Petra, Jordan - Is it a Shiva Temple complex?

Petra, Jordan - Is it a Shiva Temple complex? The rock-cut temples of Petra were built by the Nabtaeans sometime in the 3rd century BCE. The presiding god of Petra was Dushara, and his consort is often identified as Al-Uzza. The similarities between Dushara and Shiva indicate that they were the one and the same deity.

1. Both Shiva and Dushara are represented by square or rounded blocks of stone.
2. Their symbolic animal is a bull
3. Dushara is associated with the Shara mountains to the north of Petra while Shiva is associated with the Kailash mountains to the north of India.
4. Both of them were associated with serpents.
5. Shiva has a crescent-shaped moon in his locks while stone representations of Dushara (i.e. a baetyl) depict a crescent-shaped moon above the baetyl.
6. The layout of the altar of Dushara, at the Place of Sacrifice in Petra, is exactly similar to that of a Shiva Linga.
7. The Nabtaeans made sacrifices to Dushara and anointed the stone block with the blood of the sacrifice. A Shiva Linga is also ritually anointed with red kumkum powder.
8. Dushara's consort was Al-Uzza who was a goddess of power and was symbolized by a lion. Shiva's consort is Durga who rides a lion.
9. The Nabataean goddess triad of Al-Uzza, Al-Lat and Manat are strikingly similar to the triad of Vedic goddesses - Lakshmi, Saraswati and Kali - who are still worshipped at the Vaishno Devi temple in Jammu.

The rock cut monuments of Petra were built during the same time as the incredible rock-cut temples of Ajanta, India, sometime during the 3rd-2nd century BC era. Both cities lay on the Silk route connecting India and China with the western world. Buddhist missionaries and Indian traders traveled along this route, carrying Indian philosophies to the Mediterranean.

It is extremely improbable that two ancient cities located on the Silk Route, and worshiping deities that are culturally related, would happen to build some of the finest rock-cut temples of the world at around the same time, without having any cultural contact between them. Petra and Ajanta must be connected; and since the rock-cut architecture of India represents the highest achievements of engineering and aesthetics of that period, it can be supposed that the Silk Route acted as a conduit for the westward transfer of the Shiva-Shakti cult and rock-cut architectural skills, across the Arabian Peninsula, during the 3rd – 2nd centuries BC.