Brahma and Vishnu entered into an argument, with each of them claiming to be the Creator of the universe! The argument became so heated that Indra and all other gods appealed to them to calm down. But tempers ran high and the world came to a halt. The sun stopped shining, Indra stopped blowing and seeing this unusual situation, the people on earth began to tremble with fear, thinking that life was coming to an end.
Lord Brahma and Vishnu continued to fight without thinking of the adverse consequences, when all of a sudden a black tip emerged from the sea. The tip grew bigger till it began to look like a rock and soon it became a huge mountain, the highest in the world. This strange sight made Brahma and Vishnu forget their argument and stared aghast at the mountain. This mountain later came to be known as Mount Sumeru, the highest mountain in the world.
Forgetting their argument, Brahma and Vishnu decided to explore the mountain. Brahma turned himself into a swan while Vishnu disguised himself as a wild boar and dived deep into the sea. Both of them prowled around the huge mountain, which slowly began to develop a crack when the swan pecked repeatedly at it with its beak. The crack widened and the mountain split open into two and Brahma and Vishnu saw Lord Shiva seated on a stone in meditation. It was then that they realised that it was Lord Shiva who was really the Creator and the black stone or lingam came to be worshipped as a symbol of Shiva'spower henceforth.
