Shiva is known as The Destroyer within the Trimurti, the Hindu trinity which also includes Brahma and Vishnu.[2][15] In the Shaivite tradition, Shiva is the Supreme Lord who creates, protects and transforms the universe.[9][10][11] In the goddess-oriented Shakta tradition, the Supreme Goddess (Devi) is regarded as the energy and creative power (Shakti) and the equal complementary partner of Shiva.[16][17] Shiva is one of the five equivalent deities in Panchayatana puja of the Smarta tradition of Hinduism.[18]

Shiva has many aspects, benevolent as well as fearsome. In benevolent aspects, he is depicted as an omniscient Yogi who lives an ascetic life on Mount Kailash[2] as well as a householder with his wife Parvati and his two children, Ganesha and Kartikeya. In his fierce aspects, he is often depicted slaying demons. Shiva is also known as Adiyogi (the first Yogi), regarded as the patron god of yoga, meditation and the arts.[19] The iconographical attributes of Shiva are the serpent king Vasuki around his neck, the adorning crescent moon, the holy river Ganga flowing from his matted hair, the third eye on his forehead (the eye that turns everything in front of it into ashes when opened), the trishula or trident as his weapon, and the damaru. He is usually worshipped in the aniconic form of lingam.[3]

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Shiva has pre-Vedic roots,[20] and the figure of Shiva evolved as an amalgamation of various older non-Vedic and Vedic deities, including the Rigvedic storm god Rudra who may also have non-Vedic origins,[21] into a single major deity.[22] Shiva is a pan-Hindu deity, revered widely by Hindus in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Indonesia (especially in Java and Bali).[23]

According to the Monier-Williams Sanskrit dictionary, the word "iva" (Devanagari: , also transliterated as shiva) means "auspicious, propitious, gracious, benign, kind, benevolent, friendly".[24] The root words of iva in folk etymology are tag_hash_107 which means "in whom all things lie, pervasiveness" and va which means "embodiment of grace".[24][25]

The Sanskrit word aiva means "relating to the god Shiva", and this term is the Sanskrit name both for one of the principal sects of Hinduism and for a member of that sect.[31] It is used as an adjective to characterize certain beliefs and practices, such as Shaivism.[32]

Sahasranama are medieval Indian texts that list a thousand names derived from aspects and epithets of a deity.[47] There are at least eight different versions of the Shiva Sahasranama, devotional hymns (stotras) listing many names of Shiva.[48] The version appearing in Book 13 (Anusanaparvan) of the Mahabharata provides one such list.[a] Shiva also has Dasha-Sahasranamas (10,000 names) that are found in the Mahanyasa. The Shri Rudram Chamakam, also known as the atarudriya, is a devotional hymn to Shiva hailing him by many names.[49][50]

The Shiva-related tradition is a major part of Hinduism, found all over the Indian subcontinent, such as India, Nepal, Sri Lanka,[51] and Southeast Asia, such as Bali, Indonesia.[52] Shiva has pre-Vedic tribal roots,[20] having "his origins in primitive tribes, signs and symbols."[53] The figure of Shiva as he is known today is an amalgamation of various older deities into a single figure, due to the process of Sanskritization and the emergence of the Hindu synthesis in post-Vedic times.[54] How the persona of Shiva converged as a composite deity is not well documented, a challenge to trace and has attracted much speculation.[55] According to Vijay Nath:.mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 32px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}

Vishnu and Siva [...] began to absorb countless local cults and deities within their folds. The latter were either taken to represent the multiple facets of the same god or else were supposed to denote different forms and appellations by which the god came to be known and worshipped. [...] Siva became identified with countless local cults by the sheer suffixing of Isa or Isvara to the name of the local deity, e.g., Bhutesvara, Hatakesvara, Chandesvara."[56]

An example of assimilation took place in Maharashtra, where a regional deity named Khandoba is a patron deity of farming and herding castes.[57] The foremost center of worship of Khandoba in Maharashtra is in Jejuri.[58] Khandoba has been assimilated as a form of Shiva himself,[59] in which case he is worshipped in the form of a lingam.[57][60] Khandoba's varied associations also include an identification with Surya[57] and Karttikeya.[61]

Myths about Shiva that were "roughly contemporary with early Christianity" existed that portrayed Shiva with many differences than how he is thought of now,[62] and these mythical portrayals of Shiva were incorporated into later versions of him. For instance, he and the other gods, from the highest gods to the least powerful gods, were thought of as somewhat human in nature, creating emotions they had limited control over and having the ability to get in touch with their inner natures through asceticism like humans.[63] In that era, Shiva was widely viewed as both the god of lust and of asceticism.[64] In one story, he was seduced by a prostitute sent by the other gods, who were jealous of Shiva's ascetic lifestyle he had lived for 1000 years.[62]

Prehistoric rock paintings dating to the Mesolithic from Bhimbetka rock shelters have been interpreted by some authors as depictions of Shiva.[65][b] However, Howard Morphy states that these prehistoric rock paintings of India, when seen in their context, are likely those of hunting party with animals, and that the figures in a group dance can be interpreted in many different ways.[66]

Of several Indus valley seals that show animals, one seal that has attracted attention shows a large central figure, either horned or wearing a horned headdress and possibly ithyphallic,[note 2][67] seated in a posture reminiscent of the Lotus position, surrounded by animals. This figure was named by early excavators of Mohenjo-daro as Pashupati (Lord of Animals, Sanskrit paupati),[68] an epithet of the later Hindu deities Shiva and Rudra.[69] Sir John Marshall and others suggested that this figure is a prototype of Shiva, with three faces, seated in a "yoga posture" with the knees out and feet joined.[70] Semi-circular shapes on the head were interpreted as two horns. Scholars such as Gavin Flood, John Keay and Doris Meth Srinivasan have expressed doubts about this suggestion.[71]

Gavin Flood states that it is not clear from the seal that the figure has three faces, is seated in a yoga posture, or even that the shape is intended to represent a human figure. He characterizes these views as "speculative", but adds that it is nevertheless possible that there are echoes of Shaiva iconographic themes, such as half-moon shapes resembling the horns of a bull.[72] John Keay writes that "he may indeed be an early manifestation of Lord Shiva as Pashu-pati", but a couple of his specialties of this figure does not match with Rudra.[73] Writing in 1997, Srinivasan interprets what John Marshall interpreted as facial as not human but more bovine, possibly a divine buffalo-man.[74]

The Vedic beliefs and practices of the pre-classical era were closely related to the hypothesised Proto-Indo-European religion,[78] and the pre-Islamic Indo-Iranian religion.[79] The similarities between the iconography and theologies of Shiva with Greek and European deities have led to proposals for an Indo-European link for Shiva,[80][81] or lateral exchanges with ancient central Asian cultures.[82][83] His contrasting aspects such as being terrifying or blissful depending on the situation, are similar to those of the Greek god Dionysus,[84] as are their iconic associations with bull, snakes, anger, bravery, dancing and carefree life.[85][86] The ancient Greek texts of the time of Alexander the Great call Shiva "Indian Dionysus", or alternatively call Dionysus "god of the Orient".[85] Similarly, the use of phallic symbol[note 2] as an icon for Shiva is also found for Irish, Nordic, Greek (Dionysus[87]) and Roman deities, as was the idea of this aniconic column linking heaven and earth among early Indo-Aryans, states Roger Woodward.[80] Others contest such proposals, and suggest Shiva to have emerged from indigenous pre-Aryan tribal origins.[88]

Shiva as we know him today shares many features with the Vedic god Rudra,[89] and both Shiva and Rudra are viewed as the same personality in Hindu scriptures. The two names are used synonymously. Rudra, a Rigvedic deity with fearsome powers, was the god of the roaring storm. He is usually portrayed in accordance with the element he represents as a fierce, destructive deity.[90] In RV 2.33, he is described as the "Father of the Rudras", a group of storm gods.[91][full citation needed]

Flood notes that Rudra is an ambiguous god, peripheral in the Vedic pantheon, possibly indicating non-Vedic origins.[21] Nevertheless, both Rudra and Shiva are akin to Wodan, the Germanic God of rage ("wtte") and the wild hunt.[92][93][page needed][94][page needed]

According to Sadasivan, during the development of the Hindu synthesis attributes of the Buddha were transferred by Brahmins to Shiva, who was also linked with Rudra.[53] The Rigveda has 3 out of 1,028 hymns dedicated to Rudra, and he finds occasional mention in other hymns of the same text.[95] Hymn 10.92 of the Rigveda states that deity Rudra has two natures, one wild and cruel (Rudra), another that is kind and tranquil (Shiva).[96]

The term Shiva also appears simply as an epithet, that means "kind, auspicious", one of the adjectives used to describe many different Vedic deities. While fierce ruthless natural phenomenon and storm-related Rudra is feared in the hymns of the Rigveda, the beneficial rains he brings are welcomed as Shiva aspect of him.[97] This healing, nurturing, life-enabling aspect emerges in the Vedas as Rudra-Shiva, and in post-Vedic literature ultimately as Shiva who combines the destructive and constructive powers, the terrific and the gentle, as the ultimate recycler and rejuvenator of all existence.[98] 152ee80cbc

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