The Blue Throat

The Churning of the oceans for Divine nectar (Samudra Manthan) initially churned out poison, so potent to annihilate the cosmos. Soon, its vapors spread into the atmosphere and without any second thoughts, Lord Shiva consumed it all to save the creation.

To prevent the poison from entering His body, Goddess Parvati instantly pressed the neck of Someshwara and the poison remained in His throat, giving it the blue color.

Thus, one of Lord Shiva’s names is Neelkanth.

When Mount Kailash Trembled

Once Ravan tried to uproot and destroy the holy abode of Lord Shiva, Mount Kailash. Lord Shiva got annoyed and trapped him underneath Mount Kailash. To please Bholenath, Ravan cut one of his heads, made a musical instrument out of it and started playing devotional music using his tendons as strings. After a few years, Lord Shiva pardoned Ravan and freed him.

The Stone Images in Tripura

Folklore says that once upon a time Tripurari, along with one crore Gods and Goddesses, was on the way to Kashi. He asked other travelers to take a short night break in Unakoti, Tripura but cautioned them to wake up before sunrise. None of them woke up on time. Lord Shiva embarked on His onward journey while those fast asleep were transformed into stones. Huge stone images in Tripura are present to this day.

The Dancing Shiva

Once a demon, Apasmara, braved Lord Shiva. Mahadev took the form of Nataraja to defeat the demon (the symbol of ignorance). In His Nataraja form, He performed The Cosmic Dance known as Tandav and crushed Apasmara under his foot.

Since Apasmara was believed to be immortal and to keep the balance between knowledge and ignorance, Shiva set His right foot on the demon to keep him subdued forever and thus He exists in His Nataraja form till eternity.

This Nataraja avatar is a message that ignorance can only be conquered by spiritual knowledge.

The Fisherman Shiva

Lord Shiva was once explaining the Vedas to Goddess Parvati. One day, she got distracted and Lord Shiva cursed her to take birth as a fisherwoman on earth.

Later, Lord Shiva turned Himself into a young fisherman, went to the fishermen’s rescue- as they were in trouble- and remarried Goddess Parvati.

The Ash on His Body

One day, sage Parnada was cutting grass. In the process, he cut his finger that oozed the sap of a tree instead of blood. He was filled with great pride. Shiva disguised as a brahmin asked him the reason for his happiness, and Parnada said, now I am the most pious man in the whole world. He was too proud of his penance.

Lord Shiva said, it was just some sap, but trees and plants burn and turn into ash. He sliced his finger and out flowed ash. Sage Parnada realized his grave mistake and Lord Shiva; whose penance was the greatest of all revealed His true self to Paranda. Since then there are ashes on Lord Shiva’s whole body.

At Goddess Kali’s Feet

Rakt Beej, a demon became invincible due to great powers. Goddess Durga was urged to kill him. As soon as she injured him, his blood fell on the earth and from every drop that fell a hundred demons emerged. So, she took the ferocious form of Kali, killed each demon, and drank all the blood without letting it spill to the earth.

Kali started her victory dance that caused havoc on earth and she became irrepressible.

Then the Gods pleaded to Lord Shiva to stop Kali. Once He realized the looming destruction of all, He rushed towards Kali and in a desperate final effort to calm her down He lay down at her feet while she danced trampling the uncountable corpses. Being in a state of trance she failed to realize that it was Shiva laying down and stepped on Him. The folklore further says that soon she realized Her mistake and calmed down.

Holy Ganga on the Head

To purify the souls of his ancestors so that they could attain salvation, King Bhagirath requested Lord Shiva to send the divine River Ganga to the earth for this purpose. Bholenath granted him the wish.

Ganga condescendingly flew down to the earth, but Shiva calmly snared Her back in His matted hairlocks and oozed her out in seven streams- Bhagirathi, Janhvi, Bhilangana, Mandakini, Rishiganga, Saraswati, and Alaknanda.

She then followed Bhagirath and liberated the souls of his ancestors.

Lord Shiva’s Daughter

Lord Ganesh and Kartikeya have a sister as well.

Ashutosh and Goddess Parvati were walking in a beautiful garden. They found the wish-fulfilling tree Kalpavriksha. She wished for a daughter from the tree. Then a daughter was born to Goddess Parvati, whom she named Ashok Sundari.

Ashok means ‘without grief’ and Sundari means ‘beautiful’.

Lord Shiva and the Sudarshan Chakra

Once, to please Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu was reciting His 1000 names and with each name he was offering him a flower.

Bholenath was impressed with this devotion, but wanted to test His devotion so He removed one flower from the 1000 flowers that Lord Vishnu was counting while chanting His name.

When Lord Vishnu uttered the 1000th name, he was short of one flower. Immediately, He took out one of his eyes and offered it to Lord Shiva.

This gesture impressed Lord Shiva, He appeared and gifted Lord Vishnu the Sudarshan Chakra- a weapon created by the collective energy of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh.

Top 10 Fascinating Shiva Stories | Sudhanshu Ji Maharaj