Shiva

Shiva, also called Mahadeva, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism and the supreme god of the Shaiva tradition. He is shown as an ascetic with matted hair holding the river Ganga and the crescent moon, with a third eye, a trident and a snake around his neck, and he is worshipped most often as the lingam. In Odisha he is honoured at Lingaraj in Bhubaneswar, at the five Shiva temples of Puri, at Kapilas and across hundreds of village shrines. Mahashivaratri, Sitala Sasthi, Chadak and Danda Nata are among his major observances in Odisha.

According to the Puranas, Shiva is the destroyer and transformer in the Hindu trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, though Shaivas worship him as the supreme being who creates, sustains and dissolves the world. The Shiva Purana and the Linga Purana tell of the lingam as the formless sign of the god...