 4 tellings · contested
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 · contested
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.
Legend · 5 tellings · contested
Parvati wins Shiva
Sati is reborn as the daughter of Himavat and Mena and grows up loving Shiva.
Temple legend · 1 telling · contested
The earring in Vishnu's well
Vishnu comes to Kashi and digs a pit with his discus.