Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c9.2029

c9.2029

(iii) In the beginning Brahmā entrusted Śiva with the duty of creation and to earn the power for creation he lived under water for many generations. Śiva having not returned though Brahmā waited for him long, the latter created the prajāpatis and got done by them all creations. Then it was that Śiva, having acquired the more power, came out of water. Śiva who got angry that all creations were effected in his absence plucked his phallus and threw it into the earth. He said that, since matters of creation had been managed by Brahmā, he needed the phallus no further. The phallus thus thrown by Śiva stuck to the earth and remained pointed upwards. Next, Śiva performed a dance of annihilation among the Devas. Ultimately, on the request of the Devas Śiva deposited his fire of wrath in water. It is that fire which dries up water in seas, rivers etc. When Śiva had shed his anger and become quiet the Devas worshipped the phallus, which had stuck to the earth, and thenceforth worship of Śiva's phallus became popular. (M.B. Sauptika Parva, Chapter 17).