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Shiva: the great yogi, his symbols and his temples
शिव
Shiva is the destroyer and transformer of the Hindu trinity, the great yogi meditating on Mount Kailash, and for Shaivas the Supreme Lord who creates, protects and dissolves the world. He has gentle and fierce sides: the ascetic smeared with ash, the family man with Parvati and their sons Ganesha and Murugan, the dancer Nataraja. In most temples you will not find a statue in the sanctum at all, but a lingam, the smooth stone pillar that is his main form of worship.
Story
He sits in meditation on Kailash, the Ganga flowing from his hair, and dances the world into dissolution as Nataraja. Twelve jyotirlingas (“lingams of light”) mark where he appeared as a column of fire; two of them, in Varanasi and Ujjain, are in this guide.
Family and companions
Festivals
✅ Symbols and what they mean
A Shiva image can be read item by item.
- Lingam — The aniconic pillar worshipped in the sanctum, washed with water and milk by devotees.
- Ganga in his hair — The river Ganga flows from his matted locks: in the story, he caught her as she fell from heaven so the earth would not break.
- Third eye — The eye on his forehead; in the myths, whatever is in front of it burns to ash when it opens.
- Trident and drum — The trishula (trident) is his weapon; the damaru, a small hourglass drum, keeps the rhythm of his dance.
- Moon and serpent — A crescent moon in his hair and the serpent Vasuki around his neck.
- Nandi — The bull, his vahana (mount). A stone [Nandi](/en/deities/nandi/) usually sits facing the sanctum of a Shiva temple.
Key stories
These stories come from the Puranas and the epics. Shiva sits in meditation on Kailash, far from the world, and the gods have to coax him back into it; his marriage to Parvati, after her long penance, is what Maha Shivaratri commemorates in many traditions. As Nataraja he dances the tandava, the dance that dissolves one world so the next can begin.
When the gods and demons churned the ocean for the nectar of immortality, a poison rose first that threatened to destroy everything, and Shiva drank it. It stained his throat blue, which is why he is called Nilakantha, "blue-throated". At Nanjangud near Mysuru he is worshipped as Nanjundeshwara, "the god who drank poison".
The twelve jyotirlingas ("lingams of light") are held to mark places where he appeared as an endless column of fire. Kashi Vishwanath in Varanasi and Mahakaleshwar in Ujjain are two of them; Kedarnath in the Himalaya, open only from about April to November, is another.
Shiva temples
India has an enormous number of Shiva temples, and many of the oldest still standing are his.
Goa
[Shri Mangeshi](/en/goa/mangeshi-temple/) near Ponda, Goa's main Hindu temple, dedicated to Manguesh, a local form of Shiva, with a seven-tiered lamp tower lit every evening; and [Mahadev at Tambdi Surla](/en/goa/mahadev-temple-tambdi-surla/), a 12th–13th-century basalt shrine in the forest, the oldest temple standing in Goa.
Around Mysuru
[Srikanteshwara at Nanjangud](/en/mysore/srikanteshwara-temple-nanjangud/), one of the largest temple complexes in Karnataka, called the Varanasi of the South; and [Talakadu](/en/mysore/talakadu/), where temples were dug back out of the sand and five Shiva shrines form the Panchalinga circuit.
Bengaluru
[Halasuru Someshwara](/en/bengaluru/halasuru-someshwara-temple/), the oldest temple in the city's core, with a granite gopura and Vijayanagara carving; and [Nageshvara at Begur](/en/bengaluru/nageshvara-temple-begur/), a 9th–10th-century compound with the earliest known inscription naming Bengaluru. More: [Bengaluru temples](/en/bengaluru/temples/).
Across India
Of the twelve jyotirlingas, Kashi Vishwanath in Varanasi, Mahakaleshwar in Ujjain and Kedarnath in the Himalaya are among the most visited. Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu is the temple of Nataraja, Lingaraja in Bhubaneswar has a 55-metre tower, and Murudeshwar on the Karnataka coast has one of the tallest Shiva statues in the world.
Festivals and visiting
[Maha Shivaratri](/en/festivals/mahashivaratri/), the great night of Shiva between February and March, is kept with fasting and an all-night vigil, and the jyotirlingas are at their fullest. Kartik Purnima, the autumn full moon, is his other big day. In any Shiva temple shoes come off at the entrance, and devotees circle the sanctum and pour water or milk over the lingam; watch first, and ask before photographing inside.
❓ FAQ
Who is Lord Shiva?
One of the principal deities of Hinduism: the destroyer and transformer in the trinity with Brahma and Vishnu, and the Supreme Being in Shaivism. He is also called Mahadev, Shankar and Bholenath.
What does Shiva symbolise?
Destruction as renewal: he dissolves the old so the new can begin. As Adiyogi, the first yogi, he also stands for meditation and the inner discipline of yoga.
Who is more powerful, Vishnu or Shiva?
It depends on the tradition. For Shaivas Shiva is supreme, for Vaishnavas Vishnu is; the Smarta tradition worships them as equal forms of one divinity. Hindus generally do not treat it as a contest.
Why is Shiva worshipped as a lingam?
The lingam is his aniconic form, a sign of the formless god rather than a portrait. The twelve jyotirlingas mark where he is said to have appeared as a column of light.
What is the Shiva mantra?
Om namah Shivaya, "homage to Shiva": five syllables, the main mantra of Shaivism.