Siva (Shiva)

	Lord Siva is an important God in Hinduism, including in the Trimurthis. In the ‘Trimurthis’, Siva has the duty of destroying or ‘Samhara’. Siva is believed as the supreme God. Siva is referred as consciousness as per Sakthisam. Siva has many more other names as Rudhra, Mahadeva, Parameswara, Neelakanda. Siva is worshipped mostly in the form of ‘Siva Linga’. Siva is usually portrayed as immersed in deep meditation or the famous Natraja form. His famous dance is known as ‘Thandava’. In Sanskrit, the word ‘Siva’ means kind or ‘The pure one’. The main feature of Lord Siva is his third eye, which situates in the middle of his forehead. He uses his third eye to burn desires to ashes. His appearance is also different from other devas. He is often shown garlanded with a snake around his throat. ‘Tri soola’ or trident is his main weapon. A small drum named as ‘Damaru’ is always attatched to his trident. Lord Siva and all attendants live in Mount Kailasa in Himalaya Hills. His dress is the skin of cheetah. He usually applies bhasmam on his forehead and also wears half moon in his head. River Ganga devi is also resides in Siva’s hair, which has a shell like structure. Thus he got the name ‘Gangadhara’. Its believed that the blue color of Siva’s throat is because of the poison which he drank during the ‘Palazhimadhanam’. Thus he got the name ‘Neelakanda’. Devi Parvathi is the wife of Lord Siva. Their combination is usually known as ‘Ardhanareeswara’,half man and half woman. Lord Siva is easy to be pleased and easy to be angered. It is told that his anger is like a fire. Lord Siva’s vehicle is Nandhikeswara. The main offering to Lors siva is Dhara. The main feature of siva temples is, one should not circumambulate in full inside the temple. It is because of “Somarekha” placed in the position.