The most fundamental of Hindu deities, is the Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva - popular deities include Ganesha, Krishna, Hanuman and goddesses like Lakshmi, Durga,Saraswati.
Though Shiva is rarely worshipped in his own form he is worshipped in his various manifestaitons all around India. Most commonly he is worshipped in the form of a Shivalinga which can be found in remote hamlets and in nooks and crannies of busy metropolises.
In Tibet is Shiva's sacred abode, Mount Kailas. In Nepal, in the city of Kathmandu he resides as Pashupatinath. His temples are even found far away in South-East Asia especially in Cambodia and Bali, Indonesia. As Rudra he resides at Ettumanoor, in Kerala In the cold dark caves of Amarnath in Kashmir, devotees can see his linga formed of ice. At Abu, in the western state of Rajasthan, he is the immovable Acchaleshvar. In Orissa, he is the lord of the linga, Lingaraja. And in the centre of India, at Khajuraho, he resides in the sanctum sanctorum of a finely carved temple as lord of the caves, Kandariya-Mahadev.
Most important of these holy sites are the twelve jyotir-lingas. Then there are the pancha-bhuta lingas and the natyashalas.
