Lord Shiva: The Transformer

Key idea: Shiva is destruction in service of renewal: ego dissolved, space cleared, new beginnings made possible. He is the ascetic and the householder, stillness and cosmic dance.

Symbolism

• Third eye: insight that burns through illusion

• Ganga and crescent moon in the hair: grace and time held lightly

• Trishula and damaru: the three gunas mastered, and the rhythm of creation

• Ash and serpent: detachment from the body and fearlessness before death

Temples

• East: Lingaraja Temple, Bhubaneswar

• West: Somnath Temple, Gujarat

• North: Kedarnath Temple, Uttarakhand

• South: Ramanathaswamy Temple, Rameswaram