Do You Know Why Lord Shiva Is Depicted To Wear Or Sit On A Tiger Skin?

Lord Shiva, the most popular lord among the youngster. Some worship him because he is the source of divine power or some because he is often associated with Bhang and Cannabis. But have you ever thought that why he is always sitting on a tiger skin or why a tiger skin is always wrapped around him in his pictures?

Apparently, the skin of tiger wore by Shiva hint’s the animal power of Shiva. It symbolises the victory of the divine forces of Shiva over animal instincts. But that does not tell why he always depicted sitting on one or wearing one.

Here is a Folklore that defines Shiva is the controller of all the divine powers in the world. According to a compelling folklore mentioned in Shiva Purana, Shiva being a sage used to travel across the world bare-bodied. Once he reached to a forest where some powerful rishis used to live with their wives in their ashrams.

The enigmatic and unique energy of Shiva was not hidden from them.  Being the wives of forest dwelling rishis, they could not help but felt attracted towards Shiva. The lord was unaware of their presence but the peace of the ashrams was disrupted as the wives were constantly distracted. All the rishis decided to teach a lesson to Shiva, as they held him responsible for the changed behavior of the wives.

Also Read: Lord Shiva Lessons

Shiva used to go for a jaunt every day, so rishis decided to dig a massive pit on the way. Shiva came upon the pit and after capturing him they used all of their powers and released a dangerous tiger from the pit. But they had no idea that they were trying to win over the superior power in the world. As expected Shiva fought and tore the tiger apart. After killing that tiger Shiva wrapped the skin of the tiger around his body.

Watching him do that the saint realised their fault and felt that he is no ordinary sage. They all fell at his feet as they became aware of Shiva’s true power. Since then Shiva wears the skin of the tiger which depicts that he is all powerful.

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20 April, 2016
Avni S. Singh