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50 free Shiva trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 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 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Within the Hindu Trimurti, Shiva is known by which title?
The Destroyer
Brahma creates and Vishnu preserves; Shaivas see Shiva as all three at once.
Q 02What does the Sanskrit name Shiva literally mean?
The Auspicious One
The word is used as an adjective in the Rig Veda for several gods, including Rudra.
Q 03Who is Shiva's wife?
Parvati
His epithet Umapati, 'husband of Uma', uses another of her names.
Q 04What happens when Shiva opens the third eye on his forehead?
Everything before it burns to ash
He famously used it on the god of desire who disturbed his meditation.
Q 05Which sacred river flows from Shiva's matted hair?
The Ganga
The epithet Gangadhara means 'bearer of the Ganga'; he broke the river's fall from heaven with his locks.
Q 06What is the name of Shiva's weapon, a three-pronged spear?
Trishula
The Pinaka is his bow; the trishula, or trident, is what he carries in most images.
Q 07Which bull serves as Shiva's vehicle and sits facing him in his temples?
Nandi
The Mahabharata and Puranas name the bull as Rudra's mount too, which links the two gods.
Q 08Which serpent king is coiled around Shiva's neck?
Vasuki
The same serpent served as the rope when the gods and demons churned the ocean.
Q 09Shiva's small hourglass-shaped drum is called what?
Damaru
Its beat is said to have produced the sounds of the Sanskrit alphabet.
Q 10Shiva is usually worshipped in which aniconic form?
The lingam
The most sacred lingams across India are the Jyotirlingas, 'lingas of light'.
Q 11How many Jyotirlinga temples are there in the great Shaiva pilgrimage tradition?
Twelve
They are scattered across India, from Somnath in Gujarat to Rameshwaram in the far south.
Q 12Where in the Himalayas is Shiva's traditional abode?
Mount Kailash
The real mountain, in Tibet, has never been climbed and pilgrims circle it rather than ascend.
Q 13Shiva's throat turned blue after he swallowed what during the churning of the ocean?
The poison Halahala
He drank it to save the three worlds, and the churning went on to yield the elixir amrita.
Q 21The Mohenjo-daro seal of a horned seated figure among animals was named after which epithet of Shiva?
Pashupati
It means 'lord of animals'; scholars still argue over whether the figure has anything to do with Shiva.
Q 22Shiva's form Ardhanarishvara shows him as what?
Half man, half woman
It fuses him with his consort to show that the female and male principles are inseparable.
Q 23Shiva's fierce form associated with annihilation, whose name means 'terrible', is called what?
Bhairava
Medieval sculptures give him flaming hair, like the fire god Agni.
Q 14Shiva's epithet Neelakantha means what?
Blue-throated
Neela is blue and kantha is throat in Sanskrit.
Q 15Shiva as Nataraja is the lord of what?
The dance
His cosmic dance creates and destroys the universe; the Chidambaram temple in Tamil Nadu is its home.
Q 16In Nataraja images, what does Shiva trample beneath his foot?
A dwarf demon of ignorance
The dwarf is Apasmara, and the dancer is ringed by flames on a lotus pedestal.
Q 17The best-known Nataraja bronzes were cast under which South Indian dynasty?
The Cholas
They emerged in Tamil Nadu around the 8th to 10th centuries and are typically under four feet tall.
Q 18A two-metre statue of the dancing Shiva was unveiled in 2004 at which scientific institution?
CERN in Geneva
India gave it to celebrate the laboratory's long association with the country.
Q 19Shiva is called Adiyogi, meaning what?
The first yogi
He is the patron of yoga, meditation and the arts, usually shown meditating in a yoga pose.
Q 20Shiva is associated with which Vedic storm god, from whom he may partly derive?
Rudra
In the Rig Veda 'shiva' was merely a flattering epithet applied to Rudra and others.
Q 24Shiva is often shown seated on the skin of which animal?
A tiger
The ascetic god of the mountains sits on the pelt in meditation.
Q 25Shiva's rosary beads are typically made from the seeds of which tree?
Rudraksha
The name means 'Rudra's tears'.
Q 26Shiva's five-syllable mantra is what?
Namah Shivaya
His body is said to consist of five mantras, the pancabrahman.
Q 27Shiva's epithet Tripurantaka records his destruction of what?
Three cities of the Asuras
He shot the flying cities down with a single arrow.
Q 28Shiva's five-faced form, whose faces correspond to his five cosmic activities, is called what?
Panchanana
The five activities are creation, preservation, destruction, concealing grace and revealing grace.
Q 29Which city is considered specially loved by Shiva and one of the holiest in India?
Varanasi
Its Kashi Vishwanath temple houses one of the Jyotirlingas.
Q 30Maha Shivaratri, 'the great night of Shiva', falls in which season?
Late winter
There is a Shivaratri every lunar month; the great one comes in February or March, and devotees stay awake all night.