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
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Southeast Asia 4
Central India 4
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Origin · 5 tellings · contested
How Shiva became half woman
Brahma makes a world of male beings that cannot multiply.
Festival story · 2 tellings · contested
The longest night: Arudra and Thiruvathira
In Margazhi, when the full moon stands with the Thiruvathirai star, the year's longest night is kept for Shiva.