A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.1693

Language: English

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SIVA. The name Siva is unknown to the Vedas, but Rudra, another name of this deity, and almost equally common, occurs in the Veda both in the singular and plural, and from these the great deity Siva and his manifestations, the Rudras, have been developed. In the Rig-veda the word Rudra is used for Agni, and the Maruts are called his sons. In other passages he is distinct from Agni. He is lauded as “the lord of songs, the lord of sacrifices, who heals remedies, is brilliant as the sun, the best and most bountiful of gods, who grants prosperity and welfare to horses and sheep, men, women, and cows; the lord of nourishment, who drives away diseases, dispenses remedies, and removes sin; but, on the other hand he is the wielder of the thunderbolt, the bearer of bow and arrows, and mounted on his chariot is terrible as a wild beast, destructive and fierce.” In the Yajur-veda there is a long prayer called Śatarudriya which is addressed to him and appeals to him under a great variety of epithets. He is “auspicious, not terrible;” “the deliverer, the first divine physician;” he is “blue-necked and red-coloured, who has a thousand eyes and bears a thousand quivers;” and in another hymn he is called “Tryambaka, the sweet-scented increaser of prosperity;” “a medicine for kine and horses, a medicine for men, and a (source of) ease to rams and ewes.” In the Atharva-veda he is still the protector of cattle, but his character is fiercer.

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He is “dark, black, destroying, terrible.” He is the “fierce god,” who is besought to betake himself elsewhere, “and not to assail mankind with consumption, poison, or celestial fire.” The Brāhmanas tell that when Rudra was born he wept, and his father, Prajāpati, asked the reason, and on being told that he wept because he had not received a name, his father gave him the name of Rudra (from the root rud, ‘weep’). They also relate that at the request of the gods he pierced Prajāpati because of his incestuous intercourse with his daughter. In another place he is said to have applied to his father eight successive times for a name, and that he received in succession the names Bhava, Sarva, Pasupati, Ugradeva, Mahāndeva, Rudra, Īsāna, and Asani. In the Upanishads his character is further developed. He declares to the inquiring gods, “I alone was before (all things), and I exist and I shall be. No other transcends me. I am eternal and not eternal, discernible and undiscernible, I am Brahma and I am not Brahma.” Again it is said, “He is the only Rudra, he is Īsāna, he is Maheswara, he is Mahādeva.” “There is only one Rudra, there is no place for a second. He rules this fourth world, controlling and productive; living beings abide with him, united with him. At the time of the end he annihilates all worlds, the protector.” “He is without beginning, middle, or end;

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the one, the pervading, the spiritual and blessed, the wonderful, the consort of Umā, the supreme lord, the three-eyed, the blue-throated, the tranquil. . . . He is Brahmā, he is Siva, he is Indra; he is undecaying, supreme, self-resplendent; he is Vishnu, he is breath, he is the spirit, the supreme lord; he is all that hath been or that shall be, eternal. Knowing him, a man overpasses death. There is no other way to liberation.” In the Rāmāyana Siva is a great god, but the references to him have more of the idea of a personal god than of a supreme divinity. He is represented as fighting with Vishnu, and as receiving worship with Brahmā, Vishnu, and Indra, but he acknowledges the divinity of Rāma, and holds a less exalted position than Vishnu. The Mahā-bhārata also gives Vishnu or Krishna the highest honour upon the whole. But it has many passages in which Siva occupies the supreme place, and receives the homage and worship of Vishnu and Krishna. “Mahā-deva,” it says, “is an all-pervading god yet is nowhere seen; he is the creator and the lord of Brahmā, Vishnu, and Indra, whom the gods, from Brahmā to the Pisāchas, worship.” The rival claims of Siva and Vishnu to supremacy are clearly displayed in this poem; and many of those powers and attributes are ascribed to them which were afterwards so widely developed in the Purānas.

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Attempts also are made to reconcile their conflicting claims by representing Siva and Vishnu, Siva and Krishna, to be one, or, as it is expressed at a later time in the Hari-vansa, there is “no difference between Siva who exists in the form of Vishnu, and Vishnu who exists in the form of Siva.”