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Amarnāth
A tīrtha in Kashmir, where an ice formation, discovered in the 19th century, is worshipped as a Śiva liṅga. Although in an area currently liable to terrorist attacks, it remains a popular pilgrimage ...
bāṇaliṅga
A small, white ellipsoid stone found in the Narmadā river and worshipped as a form of Śiva liṅga.
Banaras
Banaras (also Kasi or Varanasi) is a tirtha, a spiritual pilgrimage city on the sacred Ganges River in northern India. Pilgrims come from all over India to bathe in the ...
Basava
(c.1106–1167)The founder of the Liṅgāyats. Various accounts of his life have been given. According to a sympathetic biographer, Basava was brought up by foster parents as a Śaiva brahmin. At sixteen ...
ḍamaru
The drum of the Hindu god, Śiva. It accompanies him as Naṭarāja, the Lord of the Dance. It is shaped like an hour-glass, with each half representing the liṅga and ...
dhyāna
A general term for meditation across a variety of Hindu traditions. More specifically, one of the aṣṭāṅgas, the eight limbs of (or aids to) yoga, according to the classical, or Rāja Yoga system ...
Genital myths and symbols
In myths from many parts of the world, male genitals especially are treated as sacred or taboo objects. Ham is punished for seeing his father Noah's genitals. The loss of ...
Indus Valley civilization
[CP]An extensive civilization that developed on the plains of the Indus Valley of Pakistan and northwestern India in the middle of the 3rd millennium bc and lasted for about five centuries. Also ...
jaṅgamas
Members of an hereditary priestly subcaste among the Liṅgāyatas, so-called because they are seen as ‘moving’ (jaṅgama) liṅgas. There are householder and ascetic divisions.
jyotirliṅga
The image or form of supreme Śiva, which is said to have manifested itself in a gigantic and brilliant column (liṅga) of light at twelve different tīrthas across India— Somanātha, Nāgeśvara, ...
Jyotir-liṅga(m)
The limitless liṅga(m) of light, the form assumed by Śiva which compelled Brahma and Viṣṇu to acknowledge his supremacy.
Kālahasti
A major Śaiva pilgrimage centre and temple site in Andhra Pradesh, incorporating the 16th/17th century ce Kālahastīśvara temple, which contains one of the five Śiva liṅgas embodying the elements, in ...
Kama
The Hindu god of love, typically represented as a youth with a bowl of sugar cane, a bowstring of bees, and arrows of flowers.
Kaṇṇappanāyaṉār
One of the 63 Nāyaṉmār bhakta saints. According to legend, he was a hunter so devoted to Śiva that, when he saw blood dripping from the eye of a liṅga, he plucked out his own eye to replace it, and ...
liṅga Quick reference
A Dictionary of Hinduism
An abstract or aniconic representation of Śiva, which is the form in which the god is most usually worshipped, whether in ...
Liṇga Quick reference
A Dictionary of Asian Mythology
The Liṇga is the sacred phallus and principal symbol of the Hindu (see Hinduism entries) god Śiva (see
Liṇga Myths
Sacrifice is at the center of Hinduism (see Hinduism entries); it is the price paid for prosperity or śri (see Śri, see Lakṣmī). Traditionally, near the sacrificial altar, standing as a kind of guard ...
Liṅga Purāṇa
(c.500 ce?)Classified as one of the eighteen ‘great Purāṇas’ in the tāmasa group, i.e. those said to relate to Śiva. In addition to the usual contents, this important Śaiva Purāṇa contains material ...
lingam Quick reference
The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (2 ed.)
a symbol of divine generative energy, especially a phallus or phallic object as a symbol of Shiva. The word comes from Sanskrit ...
Liṅga(m) Reference library
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
(Skt., ‘symbol’).
Hindu term for a mark or sign, especially the sign or symbol of generative energy. The liṅga and
