Man, Husband, Father, A warrior. One legend with different faces.
Shiva had many fearsome forms which were terribly powerful. He was easiest to impress of the Trimurti. And he was also the one with the most fiercest of rage.
Facts about Shiva
1. Shiv Lingam
The more the story of lord Shiva traveled the world, the more is the interpretation of the symbol lingam.
1.The hierarchy of the divine trilogy.
2.The symbol of male and female reproductive organs
Many perception one aim,to understand lord shiva.
2. Sati was shiva”s first wife.
Sati was lord shivas first wife, once daksh, her father, organized a yanjna in which he ill-treated lord shiva .Sati thought she was the cause of her husband’s embarrassment and jumped into the fire.
An enraged shiva performed tandava with satis charred body on his shoulders. Sati was later born as parvati, daughter ofHimavan, whom lord shiva married.
3. Worshiping him.
Although there are many temples of shiva, He is not worshiped inside the temple in that form .The reason is his superiority over other gods.
5. Neelkant
Once, the demons and gods formed an alliance for churning and sharing the immortality nectar from the ocean .However, a poison named halahala got created that threatened to affect the whole universe.
Lord shiva stepped in and drank all the poison.Parvati held his throat to not let the poison spread beyond .Hence, his throat turned blue and he is known as Neel (blue) Kanth (throat).
6. Many avatars.
Lord shiva has many avatars .Some of them are called as virbhadra , Durvasa,khandoba .Fianlly ,hanuman avatar is known as the eleventh rudraavtaar of lord shiva in the era of lord Rama.
8. Appearance
By wearing snakes as an ornament, lord shiva shows that he controls fears and death .He wears moon on his head denoting that he has complete control over time and earth.
7. Arthanareeswarar.
Ardhanarishvara is a composite from of lord shiva and his consort parvati . Ardhanarishvara is split down the middle, whose right half is usually the male shiva.
This is basically trying to manifest that the masculine and the feminine are equally divided within yourself. And when he included her, he became ecstatic. What is being said is that if the inner masculine and feminine meet, you are in a perpetual state of ecstasy. If you try to do it on the outside, it never lasts, and all the troubles that come with that are an ongoing drama.
9.Ash on his body.
Lord shiva smears ash all over his body, showing the fact that life is transient, the body and ego which gives us a sense of individuality which will not be around one day.
He used to hang out at cemeteries and apply ashes on his body. Amongst his many names was Bhooteshwara. It meant the Lord of ghosts and evil beings.
10.Open to all devotees.
Anyone can pray to lord shiva any time he lessons to everyone ,kings ,slaves,demons,tanrics,Aghories ,He is for all and for no one.
11.Third eye.
We pour continuous water on shiv lingam to calm lord shiva”s infamous hot temper.
12.Lord Of Dance.
Shiva is also known as Nataraja, which literally translates to “Dance King”. He was known to be an excellent dancer and his stance is known the world over. In his right hand he has a damaru [small drum] which represents creation and his dance indicates the destruction of the universe. It is called ‘Tandava’. Also it signals Brahma that it’s time to re-create nature.
Om namah shivaya
I bow to lord Shiva.
The whole world bow to lord shiva.