Lord Shiva's Different Names And The Stories Behind!

Mahadeva (Mahesh) is one of the three most prestigious male deities in Hinduism. The rest of the two deities are Brahma and Vishnu. Lord Shiva is the sovereign and better known as the ‘destroyer’ among the Tri-Murtis. He is immortal and has been given the name- “Maha Deva” i.e. the greatest God. He is considered among the three main energies, behind the formation of this universe.

According to Shiva Purana, there are more than thousand names of Lord Shiva. Although, mentioning all of them is quite a difficult task but somehow manage to enumerate the popular ones.  They are as follows:-

Must Known Characters of Lord Shiva:

Lord of Meditation

Lord Shiva resides and meditates on the isolated snow-capped mountains of Kailasha, unlike other Gods who love to live in their own respective provinces and the kingdoms (domains). We are unaware of the fact that- Lord Shiva always meditates on Lord Vishnu. According to ‘Garuda Purana’- The name ‘Rama’ signifies ‘Ra’ or ‘Om Namo Narayana’ and ‘Ma’ of ‘Om Namah Shivaya’. However, the mythical Meaning of SHIVA is “Pure Consciousness” and it can only be achieved through Meditation.

Bhola Shankar

Lord Shiva easily gets pleased and he doesn’t need anyone’s utmost devotion to get blessings and boons. While worshipping him, one need not follow any set of rituals and protocols and is prominent to grant wishes and desires to anyone and everyone. Mahadeva is a tender and one of the most innocent and warm-hearted gods and often grants a boon to people even if they are evil at heart. He wants nothing from his devotees but to offer only a Bel- Patri with true spirituality and saintliness.

Ganga Saviour

Shiva invited the Holy Ganges on the call of Lord Brahma to fall upon his head. From there the river winded off to Earth’s surface through the God’s matted-hair. Subsequently, she divided herself into seven torrents /seven rays. The sacred Ganges then cascaded persuasively over the surface of the earth to purify the unfortunate souls on the sphere. Another story defined in Mythology is- when Bhagiratha worshipped Brahma by penancing vigorously to get divine Ganga come down to the surface of the world as he wished to have Ganga flow down over his ancestor’s ashes and grant them salvation. By this, Ganga felt insulted and affirmed to swipe away all the beings by her intense flow on Earth. Bhagiratha then prayed to Lord Shiva to calm Ganga down and Shiva peacefully trapped her in his long hair- locks then let her flow out in small streams over time. Gangas containment in Shiva’s matted hair soothed her enormously.

Ardhanareeshwara

‘Ardhanareeshwara’ is a symbolism of Masculinity and Femininity that means Shiva is Ardhanari, the God whose left half is the Goddess herself. SHIVA is a combination of the active and the passive force. This Lord Shiva’s Avatar also defines that every living being has both male (Purusha) and female (Shakti) desires and energies in them. ’Arth’ means Shiva (soul) and ‘Naree’ means Shakthi(nature) are present in every living being and this half-male and half-female incarnation is the symbol for the unity of opposites in the world.

Pashupati (‘Savant of animals’)

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