The Himalayan mountains found in North India have passed away with time and hence the worship of the mountain deity has evolved into the worship of Shiva. In the form of Shiva, it can be said that ‘Shiva is the great god without him there is nothing’ due to various things like covering him with ash, wearing tiger skin, holding a deer and a deer in his hand, and wearing bones. Shiva is also called by another name because he has Nagas. It is the deity of Nagar.
Also, he is an ancient deity. So he is also considered as a form of antiquity. Next, if we look at the glory of Shiva worship of the Indus Valley Civilization, the Indus Valley Civilization is believed to have existed from 2500 to 2000 BC.
We can mention that even during that period Shiva worship was prevalent. Many stones similar to Shivalinga have been found in Indus Valley cities like Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. A seated human figure flanked by animals with two horns represents the Pasupati aspect of Eason. It is an excellent example of Shiva worship as well as an archeological source. The next important thing to see in this article is the glory of Sivaism in Eelam. Its first stage is Sri Lanka called Eelam. This became Elam.
It is very picturesque and surrounded by sea on all four sides. It means that there is no Eelam without the sea. For example, if we say the song of Lord Shiva i.e. ‘Eeavala nadu our Shiva Bhoomi Lingeswarar Anda Shiva Bhoomi’ what I am trying to say is that Eeha Nadu is a rich country and Lingeswarar is referring to Ravana, the Tamil king who ruled Sri Lanka. Ravana was a Tamil king who ruled the rich country of Ezha. He belongs to a demon clan. He was a great devotee of Shiva and due to his intense worship of Shiva, many powers of Shiva were available to Ravana.
Apart from this, the Chola rule prevailed in Eelam for about 70 years starting from the fourth quarter of the tenth century. They ruled the cities of Anuradhapuram and Polonnaruwa in the Ezwa country. Vanavan Mathevi Eeswaram is a Shiva temple built by the Cholas in Polanarui, one of the ancient capitals of Sri Lanka. This is the complete remains of the temples built by the Cholas who ruled the city until 1070 AD.
Shivratri festival is also celebrated on Shivaratri day in the Shiva temple built by these Cholas. By this we can say that the kings belonging to the Chola lineage were also great devotees of Shiva. This Polonnaruwa Shiva temple is found to belong to Chola period Dravidian style of architecture. This Polonnaruvai Shiva temple is built of black stone.
It is small in size unlike other temples. The exterior of the sanctum sanctorum of this temple, which consists of a sanctum sanctorum and a former hall, is 20 feet 6 inches in square shape. The interior is 9 feet 4 inches square.
From this it is known that its sanctum wall is 5 feet 6 inches thick. The front hall is 16 feet long and 9 feet 4 inches wide. Hence it is still seen in Polanurai as one of the best construction works of the Cholas.
Even Thirumoolar, who was a mother, mentioned Eelam as a Shiva land in Thirumandra. Now what is Shivlingam? Shivlingam is a form of representation of the entire primordial god Shiva.
Shiva is worshiped by Hindus in three forms: Aruva, Uruma and Aruvuruva.
Among these, Shivalingam is the most iconic. In this respect Linga worship is very ancient. The period of the Indus Valley Civilization can be mentioned. So there are many types of lingam among these. They are. Mughalingam, Sakasralingam, Tara Lingam Swayambu Lingam and finally the specific Swayambu Lingam which is sitting in the darkness appeared automatically.
