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I saw this murti in a temple and I am wondering what Shiva is doing here. It looks like he is pouring milk over himself. I never heard of him doing abishek on himself or worshipping himself. Can someone explain what he is doing and why?enter image description here

Wikash_
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  • Well that's men-made murti. Only the Sculptor can tell that what he had in his mind. Btw which temple was it ? Could you share that ? May be we can get an idea out of it. – TheLittleNaruto Nov 27 '18 at 09:43
  • What is name of that Temple and where it is located? – The Destroyer Nov 27 '18 at 10:00
  • Many a times, artists take too much of freedom while depicting Gods. Examples being 'Shree Ganesha' with '6 pack abs', 'Shree GajAnta Laxmi' with gold coins flowing from palms, etc. Better to ignore such things. – Vineet Nov 27 '18 at 10:40
  • Are you sure this was a temple? No flowers (except one integral red flower with it), no path for 'PradakshinA', no oil-lamp/Dhoopam. Further, a 'Shiva Linga' can be seen 90 degrees to the 'Moorti'. Have you asked somebody over there? – Vineet Nov 27 '18 at 10:49
  • No I have not asked anyone there. @TheDestroyer It is the Vishnu temple located in The Netherlands. – Wikash_ Nov 27 '18 at 12:28
  • Six-hands is not really common thing for Shiva. I think it's Goddess Ganga's hands which pouring water on Shiva. @Wikash – TheLittleNaruto Nov 28 '18 at 06:07
  • @TheLittleNaruto Yes, this explanation seems to be the most logical one.

    Interestingly enough I found 2 similar pictures on the internet: http://www.indienweb.ch/media/images/0001.jpg https://srividyasadhana.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/mritunjaya.jpg

     – Wikash_ Nov 28 '18 at 12:27
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    There has to be some scriptural evidence or explanation to this. It depends on where the temple is located and how old the temple and deity are. – D. Chatterjee Mar 13 '19 at 17:50
  • @D.Chatterjee Yes the scriptural reference is provided in my answer.The two small figures are Nandi (bull) and Ganga (on Makara) BTW –  Mar 14 '19 at 05:59

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This idol is looking very very beautiful.

Lord Shiva is pouring Nector from the ghatas to His head. This six-armed form is very famous as Mrityunjaya Mahadava and this form is seen at many temples and it also kept at a very prominent place in Haridwar.

As per the dhyana-mantra mentioned in Tantra-Sara,(Reference:http://www.shivashakti.com/tantrasara.htm) this form is having six hands. In middle two hands, He holds mriga-mudra and akshamala.(Here aksha-mala has been inserted in mriga-mudra and a Trident in the hand that should akshamaala by priests most probably, but the original idol is perfect. In the lower two hands, He is holding two other ghatas filled with nector.

A similar form is mentioned in the same book with eight hands as Tryamvaka-Deva in the same book. There the lower two hands are placed on His lap.He is seated on a white lotus.The Mahamrityunjaya mantra also starts with: "Triyamvakam Yajamaha".

The Mrityunjaya-Mahadeva form is well-known. I am enclosing an images that I got from the internet of this form.

I DO NOT have the Trantra-book with me know to quote the exact sloka number and will update later.**enter image description here**