Posted:
12 years ago
om namah shivay
i dont know if this is the correct thread to post this , so if this is wrong kindly redirect me to the correct thread
the 64 forms of lord shiva :
1. shivalingam
2. lingodbhavar (divine, out of the symbol (lingam) that arose out of the quarrel of prime-ness (between brahma and vishnu)
3. mukhalingam
4. sadashivam
5. mahasadashivam
6. umamaheshwarar
7. sukhasanamurti (sitting in the comfortable posture(bhoga murti)
this form describes the lord's posture in the abode of mount kailash, where the lord is seated along with the great goddess uma blessing the devotees running the whole universe with the powerful devas saluting and looking for the lords indication to serve. the lord sitting in the posture of ease, is in the bliss and grants the same for his true devotees.)
8. umeshamurti
9. somaskandhamurti (maha vishnu wanted to have a son who would be an example of charm. for that he worshipped the god. delighted with the worship of the great vishnu, lord shiva appeared to provide the boon he looked for. at that time mahavishnu showed no respect to goddess shakti. irked by that shakti cursed that the charming son vishnu would get would be burnt away by the lord. vishnu was shocked to hear this. now he worshipped again the lord along with goddess shakti as well as their child lord skandha. pleased by the worship shakti blessed that the son of vishnu who would get burnt away by the god, would again be brought back to lify by the grace of god. by this boon mahavishnu got the charming lord of lust - manmata . the form worshipped by mahavishnu is the saha uma skandha murthi or somaskandha murti.)
10. chandrashekaramurti (daksha had twenty seven stars as daughters. all of them were married to moon. but the moon had special attraction towards rohini. so all the other wives complained it to the father dakasha that their husband moon is not treating them fairly. daksha got angry and cursed the moon to lose its luminance (kala) day by day. everyday the moon started loosing one luminance part (kala) out of his 16 parts. afraid and ashamed moon disappeared into the ocean. there are many herbs that require the light of the moon to grow. without moon, they were harmed. consequently there was suffering in the world. to end the problem the celestials advised moon to take refuge in the great divine, lord shiva. left with only one kala, he took refuge in lord shiva. being the graceful almighty, he wore the moon crescent on his head, making him grow for 15 days and decay for 15 days periodically. thus chandrashekharar is considered a giver of refuge.)
11. vrisharudhamurti (deity sitting on the bull: during tripura samhara as soon as the god put its leg on the chariot, which the divines proudly thought "they" made it for god, the chariot's axle broke off ! the divines realized the futility of their pride. in the meanwhile lord vishnu took the form of a bull, on which lord shiva sat. this is the vishnu bull vehicle of god.)
12. vrishandikamurti
13. bhujanggalalitamurti
14. bhujanggatrasamurti
15. sandhiyanrittamurti
16. sadanrittamurti
17. chandatandavamurti
18. ganggadharamurti (lord wearing ganga (river to head):bhagiratha was the renowned king forefather of rama of raghu vamsa. his forefathers known as sagaras were burnt down due to a curse. for the upliftment of those ancestors from the cursed state to get to the heavens, he wanted to bring the river ganga to earth. the idea is that when ganga waters touch the ash of sagaras, they would be uplifted from their sin. he did very severe austerities and to get the permission from indra. he gave permission to bring the ganaga flowing in the heaven to the earth, however he told, coming down to earth would be the decision of ganga. so bagirata again started his penance and prayed the goddess ganga. she agreed to come down, but warned him that he should find a person who could withstand the force with which she will descend to earth! he agreed and found out that the refuge would be at lord shiva. he did the austerities pleasing lord shiva. appreciating his devotion and efforts, lord agreed to hold the ganga when she descends to earth. ganga out of her pride and ignorance thought that the lord won't be able to withstand the force! she came down with an intention to gush down the lord with heavy force.the lord, who is the creator of the entire universe and who has taken the forms just out of the grace on creatures, arrested her flow in his matted hair! she tried her best to rush out of his matted hair, but in vain. not a drop of water could escape! bhagiratha, worried by this (as he would not get ganga to earth otherwise), prayed to the lord to show mercy on her. the gracious lord allowed the ganga through a strand of his matted hair. ganga then flowed humbly, gracefully and giving prosperity on her way to patala. thus the ancestors of bhagiratha were resurrected by the holy water of ganga.)
19. ganggavisarjanamurti
20. tripurantakamurti (three demons kamalakshan, tarukakshan, vidhunmali got a boon from the lord that they can not be destroyed unless all three of them come together, and attacked by a single arrow. then they created forts in different areas and ruled the world. devas who were disturbed by them complained it to the lord. but lord shiva said as long as the three demons pray him he won't destroy them. so maha vishnu took the form of a sage, and taught the three demons mayavatham, resulting them to stop praying the lord, praising themselves and torturing devas. since all the good qualities of them were lost the lord came for the destruction of the puras. the three demons came together to fight against the lord forgetting their boon.
the earth became the chariot for the lord, brahma the charioteer, vishnu the arrow, sun and moon the wheels, the mountain meru as the bow and the serpent vasuki as the string in the bow. thus all the gods were present in some form in that chariot. but the fire and god of death were in the wheel instead of the arrow. vinayaka broke the wheel to put them in the arrow. finally when everything was ready devas were proud that only with their help god is going to destroy the tripuras. but lord shiva didn't use any of them. he smiled and in that smile the three puras were burnt down.(the rudhraksha appeared from the eyes of lord shiva during tripurasamhara) the thought of devas that without their help the lord wont be able to destroy the tripuras proved foolish. the purpose of destruction by lord is only for purification. lord gave life to the three demons. though they went wrong they initially were devotees. they repented for their mistake. the lord forgave them and gave one of them the great work of fanning him with chamaram, and the rest two as his security in his abode.)
21. kalyanasundaramurti (shakthi was born as parvati, the daughter of the king of himalayas. as a young child, she was not interested in playing like the other children. she was more inclined towards meditating on lord shiva in the mountains. she desired to marry lord shiva. for that she wanted to perform austerity in the snow covered himalayas. her parents hesitated, but finally had to subdue to the determination of parvati. parvati performed austerity from an ashram. lord shiva who was happy with her worship, came as an old devotee to her place. parvati offered her respect to the old bhakta of her beloved lord. now, he tried to convince her that she shouldn't waste her youth doing tapas, but should enjoy life getting married ! he further suggested that she could get married to him, instead of desiring for lord shiva who dances in the cemeteries and wears skulls and bones! parvati, without knowing that he is god himself, got very angry on hearing the old man's words and told him that she showed him respect only because he seemed like a devotee and she would not want to hear any little blasphemy of god further. she asked the old man to leave the place immediately. the lord, pleased with her determination and devotion, revealed who he is and gave her the boon she yearned for - getting married to him. the himalayan king's family was delighted to see their beloved daughter's wedding. the young beautiful parvati was decorated with chosen best ornaments for the wedding. now came the groom - lord shiva - to the wedding place - on an old bull, with skull and bone ornaments, with the skin of the tiger as the clothing, accompanied by the roar of the buta ganas !! the mother of parvati menai fainted to see the groom in such a form for her sweet daughter, softer than the flowers. now the lord changed to the form, glittering in a beautiful wedding robe - with golden ornaments and splendid clothing! when menai woke up and saw the groom she was thrilled to see such a beautiful form and was very pleased that he is "the suitable" groom for her daughter. the play of the lord has no bounds !the enchanting lord in the wedding robe got married to the daughter of the mountains and this form of god is called kalyana sundharar.)
22. ardanarishwaramurti (sage bringi is one of the ardent devotees of lord shiva. he used to worship only lord shiva and not shakti. goddess shakti, being the power as the name indicate, pulled out the energy from bringi maharishi's body. now he was even unable to stand. he pleaded to god. god shiva provided him with a stick. on its support he stood and still worshipped lord shiva alone. goddess shakti wanted to become an inseparable part of lord shiva's form. she oberved the kedhara maha vrata austerity, which is now known as deepavali. pleased with her austerity, lord shiva granted her the boon of being part of his form. so the lord now appeared male on the right side and female on the left side and hence became ardhanarishvara.)
23. gajasurasamharamurti (there was a demon gajasura in the form of an elephant. he did severe penance and got lots of powerful boons. his wicked mind did not try to use all those powers for the constructive things, but rather started to disturb, kill and loot others. the power he had got out of the penance made even the divines afraid of him. his crooked mind also brought him to the death trap, when he started to attack the devotees who were completely focused on the worship of god at the holy abode kashi. his ego and mad rage made him not realize whom he is attacking. the supreme powerful god, the protector of the devotees destroyed the demon ripping its body. the daemon screamed loud and lost the life.considered to be a very furious form of lord shiva, with the shakti herself frightened by the act of the lord. (however in the statue in the temple the lord is in all smiles !)
24. jvarabhagnamurti
25. shardhulaharamurti
26. pashupatamurti
27. ganggalamurti (god with skeleton :lord shiva is said to be associated with destruction, dancing in cemeteries, wearing the skulls and bones etc. why ? while everybody irrespective of human, animal, plant, devas, asuras and all creatures at the time of pralaya get reduced (die) to be created again in the next prapanchotpatti, god is the only one, who is ever present. indicating this eternal being of god is the skulls, skeleton ornaments and the concept that it dances in the cemeteries.
28. keshavarthamurti (the combined form of sha.nkara and narayana
vishnu is one of the shaktis (powers) of lord shiva. this murti indicates that concept. vishnu is in the left part of the lord's body, which is the place of shakti. (1) (during the mohini avatar, mahavishnu became the devi of lord shiva.)
29. bhixatanamurti (the murti who asks for alms:the rishis in darukavanam forest, once thought that only the karma(deed, performing rituals) is supreme and it is not required to pray god at all. they stopped worshipping god. whatever be the deeds, isn't there one who provides the doer with the fruits ? how can the inanimate deeds automatically give fruit ? not realizing these facts the rishis pursued their dogma of karma. to teach them the importance of worship lord shiva took the form of bhikshatanar (begger) and maha vishnu the form of mohini (glamorous girl). in this form the lord is naked and quite enchanting. so was the mohini. the naked lord came to the streets of the r^ishis to get alms. (does the god, who is the provider of all wealth, need to beg ? the playful lord, while providing the supreme wealth for those who worship, went to beg as if he has nothing !) at the charm of the naked lord shiva the wives of the rishis lost their heart. they forgot what they were doing and started simply following the naked god. meanwhile the rishis also forgot the karma they were strongly advocating and followed the glamorous mohini. when they got to see their wives - the followers of karmic discipline, lost their virtue and following a naked beggar, they got angry with lord shiva and vishnu and started targeting their power of the karmas towards the lord, by performing the abhicharayagam which will produce bad effects. they directed the snakes, demon, tiger, fire and drum that came out of the fire against the lord. what can hurt the supreme who is the source of everything. he coolly made them his ornaments! now the rishis realized their stupidity and realized that god is the supreme and not the karma.
30. simhagnamurti
31. chandeshwaranugrahamurti (chandeshvarar (his original name is vichara charmar) was born to echcha dattan. the man in the village, who used to take the cows for grazing, used to beat them and torture them. chandeshvarar being an ardent devotee and full with love, took over that job. he used to leave the cows in the morning in the grounds and sit in meditation. by the fall of the evening he brings them back to their houses. under his supervision cows started giving plenty of milk. when chandeshvarar sits in worship of the almighty they used to come near and start giving the milk on their own. he used that milk for anointing the lin^gam he makes out of the sand and worships it. one day some ignorant, who was passing by mistook him and thought chandeshvarar milked the cows to pour it into the sand. he reported this to chandeshvarar's father. the next day his father followed chandeshvarar without his knowledge and hid behind a shrub. as usual the cows gave the milk and chandeshvarar started performing anointing to the lin^gam with the heart flowing with bhakti. echcha dattan without realizing his bhakti hit him with a staff. but he continued his worship without any effect. he was fully involved in the offerings. irked echcha dattan kicked away the pots having milk disturbing the worship. chandeshvarar got angry at the disturbance to shiva puja, took a staff lying nearby and threw it and didn't bother that the irked echcha dattan was his father. that staff became axe and cut off the legs of irked echcha dattan. in the complete neutrality he was not partial to look into whether the person disturbed the worship was his father or anybody else. the lord pleased with his devotion, appeared before him, wound the garland of konrai that he was wearing to his head, made him sit next to him in the left, and owner for all shiva prasadam.)
32. vyakhyanadaxinamurti
33. yogadaxinamurti
34. vinadharadaxinamurti
35. kalantakamurti (the sage mrikandu did not have an offspring for quite a long time. he performed tapas to get the blessings of lord shiva. god appeared in front of him. now the sage had two choices - either a son indiscipline, cruel and dumb living for long or a son loving, intelligent and a gem of character living very short span of life. the sage chose the second one. his wife gave birth to a child markandeya, out of a boon from lord shiva, by which markandeya would be very intelligent but would live just for 16 years. young child markandeya grew up learning the great scriptures, caring and loving, devotional towards god. he came to know that he would die at 16. intelligent markandeya realized that none other than the god, who is beyond all the scopes of time and hailed as mrityunjjaya - who conquered the death, can save him from the strong clutches of death. determined and devotional, he started doing shiva puja and surrendered himself completely to the lord. the yamadutas who came to take his life away were scared away by the flame of this young boy's devotion. as the the attendants couldn't take away his life, yama the god of death, himself came. young markandeya did not loose his devotion even in the crisis moment. he embraced the shiva lingam. as yama still tried to take away markandeya's life, the lord appeared furious from the shiva lingam and kicked yama to death!! he blessed the sincere devotion of the young boy and made markandeya to be in 16 always - deathless !
36. kamari (kamadahanamurti) (when shakthi became parvati, daughter of the king of himalayas, she was doing thapas for lord shiva. at the same time the great sages, the four sons of brahma, sanakar, sana.ndanar, sanatanar, sanat kumarar came to lord shiva for enlightenment. the lord gave them enlightenment in the form of lord dakshina murti. as the duo, who are the cause as well as the energy for the whole world are into yoga, the whole world got more inclined to yoga and life sustenance was in trouble. meanwhile the devas, who were tortured by the surapadma and his brothers taraka, simhamukha, knew that those demons can be killed only by the son of lord shiva and shakthi. disappointed that both god and goddess were doing yoga instead of marrying, they asked the cupid to disturb the meditating lord shiva with his arrows in order to induce lust for parvati.the cupid refused since he knew that it will be just fatal for him. but the other devas threatened to curse him if he didn't obey. saying that it is better to be killed by the god of gods than by the curses of devas, he went with his wife, rati, to the abode of shiva where he was in meditation.the cupid shot the flower arrow on the lord. the next moment the fire from the eye in the forehead of the lord burnt the cupid. undisturbed he continued his meditation.shocked by the death of cupid all the devas realized their plots would not work out with god. they understood that only sincerity could get the showers of its grace and any other pressure can just not mount over god. they surrendered themselves in front of the lord and pleaded for mercy. the lord forgave them and married parvati and gave skanda for the destruction of the demons. on their request he also bring back to life kama, however he would be visible only to his wife and not to others. because of this reason kamadeva is called ananga (one without limbs).
37. vaguleshwaramurti
38. bhairavamurti (the origin of bhairava can be traced to the conversation between lord brahma and lord vishnu recounted in "shiv maha-puran" where lord vishnu asks lord brahma who is the supreme creator of the universe. arrogantly, brahma tells vishnu to worship him because he (brahma) is the supreme creator. this angered shiva who in reality is the creator of all. shiva then incarnated in the form of bhairava to punish brahma. bhairava beheaded one of brahma's five heads and since then brahma has only four heads. when depicted as kala bhairava, bhairava is shown carrying the decapitated head of brahma. cutting off brahma's fifth head made him guilty of the crime of killing a brahmin, and as a result, he was forced to carry around the head for years and roam as bhikshatana, a mendicant, until he had been absolved of the sin. in another version, when brahma sees the cosmic confusion while creation of universe and ponders how to settle it. he created saraswati from his imagination ('manasaputri'). she issued as shatarupa. she presented him with the wealth of knowledge and wisdom. but brahma was infatuated with her beauty and pursued her. he sprouted a fifth head to gaze at her continuously. the horrified goddess took multiple forms to escape his eye, but brahma continued to take a complementary form and chase her. this unlawful lust caused an imbalance in the universe and lord shiva took the form of bhairava to put an end to such low behaviour. he confronted brahma and cut off his fifth head which brought him to his senses.
39. apatuddaranamurti
40. vadukamurti
41. etrapalamurti
42. virabhadramurti shakti as dakshayani appeared as the daughter of daksha, who was the son of brahma. she prayed lord shiva to get married to him. the lord accepted dashayani ignoring the ostentation of daksha. daksha felt insulted as the lord did not get married to his daughter with his pompous arrangements. he did a yaga in which he worshipped all gods and purposefully ignored the god, shiva. all other devas out of their fear attended the yaga and accepted the offering. a great sage dadhichi advised daksha not to do such things and warned him it will be fatal for him. ignoring his advice, daksha continued his yaga. dakshayani came to the yaga to advise her father to do offering to the lord of gods, shiva. but he ignored her advice and accused her and lord shiva. she got angry and prayed the lord to teach daksha a lesson, left the form of dakshayani by getting into the yagya fire and appeared as the daughter of king of himalayas.the lord created vira bhadrar(also called karalar) . (karalar is the only deity in the 25 maheshwara murtis, who is not lord shiva himself, but is a power of lord shiva). lord asked him to destroy the yagya of daksha. he stormed into the yagya and mutilated the devas who took part in the yagya. he cut the head of daksha. nobody could stop him. (a more detailed description can be found in daksha kand of skanda puran. lord vishnu came for a fight, but in vain. all the devas surrendered to lord shiva and pleaded for mercy. the giver of refuge, forgave them and on their request gave daksha also life by putting the head of a goat in place of his cut head. daksha repented for his sin. thirup pariyalur is the temple associated with the destruction of daksha yagya.
43. agorastramurti
44. daxayagyaharamurti
45. kiratamurti (this is the only form of lord shiva in which he appeared black in color. arjuna wanted to get the peerless weapon pasupatastram from lord shiva for the battle of mahabharata. he left the other four pandavas, went to the forest and did austere tapas for getting the boon of lord shiva. lord shiva was satisfied with his prayer, wanted to give the pasupatastram to him, but wanted to play a bit too. he took the form of a hunter with shakthi as huntress. that time a demon by name mukasura, who was in the form of wild pig came to kill arjuna. to kill the wild pig arjuna fired an arrow from the front, at the same time the hunter, who is none other than god himself, attacked it from the back and killed the pig.arjuna mocked at the hunter for firing the arrow from the back. having great pride of his valor, he was als angry at the hunter because he aimed at his prey. the hunter responded that attacking an animal from the back is not against rules of hunting. an argument broke out. they decided to fight deciding who was more valorous between them. the hunter cut the string in arjuna's bow with his arrow in the fight! angered and excited, arjuna started wrestling. he couldn't match the lord, and the lord enjoyed his fighting. at one point of time in wrestling arjuna held the foot of the hunter. as the lord is pleased when somebody catches his holy feet, he stopped wrestling appeared with parvati revealing who he is. shocked arjuna pleaded for forgiveness, as he was trying to fight with the supreme out of his ignorance. however the god, who is pleased by devotion, blessed him and gave him the invincible pasupatastra. (in some books it is told that arjuna couldn't fight with the hunter, he started worshipping the shiva lingam. to his astonishment he found the flowers he offered to the lingam on the head of the hunter. then he prostrated before the hunter and the lord revealed himself). this can be found in detail in kiratarjuniyam of bharavi and maha bharata. )
46. gurumurti
47. ashvarudhamurti
48. gajandikamurti
49. jalandharavatamurti (once shiv got very angry with the ocean, and this anger produced a very terrible raakshas from the ocean, named jalandhar. he married a very pious woman named vrindaa. vrindaa was a very pativrataa woman and because of her being pativrataa, jalandhar could not be killed, so he was free to do anything he wanted. he was troubling everybody in tri-lok (three worlds). devtaa went to vishnu to request him to kill jalandhar. vishnu went to shiv to discuss about how to kill him. so they hatched a plan.
once jalandhar saw parvati and got attracted to her. this caused a great fight between jalandhar and shiv. it continued for quite some time. when vrindaa did not see jalandhar she got worried about him and came out to look for him. as she was looking for him in a forest, she saw jalandhar - this was vishnu in the form of jalandhar. they both came home happily. after a while vrindaa identified him not as her husband, so she asked him who was he? vishnu showed her his real roop. she fell on his feet, but still was very angry with him. she cursed him to be a black stone; but vishnu bestowed a boon to her that he will always live in her heart and will never eat his food without her. vrindaa converted into a river, gandakee river, to keep that black stone in her heart, and was born as as tulasee plant, without whose leaves vishnu's food is incomplete.as vrindaa's paativrat dharm was broken, shiv could kill jalandhar.
50. ekapadatrimurti (one legged :this is the murti that shows that brahma and vishnu appear from the lord and finally merge in the lord and oneness of god.)
51. tripadatrimurti
52. ekapadamurti
53. gaurivarapradamurti
54. chakradanaswarupamurti
55. gaurililasamanvitamurti
56. vishabhaharanamurti (black (blue) throated lord :demons and gods wanted to have the amrita the nectar that would make one live long avoiding death. the amrita was in the milky ocean and required churning the huge ocean to get out the nectar. they came together to collectively churn the big ocean. they churned the milk ocean with mandhara mountain as the stem and serpent vasuki as the rope. in the process, due to the pain serpent vasuki emitted the poison hala (meaning destructive). at the same time one more poison came from the ocean hala. both put together became an disastrous poison that threatened the very existence of all including the divines, deamons and the other lives. maha vishnu tried to stop that. his body turned blue, but he couldn't stop it. terrified by the destroying power of the poison, all of them surrendered to lord shiva, the giver of refuge. (so far they had never thought of lord shiva to offer first the amrita, but only when it came to disaster they remembered god !)the graceful god took the halahalam as if it is a fruit in the hand. asked all of them, what he should do with that. they pleaded that the poison would annihilate them all if he left it off. lord smilingly put it into his mouth ! but isn't all the worlds very much inside the god ? though it will not affect the lord, but the worlds would be again affected by the poison, goddess shakthi, the mother of all creatures, stopped the poison in his throat by putting her hand in his throat. the poison stayed there as a small black (blue) stain. hence the lord is called nilakanthar .)
57. garudandikamurti
58. brahmasirachetakamurti
59. kurmasamharamurti
60. matsyari
61. varahari
62. prarthanamurti
63. raktabhixapradanamurti
64. sishyabhavamurti
Edited by bhas1066 - 12 years ago
