50 Shiva Tattoo Design Ideas and Placements

Tattoo Designs of Hindu Gods, Goddess, Deities and Avatars such as Shiva, Ganesha, Kali and Hanuman are very popular in Western culture. Hindu religion is considered the “Oldest living religion” in the world. According to the Hindu scriptures there were 33 million Gods.

Shiva/Shiv

Shiva is the god of destruction and the third god in Hindu triumvirate, along with Brahma the creator of the universe and Vishnu the preserver. Hindus believe that Shiva’s power of destruction is used to destroy the illusions and imperfections of this world.

Shiva is represented with the following features:

The Third eye

Shiva had a third eye placed on his forehead which is also called the eye of wisdom that is free from “Maya”, the illusion and the dualities of life. Two physical eyes are just sensory organs. The third eye looks beyond the obvious with clear perception and sees what is true.

Shiva’s third eye is also famous for emitting fire to destroy evil and because of this one of his other names is destroyer.

Cobra

A venomous cobra can kill its pray with one bite. By wearing a Cobra as an ornament around his neck, Siva shows us that he controls the fear and death. It is also said that the snake’s three rounds around Lord Shiva’s neck represents future, present and past. It states that Lord Shiva is Independent of Time and controls time.

Trishul

Shiva’s trishul represents the three fundamental aspects of life. These are the three fundamental dimensions of life that are symbolized in many ways. They can also be called Ida, Pingala and Sushumna.

The Pingala and Ida represent the basic duality in the existence. It is this duality which we traditionally personify as Shiva and Shakti that represent masculine and feminine. This masculine and feminine is more in terms of certain qualities in nature such as logical and the intuitive aspect of an individual.

Sushumna, the central space, remains dormant but brings a balance between the Ida and Pingala. Sushumna is the most significant aspect of human physiology. Life really begins only when energies enter into Sushumna.