43. Origin of Śiva-liṅga

In the Purāṇas, it is said that once when god Brahmā and Viṣṇu were talking to each other, they saw a flame on the northern side. That mysterious flame began to enlarge in size and in the middle of the column of flame they saw the unmanifest liṅga of extreme brilliance. This liṅga was shining bright. It was neither made of gold nor of silver. It was of great brilliance and very dreadful.^[1]

In the Śiva Purāṇa, there is a story of Śiva taking the form of a liṅga. Once upon a time there was a forest named Dāru where some devotees of Śiva lived. They were always engaged in the devotion of Śiva. One day when they went to the forest for collecting samidh (fire wood) for sacrifice, Śiva arrived there in order to test them. Śiva smeared his body with ashes and appeared there in a naked form, holding his liṅga. The sages came back to their place and saw him. On seeing him, they cursed him that since he had taken the wrong path, his liṅga will fall to the ground. As soon as they said this, the liṅga of the Avadhūta fell on the ground.^[2]