Siva is the particular god of the Tantrikas, or followers of teh books called Tantras. His worshippers are termed Saivas, and although not so numerous as the Vaishnavas, exalt their god to the highest place in the heavens, and combine in him many of the attributes which properly belong to the other deities.
Lord Shiva - The God of Time, Life, Creation & Destruction
According to them, Siv is Time, Justice, Fire, Water, the Sun, the Destroyer and Creator. As presiding over generation, his tpe is the Linga, or Phallus, the origin probably of the Phallic emblem of Egypt and Greece. As the god of generation and of justice, which latter character he shares with the god Yama, he is represented riding a white bull. his own colour, as well as that of the bull, is generally white, referring probably to the unsullied purity of justice. His throat is dark blue; his hair of an ascetic. He is sometimes seen with two hands, sometimes with four, eight, or ten, and with five faces. He has three eyes, one being in the center of his forehead, pointing up and down. These are said to denote his view of the three divisions of time, past, present, and future.
Lord Shiva Statues & Sculptures at ShalinCraft Stores:-
He holds a trident in his hand to denote, as some say, his relationship to water, or according to others, to show that the three great attributes of Creator, Destroyer, and Re generator are combined in him. His loins are enveloped in a tiger’s skin. In his character of Time, he not only presides over its extinction, but also its astronomical regulation. A crescent or half-moon on his forehead indicates the measure of time by the phases of the moon; a serpent forms one of his necklaces to denote the measure of time by years, and a second necklace of human skulls marks the lapse and revolution of ages, and the extinction and succession of the generations of manking. He is often represented as entirely covered with serpents, which are the emblems of immortality. They are bound in his hari, round his neck, wrists, waist arms, and legs; they serve as rings for his fingers, and earrings for his ears, and are his constant companions. Siva has more than a thousand names, which are detailed at length in the sixty-nine chapter of the Siva Purana. The following list of the principal of these will give the best idea of his character and attributes. The auspicious one. The lord of the Universe. The Destroyer, a personification of time that destroys all things. The reproducer, the Conqueror of life and death, and Cause of life and being. The Disperser of the Tears of mortals.
