Musical Instruments
Shiva is the source of the primal sound, brahmanad, that vibrates the cosmos into existence. He is Pranav-Omkar, the lord of the sacred 'Aum'.

Shiva carries a damaru which he rattles while dancing. The drum's beat represents the primal sound of creation as well as the final drumbeat of doom.

Shiva is Sangeeteshvar, the lord of music, who plays the lute known as rudra-vina. With one of his ten heads as its sounding gourd, his arm as its beam, his nervs as its strings and his fingers as the plucking rods, Ravan, king of the rakshasas, designed this lute. Ravan's creation so impressed Shiva that he blessed the rakshasa king.

Like ascetics who ring a bell while observing the vow of silence, Shiva carries a bell, ghantaka, on his person.

Consorts
Shiva's consort Parvati, daughter of the mountains, also known as Shailaja and Girija, always sits on his left-side bearing symbols of femininity like a mirror or symbols of fertility like a parrot. She is the representative of Kama, the love-god and (according to some) a manifestation of Vishnu, the cosmic-saviour, who turned Shiva into a householder and brought him into the cycle of life.

Shiva's second wife is the river goddess Ganga, a shrew who was tamed by him. She resides in his matted hair.

Abode
Bedecked with skulls and bones, Shiva wanders in cremation grounds, dancing in the light of funeral pyres, warming himself with the embers, smearing his body with ash. The auspicious one thus turns this inauspicious site into his abode.

Like the beautiful lotus which rises out of foul muck, Shiva can dwell in ominous places without losing his spiritual perfection. Hence Shiva is often depicted sitting on this flower.

Forests, wild and dangerous, are Shiva's favourite haunts. There he is the mysterious wild man, the horned god, the kiraata, who sports with his consorts in secret and is revered by all aboriginal tribes.

Shiva is the source of all rivers, Sindhupati; he is also lord of mountains, Girisha, and lord of caves, Guheshvar. He meditates in dark damp caves and on river banks or he sits on mountain peaks, simply observing the world dancing around him.