Tag: Shiva
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Maha shivaratri 2025: reflecting on the five faces of Shiva
Maha Shivaratri is the most powerful day in the year to connect with Shiva, one of the principal deities of Hindu Dharma. Shiva is the form of the Absolute associated with the dissolution of the Universe. In Hinduism, cosmic time and creation is cyclical and hence destruction is a necessary step for new growth, Shiva…
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Festival of Shiva, the Cosmic Dancer
Arudra Darshanam (Thiruvathirai) occurs during the Hindu solar month of Dhanu (Margazhi) when the Ardra constellation appears with the full moon. This festival marks the occasion when Shiva took the form of ‘Nataraja’ (the king of dance), to perform the cosmic dance; ‘tandava’. The festival is largely observed by Shaiva Hindus from parts of Southern…
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Shiva’s new Estonian Abode
June 2024: One of Europe’s largest Shiva temples was consecrated with Mahakumbhishekam rituals between the 4th and 13th of June 2024 near the Estonian capital Talin. The temple is located in Lillerou (translated as Valley of the Flower), a rural site that was developed as a sacred space in the early 1990s by Ingvar Villido,…