[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879) › c5.1695 # A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.1695 A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.1695 - **Language:** English ### [c5.1695](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.1695) The Rudra of the Vedas has developed in the course of ages into the great and powerful god Siva, the third deity of the Hindu triad, and the supreme god of his votaries. He is shortly described as the destroying principle, but his powers and attributes are more numerous and much wider. Under the name of Rudra or Mahā-kāla, he is the great destroying and dissolving power. But destruction in Hindu belief implies reproduction; so as Siva or Sankara, ‘the auspicious,’ he is the reproductive power which is perpetually restoring that which has been dissolved, and hence he is regarded as Īswara, the supreme lord, and Mahā-deva, the great god. Under this character of restorer he is represented by his symbol the Linga or phallus, typical of reproduction; and it is under this form alone, or combined with the Yoni, or female organ, the representative of his Sakti, or female energy, that he is everywhere worshipped. Thirdly, he is the Mahā-yogī, the great ascetic, in whom is centred the highest perfection of austere penance and abstract meditation, by which the most unlimited powers are attained, marvels and miracles are worked, the highest spiritual knowledge is acquired, and union with the great spirit of the universe is eventually gained. In this character he is the naked ascetic Dig-ambara, ‘clothed with the elements,’ or Dhūr-jati, ‘loaded with matted hair,’ and his body smeared with ashes. His first or destructive character is sometimes intensified, and he becomes Bhairava, ‘the terrible destroyer,’ who takes a pleasure in destruction. He is also Bhūteswara, the lord of ghosts and goblins. In these characters he haunts cemeteries and places of cremation, wearing serpents round his head and skulls for a necklace, attended by troops of imps and trampling on rebellious demons. He sometimes indulges in revelry, and, heated with drink, dances furiously with his wife Devī the dance called Tāndava, while troops of drunken imps caper around them. Possessed of so many powers and attributes, he has a great number of names, and is represented under a variety of forms. One authority enumerates a thousand and eight names, but most of these are descriptive epithets, as Tri-lochana, ‘the three-eyed,’ Nīla-kantha, ‘the blue-throated,’ and Panch-ānana, ‘the five-faced.’ Siva is a fair man with five faces and four arms. He is commonly represented seated in profound thought, with a third eye in the middle of his forehead, contained in or surmounted by the moon’s crescent; his matted locks are gathered up into a coil like a horn, which bears upon it a symbol of the river Ganges, which he caught as it fell from heaven; a necklace of skulls (munda-mālā), hangs round his neck, and serpents twine about his neck as a collar (nāga-kundala); his neck is blue from drinking the deadly poison which would have destroyed the world, and in his hand he holds a trisūla or trident called Pināka. His garment is the skin of a tiger, a deer, or an elephant, hence he is called Kritti-vāsas; sometimes he is clothed in a skin and seated upon a tiger-skin, and he holds a deer in his hand. He is generally accompanied by his bull Nandi. He also carries the bow Ajagava, a drum (damaru) in the shape of an hour-glass, the Khatwānga or club with a skull at the end, or a cord (pāsa) for binding refractory offenders. His Pramathas or attendants are numerous, and are imps and demons of various kinds. His third eye has been very destructive. With it he reduced to ashes Kāma, the god of love, for daring to inspire amorous thoughts of his consort Pārvatī while he was engaged in penance; and the gods and all created beings were destroyed by its glance at one of the periodical destructions of the universe. He is represented to have cut off one of the heads of Brahmā for speaking disrespectfully, so that Brahmā has only four heads instead of five. Siva is the great object of worship at Benares under the name of Visweswara. His heaven is on Mount Kailāsa. - [Previous: c5.1694](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.1694) - [Next: c5.1696](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.1696) - [Up: c5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5) ## Linked texts (1) - [Ṛgvedasaṃhitā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.samhita.rg) — Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.1695](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.1695) · Pramāṇa