Stories 2
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 95
South India 67
West India 30
East India 22
North India 15
The Himalaya 12
Northeast India 5
Southeast Asia 4
Central India 4
✕ origins
devotionbooncreationdisguisesupremacycursemarriagepenancepridetestdancepilgrimagesacrificebirthemanationfirebeheadingdemon slayingdesireiconographyausteritychurningcombined formcosmogonyhomecominglingapoisonrebirthriveratonement
How a tradition frames it · 1 telling · contested
How scholars explain Shiva's rise
Scholars treat the Shiva of today as a figure merged from several older gods rather than one continuous cult.
How a tradition frames it · 1 telling · contested
The horned figure on the Indus seal
Ernest Mackay finds a steatite seal at Mohenjo-daro in 1928–29, dated about 2350–2000 BCE.