Shiva Purana

This puran was told by Lord Shiva himself and it explains the “Shiva Mahima” and hence it is known as Shiv Purana or Shaiva Purana. This puran was told by Lord Shiva in 1 lakh shlokas and 12 samhitas. Sage Vyasa converted it into 24000 shlokas and 7 samhitas. This puran is categorized as tamas puran. Several versions of this puran exist with variation in number of samhitas. The most recent and popular versions are published by venkateshwara press and Pandita Pustakalaya.

They contain 7 samhitas (section)

Samhita (section)	Chapters
1. Vidyeshwara Samhita	25
2. Rudra Samhita This is divided into 5 khandas Sristi khanda, Sati khanda, Parvati khanda Kumar khanda Yudha Khanda	197
3. Satarudra Samhita	42
4. Kotirudra Samhita	43
5. Uma Samhita	51
6. Kailasha samhita	23
7. Vajaviya Samhita This is divided into Purva bhaga (35) and Uttara Bhaga (41)	76

Besides these there are other samhitas too - Isana Samhita, Ishvara Samhita, Surya Samhita, Tirthakshetra Samhita and Manav Samhita are also ascribed to this Purana.

It is said that those who worship Lord Shiva by Panchakshari Mantra get all benefits. This puran explains the method of worshipping Parthiv Linga and benefits derived from this worship. This also contains the details of Parvati’s marriage to Lord Shiva. In this puran Lord Shiva also gives an account of importance of Navagraha Pooja.

In Kumara Khanda, we come across story of how Lord Ganesha got elephant head.  It also gives the interesting narrations about Lord Kartikeya. This contains a lot of narration pertaining to stories, we heard in our young days, with proper reference and explanations. After Purva Bhag we come across the Uttara Bhag. This explains incarnations of Lord Shiva, Lord Nandi and their importance (mahima). The importance of Lord Shiva lies in Shiva Linga. Those Lingas which appeared on their own are known as Swyambhu linga. Besides these when Lord Shiva is appears in the form of flame (Jyoti) those are known as Jyotirlinga. There are 12 Jyotirlingas (Somnath in Sourashtra, Mallikarjun at Shri Shail, Mahakaleshwar at Ujjain, Omkareshwar at Amaleshwar, Vaijnath at Parali, Bhimashankar in Sahyadri, Rameshwar in Tamilnadu, Nageshwar at Dwaraka, Kashi Vishweshwar at Varanasi, Tryambakeshwar near Nashik, Kedareshwar in Himalayas, Ghrushneshwar near Daulatabad)

The details of these Jyotirlingas are found in this puran, This puran explains number of details that are followed in day to day worship as well as in the spiritual path.

We will not be able to do justice in explaining any of these purans unless and until we we read and find out the details. This is a feeble attempt to give a short summary so that people may get interested in reading this purana.