Lord Shiva is one of the 3 main Gods in Indian mythology and is one of the most powerful gods in the Hindu pantheon. He is a part of the holy trinity, along with Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu. He is known as the destroyer because he removes all the evil from the world. He is also considered to be a master of dance and regeneration. He is also known as the master of yoga and meditation. Shiva is known by many names. Some of them include Mahadeva, Adiyogi, Pashupati Nath, Nataraja, and Bhole Nath. In his Mahamritunjay avataar, he is said to be the conqueror of death. His Ardhanarishwar avataar is the best demonstration of half Shiva (the male) and half Shakti (the female).

Lord Shiva is often depicted with his hair piled high on top of his head with a crescent tucked into it. The river Ganga, which is a heavenly river, originates from his matted hair. When Ganga started flowing on earth, she did not know how to control her flow and energy and if the speed and momentum would have remained, she would have drowned the earth. Hence Lord Shiva had to tie her around his hair so that the earth would not get flooded and she got to gently descend down from the Himalayas. This is how Shiva got the name Gangadhar. Because of his matted hair, he is also known as Jatadhatri Shiva.

Lord Shiva holds a trident in his left hand and holds a ‘damroo’ (power drum) in his right hand. He wears the Rudraksha beads which is his favourite ornament and his whole body is smeared with ash. Rudraksha is also called as Shiva’s tears. Lord Shiva has a blue neck because according to one legend, he swallowed poison to save everyone in the universe. It is said that the poison was so powerful that only Shiva was able to consume it and nullify its harmful effect. Because of the blue throat, he is known as Neelkantha (neel means blue and kantha means throat). The serpent Vasuki is coiled around Lord Shiva’s neck. Lord Shiva has a third eye on his forehead and when he opens his third eye, he becomes the fiercest and everything gets burnt and turns into ashes. It is also believed that Lord Shiva’s weapon which is the Trishul was created by the master craftsman called Vishwakarma using the material from the Sun.  

Lord Shiva resides in Mount Kailash on the Himalayas and is known as Adiyogi which means the first yogi. His wife is Goddess Parvati and Lord Ganesha and Lord Kartikeya are his sons. Lord Shiva is usually worshipped in the form of a linga. You will always find Lord Nandi (the bull) in every Shiva temple. There is a famous legend which talks of how at the start when the Universe was created, there was a huge pillar off endless light and energy which was the “linga” and it is said that the linga is a symbolic manifestation of Lord Shiva as his energy is also without any bounds and is infinite.

The famous legend of how Lord Shiva chopped off Lord Ganesha’s neck is a story that is told to every child. While protecting and obeying his mother, Goddess Parvati’s instructions, Lord Ganesha did not allow anyone, including Lord Shiva to enter the bathing area where his mother was taking bath. This enraged Lord Shiva who did not know that Parvati had created Ganesha with her own maya and hence he was their son. In a fit of rage, Lord Shiva chopped off Ganesha’s neck with his trident. Once Parvati realized what had happened, she forced Shiva to bring back Ganesha to life and for that Shiva fixed the head of an elephant and brought back the obedient son to life. All the Gods then blessed Ganesha in his new avataar.