Shaiva Akahras: The favoured deity is Lord Shiva.
Some scholars consider them Shaiva goddesses.
Together they patronized the Jain and Shaiva religions, from which they built many Shiva temples.
It is a Shaiva Panchayatan, or a group of five temples within a large enclosure.
He was a devotee of God and belonged probably to the Lakulisha- Pashupatha Shaiva sect.
He is a practicing Shaiva Hindu who prominently wears a Rudraksha which,
along with other religious themes, features in his films.
Completed in approximately 4
months, this temple homes Ganesha idol where only Lord Shiva followers(Shaiva) were allowed to pay their visit.
As per the Shaiva philosophy, it is believed that the Kashi Vishwanath
temple is the centre of the worship since a long time.
Situated on the banks of River Vegavathi, this historical city once
had a 1,000 temples, of which only 126(108 Shaiva and 18 Vaishnava) now remain.
Another stone inscription at the temple
is of size 34" by 31" inscribed by a Shaiva saint Shamba who had knowledge of Buddhism and Jainism also.
The celebration includes maintaining a"jaagaran",
an all-night vigil and prayers, because Shaiva Hindus mark this night as"overcoming darkness
and ignorance" in one's life and the world through Shiva.
Basava and
his colleagues prescribed that those who received ishta linga from a Pashupatha Shaiva teacher should return it to a ViraShaiva teacher
and receive a new linga from him.
According to Gavin Flood, the word Hindu appears in the Sanskrit sources for the first
time in the fifteenth century in Kashmir when the Shaiva historian Srivara used it to distinguish Muslims from Non-Muslims.