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Brahma is probably succeeded by Durga, the divine consort of Siva and the daughter of Himavata (Himachal) as the Creative Power and is very popular in Himachal. The Devi has a number of popular forms. Siva the Destroyer and the husband of Durga are worshipped throughout Himachal by the worship of Lingam or in some other of his manifestations. He lives in Kailash within Himachal. He is the five-headed deity for shristi (creation), palan (preservation and protection), samhar (destruction), nigraha (punishing the wrong), and anugraha (Karuna or mercy and compassion).
He is also the Yogi the author of Tandava Nritya to avenge the death of his divine wife at the insult meted out to him by his father-in-law Daksha. The Dhatura (Cannabis) - loving Bholanath, the Gangadhar (the god who held the river Ganga in his matted hair), the Ardhanariswar (the deity who is half male and half female), the Vaidyanath (the physicians' deity), pashupatinath (the lord of the animals), and the Umapati (the husband of the gentle Uma who goes down to the Earth to her father's place for 4 days in the year when the Durga Puja is celebrated) are the other forms. Lord Siva is worshipped at different places in Himachal Pradesh in his different aspects.
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