Vedic Mythology c5.s2.t4.8

c5.s2.t4.8

Rudra is described in the RV. as fierce (2, 33⁹· ¹¹; 10, 126⁵) and destructive like a terrible beast (2, 33¹¹). He is the ruddy⁵ (*aruṣa*) boar of heaven (1, 114⁵). He is a bull (2, 33⁷· ⁸· ¹⁵). He is exalted (7, 10⁴), strong (1, 43¹· 114¹), strongest of the strong (2, 33³), unassailable (7, 46¹), unsurpassed in might (2, 33¹⁰), rapid (10, 92⁵), and swift (1, 114⁴). He is young (2, 33¹; 5, 60⁵) and unaging (6, 49¹⁰). He is called *asura* (5, 42 ¹¹) or the great *asura* of heaven⁶ (2, 1⁶). He is self-glorious (1, 129³; 10, 92⁹), rules heroes (1, 114¹· ² &c.), and is a lord (*īśāna*) of this vast world (2, 33⁹) and father of the world (6, 49¹⁰). He is an ordainer (6, 46¹), and by his rule and universal dominion he is aware of the doings of men and gods (7, 46²). He makes the streams flow over the earth and, roaring, moistens everything (10, 92⁵). He is intelligent (1, 43¹), wise (1, 114⁴), and beneficent (2, 33⁷; 6, 49¹⁰). He is several times called ‘bountiful’, *mīḷhvas* (1, 114³), and in the later Vedas the comparative and superlative of this word have only been found in connexion with Rudra⁷. He is easily invoked (2, 33⁶) and is auspicious, *śiva* (10, 92⁹), an epithet which is not even in the AV. as yet peculiar to any particular deity.