Why is Lord Shiva's neck blue?

A special kind of poison was created from the sea when the Gods and the Demons churned the sea in order to obtain Amrita, the nectar of immortality.

This poison called halahala was the most vicious and venomous poison and it started killing both sides.

Both sides prayed to Lord Shiva for help. Shiva being the supreme one chose to consume the poison. But he did not drink the poison. He merely held it in his throat. The poison made his throat turn blue. Hence he is also known as Neelakantha (the one with a blue throat).

Why is Goddess Kali trampling Lord Shiva under her feet?

Once upon a time there was so much evil in the world that mother Durga couldn't take it any more and she grew angry and came to earth as mother Kali. Kali destroyed all the demons and had to drink their blood for our sake because if it fell on the floor the demons would multiply. In her rage she herself was causing too much destruction being such a powerful goddess. She was so angry that she was going to stamp her foot on the ground but her power was so great that if she did so she would have caused an earthquake powerful enough to destroy the world. But Lord Shiva himself appeared under her and seeing his divine face she stopped.

When did Lord Shiva become an infant?

The famous story of the churning of the ocean is given above. Lord Shiva has drunk the poison that was created from the churning of the ocean, thus saving the world from destruction, but has fallen unconscious under its powerful effect. Tara appears and takes Shiva on her lap. She suckles him and the milk from her breasts counteracts the poison, and the Lord recovers. This story is reminiscent of the one in which Shiva stops the rampaging Kali by becoming an infant. Seeing the child, Kali's maternal instinct comes to the fore, and she becomes quiet and nurses the infant Shiva. In both cases, Shiva assumes the position of an infant.

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