मुण्डमाल

Meaning

The Skull-Garlanded Lord. This is perhaps the most shocking image of the Ascetic. To a consumerist world, it looks morbid, but to a Yogi, it is a symbol of time (Kala). Each skull in the necklace represents a past universe, a previous Brahma, or the ego of a devotee that has been surrendered and 'decapitated.' It signifies that Shiva remains unchanged while generations and universes pass away. He wears death as an ornament because for him, death is just a transition, not an end.

Story · From tradition

According to the Kalika Purana and various Tantric texts, the skulls in Shiva's garland are the heads of the Brahmas of past cosmic cycles. When a Brahma's time ends and he dissolves back into the source, Shiva adds his skull to the garland as a memento of the transience of even the highest creator. It is also said that these skulls represent the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet (Varnamala) in their seed form—the sound that remains when the material world is gone. Source: Kalika Purana and Mahanirvana Tantra.