The Shiva Purana is part of the 18 Maha Puranas which are the pillars of the Hindu religion like the Vedas and The Upanishads. The Shiva Purana encompasses the stories of the Mahadev (Lord Shiva).  Mahadev is the form of Shiva who represents prakriti and pursha -the living and non-living across the whole cosmos. The essence of life, as we know, is contingent on creation, sustenance, and destruction. The structure of our reality is that the good strikes a balance to the evil embodied in humanity. However, when the balance of evil tries to upset the balance of good in life, it has to be destroyed.  These stories portray the destruction of evil by Rudra- the physical form of Shiva. Although Shiva is the eternal God, devoid of attributes, he is also revered as part of the trinity Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh acting conjointly as the creator, sustainer, and destroyer of everything organic and inorganic in the cosmos.