Shiva Trivia
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49 free Shiva trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Shiva trivia for one of the principal deities of Hinduism. The quiz starts with the essentials - the Trimurti, the meaning of the name 'Auspicious One', the third eye that burned Kama to ash, the crescent moon, the serpent Vasuki, the Ganga caught in his matted hair, the trident and the damaru, and the bull Nandi - then moves through the great stories: the churning of the ocean and the blue throat, Sati and Daksha's sacrifice, Parvati's penance, the destruction of the three cities and the cosmic dance of Nataraja. It also covers his family (Parvati, Ganesha, Kartikeya), his forms (Ardhanarishvara, Bhairava, Pashupati, the five-faced Panchanana), his origins in the Vedic storm god Rudra and possibly the Indus Valley, the lingam and the twelve Jyotirlingas, Maha Shivaratri, Varanasi, Mount Kailash, and Shiva beyond India in Java, Bali and Buddhism - plus the Nataraja statue at CERN and the world's tallest Shiva. Questions run from easy to expert. Every answer was checked against a reference page and carries its source. See also our Ganesha quiz.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Within the Hindu Trimurti, Shiva is known by which title?
The Destroyer
The Destroyer is only half the story: Shiva is said to end each cycle of the universe so that it can be created anew, which is why Hindus see his destruction as constructive.
Q 02What does the Sanskrit name Shiva literally mean?
The Auspicious One
The Auspicious One began as a compliment: the Rig Veda uses 'shiva', meaning kind or gracious, as an adjective for several gods, and only later did it become the name of one.
Q 03Who is Shiva's wife?
Parvati
Parvati, born a daughter of the mountains, won the ascetic Shiva's affection only after she took up severe austerities of her own.
Q 04Which demon king tried to uproot Shiva's mountain home, only for the god to pin him beneath it with one toe?
Ravana
Ravana, the ten-headed king of Lanka, is said to have stayed trapped under the mountain for a thousand years, and sculptors made the scene a favourite of Indian temple art.
Q 05Which sacred river flows from Shiva's matted hair?
The Ganga
The Ganga, the story goes, would have shattered the earth had she fallen straight from heaven, so Shiva caught the river in his matted hair and let her trickle out gently.
Q 06What is the name of the pronged spear that Shiva carries in most images?
Trishula
Trishula has a fiery origin in the Vishnu Purana: the gods' craftsman Vishvakarma ground the excess brilliance off the sun on his lathe and forged Shiva's trident from the filings.
Q 07Which bull serves as Shiva's vehicle and sits facing him in his temples?
Nandi
Nandi is placed facing the inner shrine so that he can gaze on his master for ever, a model of the devotee whose attention never leaves the god.
Q 08Which serpent king served as the churning rope in the myth where Shiva drinks the ocean's poison?
Vasuki
Vasuki let the gods and demons wind him round a mountain and haul him to and fro; in some tellings the strain made him vomit the very poison that Shiva had to catch in his throat.
Q 09Shiva's small hourglass-shaped drum is called what?
Damaru
Damaru beats are said to sound the first rhythm of creation, which is why the little drum is held aloft in one of the god's raised hands in his best-known images.
Q 10Shiva is usually worshipped in which aniconic form?
The lingam
The lingam recalls a myth in which Shiva appeared as an endless pillar of fire: Brahma flew up as a bird and Vishnu dug down as a boar, and neither could find where it ended.
Q 11Which temple of Shiva did Mahmud of Ghazni sack in the 11th century?
Somnath
Somnath was rebuilt after that raid, then torn down and raised again several more times over the centuries, which is why the temple on the Gujarat coast today is a twentieth-century building.
Q 12Which mountain is traditionally held to be Shiva's home?
Mount Kailash
Mount Kailash gave its name to the Kailasa temple at Ellora, which eighth-century craftsmen cut downward out of a single mass of rock instead of building it up from blocks.
Q 13Which poison, thrown up during the churning of the ocean, turned Shiva's throat blue?
Halahala
Halahala was a poison fierce enough to destroy creation; Shiva caught it in his throat so that the gods could go on churning for the nectar of immortality they were really after.
Q 21The Mohenjo-daro seal of a horned seated figure among animals was named after which epithet of Shiva?
Pashupati
Pashupati was the title the excavator John Marshall borrowed for the seal, seeing an early Shiva in its horned figure; later scholars have called that reading overconfident.
Q 22Shiva's form Ardhanarishvara shows him as what?
Half man, half woman
Half man, half woman: in one legend the sage Bhringi would bow only to Shiva, so the goddess merged with her husband, and the sage turned into a beetle and bored a path between the two halves.
Q 23Which fierce form did Shiva take to cut off one of the god Brahma's five heads?
Bhairava
Q 14Shiva's epithet Neelakantha means what?
Blue-throated
Blue-throated is the mark of a rescue: Shiva is said to have held a world-threatening poison in his throat instead of letting it spread, and it stained his neck for good.
Q 15Shiva as Nataraja is the lord of what?
The dance
The dance is said to have been performed at Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu, and worshippers at the great temple there treat the spot as nothing less than the centre of the universe.
Q 16In Nataraja images, what does Shiva trample beneath his foot?
A dwarf demon of ignorance
A dwarf demon of ignorance, called Apasmara, lies crushed beneath Shiva's planted foot, while the god's other foot, lifted clear, is read as an offer of release to his worshippers.
Q 17The best-known Nataraja bronzes were cast under which South Indian dynasty?
The Cholas
The Cholas wanted gods who could leave the temple: the stone images in the sanctum were too heavy to move, so portable bronzes were cast to be carried through the streets at festivals.
Q 18A two-metre statue of Shiva as Nataraja was unveiled in 2004 at which scientific institution?
CERN in Geneva
CERN in Geneva received the statue as a gift from India, marking a partnership that began in the 1960s; the choice was apt, since writers on physics had likened the figure to the restless motion of subatomic particles.
Q 19Shiva is called Adiyogi, meaning what?
The first yogi
The first yogi is the god as ascetic: he gives up every comfort to sit in meditation on his mountain, which is why yogis take him as their patron.
Q 20Disguised as a mountain hunter, Shiva fought which hero of the Mahabharata before rewarding him with a divine weapon?
Arjuna
Arjuna and the stranger shot the same wild boar at the same instant and came to blows over whose kill it was; only when the great archer could not win did he realise he was fighting a god.
Bhairava paid for the deed: Brahma's skull stuck fast to his hand and served as his begging bowl through long wanderings, until at last it fell away at a holy city.
Q 24Shiva the ascetic is usually shown wearing or sitting on the skin of which animal?
A tiger
A tiger was conjured up by jealous forest sages to kill him, in one telling of the story; Shiva made short work of the beast and kept its skin.
Q 25Shiva's rosary beads are typically made from the seeds of which tree?
Rudraksha
Rudraksha means 'Rudra's eye', Rudra being an old name for Shiva, which is why his devotees count prayers on its seeds while worshippers of Vishnu use beads of holy basil.
Q 26In the mantra Om Namah Shivaya, what does the word 'namah' express?
A bow of homage
A bow of homage: 'namah' is the word behind namaste, 'I bow to you'. The mantra is also called the Panchakshara, 'five syllables', because the opening Om is not counted among them.
Q 27Shiva's epithet Tripurantaka records his destruction of what?
Three cities of the Asuras
Three cities of the Asuras, built of gold, silver and iron, could fall only to a single arrow, and only at the one moment in a thousand years when they lined up; Shiva did not miss.
Q 28On which island in Mumbai's harbour do rock-cut caves hold a colossal three-faced bust of Shiva?
Elephanta
Elephanta owes its name to Portuguese sailors, who found a large stone elephant there; the elephant itself now stands in a Mumbai garden.
Q 29Which Indian holy city is held to be especially sacred to Shiva?
Varanasi
Varanasi is where devout Hindus hope to end their days, because it is counted among the holy cities where death is said to bring release from the cycle of rebirth.
Q 30Maha Shivaratri, 'the great night of Shiva', falls in which season?
Late winter
Late winter, in February or March, brings the great night: devotees fast through the day before and then stay awake until morning, keeping vigil with prayers and stories of the god.