An aniconic representation of the Hindu deity Shiva, the lingam or linga (Sanskrit, meaning ‘sign’ or ‘symptom’) is typically a short, upright cylindrical column rounded at the top. Deriving from representations of the phallus that predate Vedic religion, lingams vary in size and design depending on ritual specifications; some naturally occurring formations are also worshipped as lingams. Central to Shaivite iconography, the lingam is the most common form of the Shiva image in temples and shrines across South and Southeast Asia, where it is commonly made of stone, and almost always set on a flat pedestal or pitha that represents the yoni or vulva. 

In religious scripture and myth, the lingam variously signifies the phallus; the substance of creation; or the subtle body (linga-sharira) of Shiva himself. Some Shaivite sects, especially Tantric Shaivites, associate the symbol with erotic energy; others see it as a representation of the sexual control of Shiva as the ascetic or yogi. Generally, the lingam signifies Shiva’s creative power; the lingam and yoni together represent the union of the masculine and feminine principles. In a typical Shaiva temple, the arrangement is placed in the innermost sanctum or garbhagriha across a seated Nandi (Shiva’s bull mount). Milk or water may be poured on the lingam as libations; other offerings include flowers, grass, or fruits. 

The cult of Shiva has its roots in prehistoric fertility cults in which phallus worship was common; these practices were prevalent in South Asia since at least the third millennium BCE, well before the arrival of Indo-Aryan settlers from Central Asia. At Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa (in present-day Pakistan), major sites of the Indus Valley civilization (3000–1700 BCE), archaeologists have discovered several small, portable phallic icons made of lapis lazuli, bone, ivory and other materials. A steatite seal from Mohenjo-Daro, known as the Pashupati seal, depicts a possibly ithyphallic horned deity in meditation, surrounded by animals — scholars consider this to be the earliest representation of the deity who later comes to be known as Shiva in the Brahmanical  pantheon. 

The earliest Brahmanical text, the Rigveda, dated roughly to the second millennium BCE, expresses contempt for shishna-devas or phallus-worshippers; generally, historians note that the cult of the phallus was at odds with Brahmanism before eventually becoming assimilated into its symbolism and ritual practice. The word shiva appears as an adjective in the Rigveda, meaning auspicious or blessed; the later scripture Shvetashvatara Upanishad, dated to the late centuries BCE, marks Shiva’s appearance as a distinct deity, now identified with the Vedic deity Rudra. Shiva is eventually incorporated fully into the Brahmanical pantheon, and the phallic icon of non-Aryan cults identified with the Vedic symbol of the Stambha or divine pillar that supports the manifest world. The worship of Shiva in the form of the phallic lingam appears conclusively in later texts such as the Shaiva Puranas (dated between the third and tenth centuries CE) and some sections of the Mahabharata. The early centuries of Shaivite worship were heterogenous, varying across regions and sects; after the seventh and eighth centuries CE, lingam worship became the predominant form of the worship of Shiva and grew increasingly standardized across the subcontinent. 

Scholars also note that the corpus of Brahmanical myth and philosophy during Shiva’s assimilation into the pantheon abstracts the lingam from its phallic origins, probably as an attempt to obscure the symbol’s origins in non-Aryan cults. In Sanskrit philosophy, the lingam took on a broader metaphysical meaning, with the term appearing in its root sense as ‘mark’ or ‘sign’ in discussions around manifest and unmanifest realities. One significant example is the Lingodbhava myth, which narrates an argument between Vishnu and Brahma as to which of them is the supreme deity of the universe; as they argue, an infinite column of light or fire appears. Each tries to find the top and bottom of the column, only to fail — when they admit defeat and recognise the column of light as the supreme lord, Shiva emerges from it. This myth is visualised as lingodbhavamurti, a type of lingam statue that shows Shiva in his anthropomorphic form emerging out of a tall, biconvex opening in a large, pillar-like lingam. It is seen at major temples in South India, including the Kailasanathar temple at Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu; as well as the Dashavatara Cave at Ellora, Maharashtra.

Texts such as the Shaiva Agamas, written in Tamil and Sanskrit and dated roughly to the early centuries CE, specify various forms of lingams. Naturally occurring lingam formations in stone and other materials — termed svayambhu, or self-manifesting — are typically considered the most sacred. Some of these are considered jyotirlingas and are often thought to mark places where Shiva is said to have emerged from the pillar of light. Important examples of svayambhu lingams include the Amarnath ice lingam in the Indian Himalayas, the stone lingam at the Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga temple in Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, central India, and Banalingas — smooth ovoid stones found on the bed of the Narmada River. 

The Agamas classify man-made or manushya lingams as either immovable (achala), meant to stay in the temple sanctum, or movable (chala), such as those worn by members of the Lingayat cult in Karnataka. Chala lingams, some of which are meant for temporary use, may be made of earth, metal, precious stones, wood, or stone; some sources mention other materials such as grain or sandalwood paste.  

A typical achala lingam, installed in the temple’s sanctum, is constructed in three parts, almost always emerging from a pedestal. The square base, known as brahma-bhaga, and the octagonal middle section, vishnu-bhaga, are embedded in the pedestal and not visible. The visible cylindrical top section is known as the rudra-bhaga or puja-bhaga. The pedestal, known as a pitha or pindika, is meant to represent the yoni or vulva, and may take a variety of shapes in plan — circular, semicircular, elliptical, triangular or polygonal (equal-sided or oblong) — although square is the most common. The proportions of the pedestal in relation to the lingam also vary according to specifications in the Agamas; the texts also classify various types of stone and other materials as female and male — and thereby appropriate for the construction of the pedestal and the lingam, respectively. The top of the pedestal typically features a channel along its perimeter, extending into a spout or mouth at the front, to collect and drain the libations poured on the lingam. 

Some lingam statues feature relief carvings of Shiva’s face or bust on the rudra-bhaga — these are known as mukhalingam or ‘faced lingam’. An ekamukha lingam shows one face, while a chaturmukha lingam shows four, facing the cardinal directions; a panchamukha lingam shows a fifth face at the top. Typically, the number of faces on a mukhalingam must correspond to the number of entrances in the sanctum. Some art historians speculate that the mukhalingam form likely developed in Mathura, northern India, between the second century BCE and the first century CE. 

The Agamas specify numerous variations in the construction of lingam statues. These pertain to the proportions of the three sections of the lingam; the relation between the size of the lingam and the sanctum of the temple; the suitability of certain lingams for worship by certain castes; the shaping of the top of the lingam, and so on. In some instances the lingam may also be carved with miniature lingams on its shaft — an ashtotara-sata-linga comprises 108 miniature carvings; a sahasra-linga comprises 1001. A dhara-lingam features a fluted shaft. Examples of such lingams are found at the Thyagaraja Temple in Thiruvottriyur, the Ekambaranathar Temple in Kanchipuram, and the Arunachaleswara Temple in Thiruvannamalai — all in Tamil Nadu, South India.

Lingam statues sometimes feature a cobra with its hood flared over lingam, a reference to the cobra often shown coiled around Shiva’s neck in Shaivite iconography. The Sri Thyagarajaswamy Temple in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, dated to the seventh century CE, houses a serpent-shaped lingam. 

The earliest datable man-made lingam is the Gudimallam stone lingam in the Parashurameshvara Temple in Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh. Dated between the third and first centuries BCE, this statue features a high-relief carving of Shiva on the shaft, depicted as a hunter standing on top of a demon or rakshasa. He is shown without the Brahmanical sacred thread or yajnopavita across his torso, which is mandated in the Agamas and nearly ubiquitous in later representations — this has led scholars to believe that lingam-worship was as yet not fully assimilated into Brahmanism when this statue was made. 

In Mathura, several early stone lingams have been found, all dated between the first century BCE and the second century CE, including the five-faced Bhita Linga now housed at the Lucknow Museum and a chaturmukha linga made under Kushan patronage. A contemporaneous stone relief fragment currently housed at the Mathura Museum shows Kushan devotees worshipping a lingam. A limestone ekamukha lingam found in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan (part of the ancient region of Gandhara), now housed at the National Museum, Karachi, has been tentatively dated to the second or third centuries CE and is one of several lingams found in the region. The iconography on this specimen shows similarities with Gandharan bodhisattva images. Most of these early specimens, including the Gudimallam lingam, share in common an anatomically correct treatment of the phallus — the head of the lingam is shaped naturalistically and demarcated from the shaft, either prominently in high relief, or subtly using grooves. Early lingams also did not always feature a base.

The Kathmandu Valley in Nepal is home to lingams bearing unique iconography that emerged out of Shaivism’s encounter with Buddhism in the region, thought to have occurred by the third century CE if not earlier. Many lingam statues have been found here, dating between the fifth and eighth centuries CE, and characterised in part by especially large pedestals. Some of these are mukhalingams that depict Shiva’s face as nearly identical to that of the Buddha; other large stone lingams worshipped in the Vajrayana Buddhist tradition are carved in high relief with figures of the Buddha seated in a meditative pose. The Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu, built under the Licchavi dynasty’s patronage and the oldest Hindu temple in the region, houses a chaturmukha lingam that shows half of one of Shiva’s faces as a woman’s. 

Over time, the shape of the lingam was gradually abstracted — from the fifth century CE on, it has been more or less standardised as an evenly cylindrical shaft with a round top. The grooves that previously served to create a naturalistic effect also became abstracted into the two gently curved lines or brahma-sutras engraved on the shaft of later lingams. At Baramulla in Kashmir, Rajgir in Bihar, and Tiruparakunrum in Tamil Nadu, colossal stone lingams have been found that have been dated from the fifth century CE onwards. Panels at the Kailasa Temple, Ellora show Shiva carrying the lingam on his shoulder — this is also seen in Chalukya temples in Bijapur, Karnataka; epigraphical evidence suggests that this was common practice among Shaivite devotees since at least the early centuries CE. The lingam also appears widely in various Indian painting traditions — typically as a statue being worshipped — such as Rajasthani miniature painting, Pahari painting, Tanjore paintings, as well as folk traditions across the subcontinent. 

In Kashmir, stone lingams constructed in two parts and joined by a hinge along the vertical axis have been found. One specimen, a stone ekamukhalingam dated to the tenth century CE, is carved with an image of Shiva and Parvati together in sunken relief on the interior cross-sectional plane. Another specimen currently housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, dated to the sixth or seventh centuries CE, is similarly constructed, but shows Parvati alone on the interior surface.  

Shaivism has likely been known in Southeast Asia since the early centuries of the Common Era, due to these polities’ centuries-long contact and trade with southern India. Lingam-worship has been especially popular in Cambodia; major examples of Shaivite art from the region come from the Khmer Empire (802–1431 CE) — inscriptions from this period refer to lingams made of gold, jewels and crystal, commissioned by Khmer kings. In the Siam Reap province, a riverbed known as Kbal Spean features several hundred rock relief carvings of lingams dated to the eleventh and twelfth centuries CE. Cambodian inscriptions also refer to lingams dedicated both to Shiva and Vishnu, or a composite form of the two deities that is not seen in the Indian subcontinent. 

Mukhalingas were highly popular in Southeast Asia; in the polity of Champa (present-day central and southern Vietnam), mukhalingas often showed the face of the incumbent ruler, strengthening the association of the king with divinity. A form known as the jatalingam showing Shiva’s coiled matted hair was also popular. Lingams were sometimes covered with specially crafted, decorative domed lids known as kosha (Sanskrit, meaning ‘sheath’). 

The lingam continues to be the predominant religious symbol of Shiva in South and Southeast Asia today.