The Puran itself is the creation of Lord Shiva himself, the mystical wisdom crafted in words, moulded into one hundred thousand couplets or quartets (Shlokas), divided into twelve chapters (Samhitas); and first revealed in grace to the creator, Lord Brahma who relayed it to his favoured son, Narada. Then, it was relayed in succession to Sanat Kumara and Ved Vyasa. The latter condensed the massive volume into 24,000 shlokas categorised under seven chapters namely: Vidyeshwara Samhita, Rudra Samhita, Shatarudra Samhita, Kotirudra Samhita, Uma Samhita, Kailasha Samhita and Vayuviya Samhita.
The enlightenment with the mysticism of Shiva-Jnan was truly possible only for Sage Ved Vyasa, a literati of the sacred texts as he was. He could abridge the original text of Shiva Puran to make it sharp and focussed with distilled mysticism. By the grace of Shiva, the inspiration behind his endeavour was to remove the diluting impression a voluminous text carried, out of compassion to all and to impart the enlightenment to others in digest form. A man of great literary talent he was. Later, he visualised the entire epic of Mahabharata in his mind. Upon the suggestion of Brahma, Ved Vyasa dictated Mahabharata to Lord Ganesha who penned it down non-stop.
Sivapuranam Lyrics with Meaning, Siva Puranam in Tamil English Hindi Telugu PDF Free Download
Sivapuranam in English
- Vidyeshwara Samhita
- Rudra Samhita
- Shatarudra Samhita
- Kotirudra Samhita
- Uma Samhita
- Kailasha Samhita
- Vayaviya Samhita
Shiv Puran in Hindi
- Shiv Puran in Hindi
- विद्येश्वर संहिता
- रुद्र संहिता
- शतरुद्र संहिता
- कोटिरुद्र संहिता
- उमा संहिता
- कैलास संहिता
- वायवीय संहिता
Shiv Puran in Gujarati
- Shiv Puran in Gujarati
- વિઘેશ્વરસંહિતા
- રુદ્રસંહિતા
- શતરુદ્ર સંહિતા
- કોટિરૂદ્ર સંહિતા
- ઉમા સંહિતા
- કૈલાસ સંહિતા
- વાયવીય સંહિતા
Sivapuranam in Hindi
- शिव पुराण-माहात्म्य
- श्रीशिवमहापुराण विद्येश्वरसंहिता
- रुद्रसंहिता प्रथम (सृष्टि) खण्ड
- रुद्रसंहिता द्वितीय (सती) खण्ड
- रुद्रसंहिता तृतीय (पार्वती) खण्ड
- रुद्रसंहिता चतुर्थ (कुमार) खण्ड
- रुद्रसंहिता पंचम (युद्ध) खण्ड
- शतरुद्रसंहिता
- कोटिरुद्रसंहिता
- उमासंहिता
- कैलाससंहिता
- वायवीयसंहिता (पूर्वखण्ड)
- वायवीयसंहिता (उत्तरखण्ड)
Learned Ved Vyasa, then imparted the knowledge of Shiva Puran to other scholarly sages like Soota and Shuka. Sage Soota revealed the mysticism and glory of Shiva Puran to other holymen through a discourse. Soota was the son of Romatharshana and a favoured disciple of learned Ved Vyasa.
Panchakshari Strotam Pentasyllable Ode To Shiva
(Na-Ma-Shi-Va-Ya)
One who adorns king cobra, has eyes three,
Ash besmeared is he, the Supreme Deity,
Eternal, pious and dressed in directions,
Obeisance I make to thee, Shiva, the name
bearing syllable ‘na’
Bathed in Mandakini, ointed with sandal paste,
The lord of Nandi and his band of servitors,
Worshipped with hibiscus and blooms myriad,
Obeisance I make to thee, Shiva,
the name with syllable ‘ma’
Shiva, the face like rising sun to Gauri,
The destroyer of yajna of Daksha,
One who has blue throat and bull ensign,
Obeisance I make to thee,
Shiva, the name with syllable ‘shi’
One whose paeans are sung
by pot-born sage, Vashishtha
and Gautama;
is that most sublime Lord.
One whose eyes are the embodiments of the sun,
moon and fire,
Obeisance I make to thee, Shiva,
the name with syllable ‘va’
One with the looks of Yaksha, with hair plaited,
The unborn eternal who sports his trident,
The deity naked like bare truth but dressed
by sides around,
Obeisance I make to thee, Shiva,
the name with syllable ‘ya’
The Pentasyllable ode, a rewarding mantra, if recited with true devotion with the mind beamed in Lord, gains one the holy domain of Shiva, repleting oneself with happiness of His grace.
Revelations By Soota
A great many sages and seers had converged On the holy centre of Prayaga, situated at the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati by the will of Lord. Sages headed by Shaunaka approached Sage Soota and requested him to reveal the glory and mysticism of Shiva Puran to them. Soota gladly accepted to oblige the holy group.
Spoke great sage Soota beginning his narration:
“O accomplished sirs! You are seized by the desise to know the glory of divinely supreme Shiva. Hear this, there is nothing more of value and blessingfui than reciting or hearing Shiva Puran. Even hearing one Katha (Tale) contained therein, a part of it, an episode or just half of it earns one Lord’s blessings, redemption, salvation and deliverance from transmigration.
Fasting and listening to the recitation of Shiva Puran on the 14th day, the Chaturdashi, of the moon phases shall earn the faithful great credit and make one worthy of worship by others.To earn the grace of Lord and glory, note that the Rudra Samhita and Kailasha Samhita are the most effective, efficacious and blessingful. All the wishes of a faithful will be fulfilled if he recites Rudra Samhita for three days in the presence of the idol of Bhairava dimension of Lord Shiva.
But Kailasha Samhita is even better between these two in auspiciousness and efficacy. Shiva Sublime only knows the true importance of this. Even my preceptor, learned Ved Vyasa grasped only the half according to his own admission. Myself may be the knower of only a quarter of it.’It is the will of Shiva Sublime, I guess.
The Pentasyllable ode (Panchakshari Mantra) to Shiva is revealed in Shiva Puran directly; at places indirectly or subtly or symbolically in respect of all its aspects, including its power and efficacy; the ordered way of its incantation and recitation; the prescription for gaining the rewards of three categories (Trivargas) namely, dharma, artha and kama (religious, financial and physical); and achieving the final salvation or moksha, the end of transmigration. I will reveal to you the knowledge whatever I was able to comprehend by the grace of Lord although it is impossible to translate it all in words. Speaking thus, Sage Soota began the story of Devaraja.
Devaraja’s Tale
Long time ago, there lived a brahmin named Devaraja in the town of Kiratanagara. A very lax, unprincipled and degenerate life he lived. No bathing and no praying was the order of his day. He was lecherous by nature. It appeared that the sole object of his life was to make money and spend it on vice games to satisfy his carnal desires. He would not mind cheating others and creating misunderstandings between friends and relatives.
One day, he went to the pond to wash himself for a change and happened to see there a woman of easy virtue called Shobhavati. Devaraja could not resist the coquettish gestures of the evil woman. She took away all the money he had by and by. He completely ignored the pleadings of his parents and the wife. To be free to do whatever he liked, he went to live with the evil woman in her house. When he had blown away all his money, the woman kicked him out of her house. She had no use for him any more.
The brahmin roamed around and reached a place called Pratishthanapura. He fell ill there. He thought he was going to die. In a nearby Shiva temple he took shelter. On the floor he lay unable to move. There was nothing he could do but listen to the recitation of the Shiva Puran and religious sermons being delivered to faithfuls. The sermons and recitations concluded on the day he finally” died.
The agents of the lord of death, Yama duly arrived there to take charge of the soul of Devaraja to take it to the hell of afterworld. But the servitor agents of Lord Shiva intervened to stop them.
The agents of death revealed the long list of sins the dead brahmin Devaraja had committed during his life time. The agents of Shiva reasoned that what the dead man had done or how he lived no longer mattered, since the last few days of his life were spent in hearing the recitations of holy Shiva Puran which had cleansed him of all his sins. They took the soul of Devaraja to the Kailasha domain of Lord Shiva.
To his puzzled agents, Yama explained, when they expressed their surprise over the incident, that great was the glory of Shiva and great was his grace bestowed upon those who listened to the kathas of Shiva Puran. Sage Soota narrated another story – the story of Chenchula.
Chenchula’s Tale
Once there lived a brahmin called Binduga and his wife named Chenchula at a place called Bashkala. Binduga fell to the fatal attraction of a woman of evil ways and infamy. He could not go home or try to meet his wife. Chenchula felt hurt and hardpressed to make a living, she resorted to the oldest profession as evil men were never far away.
Binduga learnt about the scandalous act of his wife and returned home. He thrashed her, but the unrepentant wife accused her husband of disloyalty and dereliction forcing her into prostitution to stay alive.
A lengthy argument followed. At last an agreement was reached, according to which each of them was to carry on one’s evil ways. Chenchula would turn over all the money she made to Binduga who could spend it on his own whores. Chenchula always found customers who paid her money for sex. And Binduga needed money. For the benefit of the world they continued to play husband-wife roles.
In this way they lived and one day Chenchula became a widow. She continued with her whoring way of life. One day, she reached Gokarna, a holy place where recitation of Shiva Puran was on in the Mahabaleshwara temple. Out of curiosity Chenchula heard some snatches of it. She learnt that the sinners were condemned to hell where Yamaraja tormented them with horrific punishments. It frightened her. After the recitation, Chenchula went to a Pauranic, the scholiast of Puran.
She confessed her sins to him. The scholiast advised her to hear the recitations of Shiva Puran with her mind beamed into Lord Sublime. Chenchula faithfully did so. As a result, she got salvaged in her death and her soul was taken to the domain of Kailasha. There, Chenchula lived in the blissful company of the maid servant of Ma Supreme, Gauri.
Chenchula Redeems Binduga Too
Chenchula, one day relayed up a prayer to Ma Gauri revealing her desire to know the whereabouts the soul of her husband Binduga. She learnt that her husband would suffer the tortures of hell for his sins. And currently he was going through the woes of an unfulfilled spirit in the form of a wicked ogre haunting Vindhya mountains. Chenchula prayed for his salvation from that ghost life.
The gracious Ma Supreme smiled and sent a gandharva named Tumbura with her to the Vindhyas. Ma advised Tumbura to recite Shiva Puran to the tormented soul to cleanse it of its sins. Accompanying Tumbura and Chenchula also were two of the guards of Shiva.
Tumbura was able to contact the evil spirit of Binduga on the Vindhya mountain. But it would tot hear Shiva Puran. Hence, the guards of Shiva ensnared it. Tumbura strummed his string instrument (Tambura) and crooned the glory of the great lord, Shiva. The sweet strains of melody wafted through the air of the mountain side. Even angels and fairies descended to hear the sanctifying melody revealing the glory and the deeds of Lord Shiva.
It was time for the redemption of evil spirit of much sinned Binduga. The evil got washed away and spotless soul shined out. Binduga had been salvaged. Chenchula went back to Kailasha accompanied by her husband. There they lived happily together ever after.
So efficacious was the grace of Shiva.
Sage Soota continued to reveal the joy begetting and sin-cleansing powers of Shiva Puran the consort of the goddess Ambika (Parvati). Soota exhorted the sages and other holymen to hear his narration with great attention. Then, he resumed his elaboration of Shiva Puran.