As most foreigners I first liked Ganesha because he is easy to recognize and he looks more accessible than other gods, then I got interested in Vishnu and all his avatars. However it took me a very long time to begin to understand Shiva. He seemed very complicated and mysterious to me though I had learnt to recognize him in temples thanks to other books on Hindu iconography and Hinduism. I knew he was sometimes worshipped as a hermit and sometimes as a householder with his family, but overall I completely failed to understand the complexity of his character' Until I read this book about him. Devdutt Pattanaik chose some of Shiva's most important forms to explain his evolution and his various aspects and roles (Lingam, Shankar, Bhairava').

The seven chapters are not exactly about Shiva, one is about Murugan and another about Ganesha, his two sons, but it is actually good. While learning more about his children, his wife, his followers and some general explanations about nature / spiritual worlds, we actually get to know more about him. I really liked the beginning about the meaning of the lingam, because though I never did the mistake to think it was in penis-shape to represent fertility, I never really understood what its real meaning was. Now I know more and I plan to read again some parts of this book again (my memory could not store all the details after one reading only) and to read other books about Shiva.
I also finally understood why Brahma is not worshipped in India though he is considered as creator of the world. I felt so excited about this reading that I was actually explaining stories and details to my friends. I wanted to share everything I was learning.

The only issue is that Devdutt Pattanaik is sometimes a little messy: he jumps from one idea to another very quickly and for non experts it can be tough. Hence, I had to read twice some paragraphs to make sure I was not doing any confusion. But overall it is an excellent reading with illustrations every two pages to help the readers understand and recognize the symbols and the various forms of Shiva. Excellent, I'll keep it with me to check details when in doubt!