Within the Shaiva world, scripture is not a single book but a layered revelation, unfolding through many genres and languages. At the heart of most ritual and temple traditions stand the Śaiva Āgamas, a corpus of twenty‑eight texts regarded as revealed teachings that articulate theology, cosmology, and the full range of practice—knowledge, yoga, ritual, and conduct. These Āgamas prescribe temple construction, iconography, initiation, and daily worship, and for many Shaiva lineages they function as the primary scriptural authority. Closely related are the Tantras associated with non‑Siddhānta Shaivism—such as the Mālinīvijaya, Svacchanda, and Netra Tantras—which elaborate subtle ritual and contemplative disciplines and are especially cherished in traditions like Kashmir Shaivism and other Mantramārga currents.

Alongside these specifically Shaiva revelations stand texts that are shared with the broader Hindu world but read through a Shaiva lens. The Śiva Purāṇa and Liṅga Purāṇa, together with other Purāṇas rich in Śiva‑devotion, narrate the myths, manifestations, and cosmic roles of Śiva, shaping popular imagination and temple storytelling. Vedic and Upaniṣadic materials—such as Śrī Rudram from the Yajurveda and Upaniṣads like the Kaivalya and Atharvaśiras—are treasured for their exaltation of Rudra‑Śiva as the supreme reality, and are woven into both liturgy and philosophy. In this way, the Veda, Purāṇa, Āgama, and Tantra form interlocking layers through which Śiva is contemplated as Lord, symbol, and absolute.

Philosophical and poetic traditions then arise to interpret and embody these revelations in particular regions and schools. In Tamil Śaivism, the Tirumuṟai—especially the Tēvāram hymns and related compositions—functions as a living canon of devotional song, while the Meykanda Śāstra texts articulate Śaiva Siddhānta metaphysics in a systematic way. In Kashmir Shaivism, root texts such as the Śiva Sūtra, Spanda Kārikā, and Pratyabhijñā‑hṛdayam, together with works like Abhinavagupta’s Tantrāloka and Tantrasāra, offer a refined non‑dual vision that reads the Tantras as a map of consciousness. Other Shaiva currents, including Nātha‑yogic and regional movements like the Vīraśaiva/Liṅgāyat tradition, draw on their own bodies of hymns, vacanas, and yogic treatises, yet remain centered on Śiva as the axis of practice and realization.