The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c17.s10.5

v1.c17.s10.5

The character of Rudra in the Rigveda is distinctly formidable: he wields the lightning and the thunderbolt and is an archer, but his fierce character is not manifested as that of Indra in his onslaughts on demons, for that is no part of his nature. He is as destructive as a terrible beast, the ruddy boar of heaven. He is unassailable, rapid, young, unaging, ruler of the world, and its father. From this side of his nature may be derived his aspect as wise, beneficent, bountiful, easily invoked and auspicious (*çiva*), but the last epithet,² which furnishes the late Vedic name of the god, is not appropriated to him even in the Atharvaveda. He is also a god of healing; he has healing remedies, the chief being Jalāṣa,³ which is explained variously as the Soma or as the rain, whose property as healing is recognized freely in the Rigveda. Nor is this element in his nature a minor one: it is given as one of his characteristic in a hymn, where the gods are named only by their epithets, and both the Rudras and the Maruts are mentioned with him in this connexion.