The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c17.s10.44

v1.c17.s10.44

In the late Sūtra literature we find ascribed to him the names of Hara, Mṛḍa, Çiva and Çaṅkara;² the last three at least are evidently intended to be euphemistic: the great and dread god must be treated as auspicious in order to make him so in point of fact. The specific account of him as the lord, or the great god, shows a development of his character even within the period of the later Saṁhitās, for these epithets are not found in the earlier books of the Vājasaneyi Saṁhitā, but only in the later portion of that text.³