Religion / idea · deity

Shiva

Shiva is one of the principal gods of Hinduism, worshipped as the destroyer and transformer within the triad with Brahma and Vishnu, and as the supreme being by Shaivas. He is depicted as an ascetic with a trident, the crescent moon and a third eye, as the cosmic dancer Nataraja, and above all in the aniconic linga. His mount is the bull Nandi, and his worship spread across South and Southeast Asia, from Kashmir to Champa and Java.

Shiva
Image: Indianhilbilly · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Shiva. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/shiva
MLA
“Shiva.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/shiva. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Shiva.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/shiva.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Shiva’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/shiva (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻