The worship of the lingam is a central form of devotion to the god Shiva across much of Hinduism, focused on an upright, usually cylindrical form, most often of stone, that stands as the aniconic emblem of the deity. The word lingam means "mark" or "sign," and in Shaiva theology the form signifies Shiva as the formless, infinite reality that transcends all images, a sign of that which cannot itself be depicted. The lingam is commonly set within a circular base, the yoni, associated with the goddess and the generative ground of creation, so that the two together represent the union of the divine masculine and feminine, the still ground and the dynamic energy, from whose union the cosmos arises.
The worship centres on the offering to the lingam of water, milk, honey and other substances poured continually over it in the rite of ablution, together with flowers, leaves of the sacred bael tree, incense and lamps. The great Shiva temples of the subcontinent enshrine famous lingams, and pilgrimage to them, particularly the twelve jyotirlingas held to be self-manifested columns of light, is a major devotion.