Mystery Of 1,000 Ancient Carved Shiva Lingas Discovered In India And Cambodia

Over 1,000 Astonishing Shiva Lingas Can Be Seen In The Middle Of The Shalmala River

 Sahasralinga is a pilgrimage place in the Sirsi Taluk in the district of Uttara Kannada of Karnataka state in India. The river Shalmala is today famous for more than thousand lingas which are carved on the rocks in the river bank.


Most of the lingas are clearly visible when the water level in the river is not very high.  So it shouldn't be surprising to learn that the name Sahasralinga means thousand-lingas in Sanskrit. It is a sacred site, and during Hindu festival Shivratri thousands of pilgrims visit this place and offer pujas.

This magnificent site was discovered in 1969, by an ethnologist named Jean Boulbet Unfortunately, his work was interrupted by the Cambodian Civil War and it took 20 years before the place was safe to visit.

Recently, due to dry weather, the water level of the Shalmala river in Karnataka receded, revealing the presence of thousands of Shiva Lingas.

According to historians, the lingas are believed to have been commissioned to be carved by Sadashiva Raya (who was also called the King of Sirsi), of the Vijayanagar Kingdom during 1678-1718. 

 A similar place exists in Cambodia. Cambodian Sahasralinga is located 25 kilometres from Angkor Watt, the largest Hindu temple outside of India. The place is called Kbal Spean and its meaning is ‘the Head Bridge’. Here, we also find plenty of carved lingas located in the middle of a river, but the place is not sacred and it is rarely visited other than by curious tourists. It should be added it is also difficult to access due to the surrounding wildness.

Shiva lingas in Cambodia

Long ago the kings used to come here for holy bath. It is unknown who carved these lingas and for what purpose. Locals believe that the Lingas are symbols of creative energy and the river water that flows on the lingas will make the Cambodian paddy fields more fertile. A lot of Hindu symbols were destroyed during the civil war in Cambodia. But these Sahasra Lingas were not affected because of the surrounding thick forest.