Introduction:

Lord Shiva is the supreme God in the Hindu mythology. He is the creator as well as destroyer of the universe. The other names of Lord Shiva are;

• Mahadeva (महादेव)

• Bholenath (भोलेनाथ)

• Shankar (शंकर)

• Rudra (रूद्र)

• Nilkantha (नीलकंठ)

He is the lord of arts, meditation, dance and yoga. He is usually worshiped in the form of Lingam, which is the source of infinite energy. Om namah Shivaya (ॐ नमः शिवाये) is the mantra of lord Shiva. He is very powerful and extreme god in Hindu religion.

According to Hindu mythology Goddess Parvati who is a rebirth of Sati, is the wife of lord Shiva. Ganesha and Kartikeya are the children of the lord Shiva.

Some important points about Lord Shiva:

• Mount Kailasha is the home of lord Shiva.

• Tandav Nritya (तांडव नृत्य) “the dance of destruction” is the dance form of lord Shiva.

• Nandi (A bull) is the vehicle of Lord Shiva.

• Sharavan and mahashivratri are the festivals of lord Shiva.

The graphical attributes of lord Shiva are;

Snakes around his neck, A half moon on his head, The holy river Ganga flowing from his matted hair, called as jattas (जट्टा ). An eye on his forehead also known as The third eye of Lord Shiva, Ashes on his whole body, A Trishul as his weapon and a Damru his musical instrument.

During Sagar Manthan (i.e churning of the ocean), dangerous poison known as “Kaalkut” emerged. Lord Shiva drank entire poison to save the Universe. Due to that poison Lord Shiva’s throat became blue, that’s why he is also known as Nilkantha (Nil – Blue, Kantha – Throat).

According to hindu mythological stories, Sati the first wife of lord Shiva jumped into the fire to sacrifice her body because of the insult of her husband Lord Shiva by her father Daksha. Lord Shiva performed the Tandav dance taking the lifeless body of Sati to express his anger. He wanted to destroy the world. To calm down his anger lord Vishnu cut the lifeless body of Sati by his weapon discus sudarshana chakra. The body divided into fifty-one pieces and they became the ‘Shaktipitha’ on the earth.

There are twelve Jyotirlingas (ज्योतिर्लिंग) of Lord Shiva, which are as follows;

1. Somnath ,Gujarat.

2. Mallikarjun , Andhrapradesh.

3. Mahakaleshwara , Madhyapradesh.

4. Omkareshwara ,Madhyapradesh.

5. Baidyanatha , Jharkhand.

6. Bhimashankar ,Maharashtra.

7. Rameshwaram , Tamilnadu.

8. Nageshwara, Gujarat.

9. Kashivishwanath, Varanasi.

10. Trayambakeshwara, Nasik.

11. Kedarnatha, Uttarakhand.

12. Ghrishneshwara, Aurangabad.