Shiva Lingam

Shiva is known as the God of dissolution and is one of the gods of Trinity that also includes Brahma and Vishnu. Lingam is a Sanskrit word where li meaning, “to dissolve” and gam “to move on”. This refers to the belief that one appears as a being in the world and then dissolves back into the universe. Lord Shiva is represented as the Absolute Reality, that is beyond the grasp of consciousness, transcends time, form and space and defies description.

He is married to the Goddess Parvati (Uma). He is known by many names – Mahadeva, Mahayogi, Pashupati, Nataraja, Bhairava, Vishwanath, Bhava, Bhole Nath. On the auspicious occasion of Shivaratri, Shiva performs the ecstatic dance of realization. The dance pose is known as Nataraja. Shiva is said to have the third eye known as gyana chaksu – means eye of wisdom and its vision reaches beyond that of two mortal eyes. Shiva is sometimes shown with the trident (trisula) in his hand. The trisula is the three pronged weapon which symbolizes several things including the three gunas or qualities, Sattwa (purity), Rajas (passion), and Tamas (ignorance).

Shiva Abhishekam is performed every Monday evening in the temple. Shivaratri, symbolizing the wedding of Shiva and Parvati, is celebrated every year with a number of devotees.