Banalinga

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Banalinga" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (September 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Banalinga, a stone found in nature, in the bed of the Narmada River in Madhya Pradesh state, India, is an iconic symbol of worship, based on either the scriptures or cultural traditions among the Hindus, particularly of the Shaivas and Smarta Brahmins. It is a smooth ellipsoid stone that represents a lingam, an anionic form of the deity Shiva.

The banalinga is also called the Svayambhu (self-born) linga as it is natural rather than artificial.^[1]

The forms of this lingam can vary in detail, from a simple roller shape roughly cylindrical banalinga to the stone carved with a thousand facets (sahasralinga) or of light relief in several human figures (mukhalinga).

Banalinga stones are quite strong and the hardness is a 7 on the Mohs scale.