ग्रन्थThe library

Where Śiva Is Told

From the Ṛgveda to the vacanas of Karnataka — three thousand years of texts. Every verse on this site points back to one of these shelves.

Veda

ऋग्वेद

c. 1500–1000 BCE

Ṛgveda

Vedic Sanskrit

The oldest Veda: over a thousand hymns to the powers of the cosmos.

Rudra — storm-lord, healer and archer — is praised in a handful of hymns. The Mahāmṛtyuñjaya mantra (7.59.12) is here.

Read the original: GRETIL (Sanskrit) ↗

Veda

यजुर्वेद — श्रीरुद्रम्

c. 1200–800 BCE

Yajurveda — Śrī Rudram

Vedic Sanskrit

The Veda of ritual formulas, in two branches: Kṛṣṇa (Black) and Śukla (White).

The Śrī Rudram (Taittirīya Saṃhitā 4.5; Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā 16) — the great litany to Rudra, and the source of “namaḥ śivāya”.

Read the original: GRETIL (Sanskrit) ↗

Upaniṣad

श्वेताश्वतरोपनिषद्

c. 5th–1st century BCE

Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad

Sanskrit

A philosophical Upaniṣad of six chapters, devotional in tone.

Among the earliest texts to present Rudra-Śiva as the one supreme reality.

Itihāsa

महाभारत

compiled c. 400 BCE – 400 CE

Mahābhārata

Sanskrit

The great epic of the Bhārata war — and an ocean of stories around it.

Arjuna and the Kirāta, the burning of Tripura, the Śiva Sahasranāma of the Anuśāsana Parva, and more.

Read the original: K. M. Ganguli translation (public domain) ↗

Itihāsa

वाल्मीकि रामायण

compiled c. 5th century BCE – 3rd century CE

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa

Sanskrit

The story of Rāma — the first poem (ādi-kāvya) of Sanskrit.

The descent of the Gaṅgā, the birth of Kumāra, Rāvaṇa lifting Kailāsa, Rāma breaking Śiva's bow.

Purāṇa

शिवपुराण

compiled over many centuries, first millennium CE onward

Śiva Purāṇa

Sanskrit

The central Purāṇa of Śiva, in seven saṃhitās: Vidyeśvara, Rudra (in five khaṇḍas), Śatarudra, Koṭirudra, Umā, Kailāsa and Vāyavīya. Chapter numbers vary between editions; all our references follow the Gita Press Kalyāṇ Śivamahāpurāṇāṅka.

Nearly everything: creation, the Liṅga, Satī and Pārvatī, Kārttikeya and Gaṇeśa, the Jyotirliṅgas, the avatāras of Śiva.

Purāṇa

लिङ्गपुराण

c. 5th–10th century CE (layers vary)

Liṅga Purāṇa

Sanskrit

A Śaiva Purāṇa centred on the meaning and worship of the Liṅga.

The pillar of fire (Liṅgodbhava), Śaiva ritual and philosophy.

Purāṇa

स्कन्दपुराण

early core c. 6th–7th century CE; large later additions

Skanda Purāṇa

Sanskrit

The largest Purāṇa, famous for its sections on sacred places (Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Kedāra Khaṇḍa and many more).

The glory of Śiva's tīrthas, the life of Skanda, Śiva's family.

Purāṇa

भागवतपुराण

c. 9th–10th century CE

Bhāgavata Purāṇa

Sanskrit

A Vaiṣṇava Purāṇa — but it tells several of Śiva's most loved stories.

Nīlakaṇṭha and the churning of the ocean (8.7), Dakṣa's sacrifice (4.2–4.7), Vṛkāsura (10.88).

Kāvya

कुमारसम्भव

c. 4th–5th century CE (Kālidāsa)

Kumārasambhava

Sanskrit

Kālidāsa's poem of the birth of Kumāra (Kārttikeya). Poetry, not scripture.

Pārvatī's tapas, the burning of Kāma, the marriage of Śiva and Pārvatī.

Tamil Śaiva

தேவாரம்

c. 6th–8th century CE

Tēvāram

Tamil

Hymns of the three great Nāyaṉmār poets — Appar, Campantar and Cuntarar — sung at temples across Tamil Nadu.

Intimate, passionate devotion to Śiva at hundreds of named temples.

Tamil Śaiva

பெரிய புராணம்

12th century CE (Cēkkiḻār)

Periya Purāṇam

Tamil

The lives of the sixty-three Nāyaṉmār saints.

Kaṇṇappa and the other great devotees — Śiva as the Lord who answers love.

Kashmir Śaiva

शिवसूत्र

c. 9th century CE (Vasugupta)

Śiva Sūtras

Sanskrit

The foundational aphorisms of Kashmir Śaivism, said to have been revealed to Vasugupta.

“Caitanyam ātmā” — consciousness is the Self. Śiva as pure awareness.

Vīraśaiva

ವಚನ

12th century CE

Vacanas

Kannada

Short free-verse sayings of Basavaṇṇa, Akka Mahādēvi, Allama Prabhu and other Vīraśaiva saints.

Śiva as Kūḍalasaṅgama, as Cennamallikārjuna — a god of the heart, beyond temple and caste.

Dates are approximate scholarly ranges. Many of these texts grew over centuries, and dating them is debated.