Shiva
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"Neelkanth" redirects here. For the 2012 Indian film, see Neelkanth (film). For other uses, see Shiva (disambiguation). Shiva
Shiva and Parvati.jpg
Shiva and Parvati
Devanagari शिव
Sanskrit Transliteration Śiva
Tamil Transliteration Śivan
Abode Mount Kailāsa[1]
Mantra Om Namah Shivaya, Mahamrityunjaya Mantra
Weapon Trishula (trident)
Consort Parvati
Chil
dren Ganesha, Kartikeya
Mount Nandi
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This article contains Indic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks or boxes, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text. Shiva (/ˈʃivə/; Sanskrit: Śiva, meaning "The Auspicious One"; Tamil: Śivan, meaning "The Red One"), also known as Mahadeva ("Great God"), is one of the Trinity deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme god within Shaivism, one of the three most influential denominations in contemporary Hinduism.[2][3] He is one of the five primary forms of God in the Smarta Tradition,[2] and "the Destroyer" or "the Transformer"[4]
At the highest level, Shiva is regarded as limitless, transcendent, unchanging and formless.[5][6][7][8][9] Shiva also has many benevolent and fearsome forms.[10] In benevolent aspects, he is depicted as an omniscient Yogi who lives an ascetic life on Mount Kailash,[4] as well as a householder with wife Parvati and his two children, Ganesha and Kartikeya, and in fierce aspects, he is often depicted slaying demons. Shiva is also regarded as the patron god of yoga and arts.[11][12][13]
The main iconographical attributes of Shiva are the third eye on his forehead, the snake Vasuki around his neck, the adorning crescent moon, the holy river Ganga flowing from his matted hair, the trishula as his weapon and the damaru as his musical instrument. Shiva is usually worshiped in the aniconic form of Lingam.[14][15][16]
The worship of Shiva is a pan-Hindu tradition, practiced widely across all of India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.[17][18]
Etymology and other names[edit]
Main article: Shiva Sahasranama
The Sanskrit word "Shiva" (Devanagari: शिव, śiva) comes from the Shri Rudram Chamakam of the Taittiriya Shakha (TS 4.5, 4.7) of the Krishna Yajurveda. The root word √śi[19] means auspicious. In simple English transliteration it is written either as Shiva or Siva. The adjective śiva, is used as an attributive epithet for several Rigvedic deities, including Rudra.[20] Other popular names associated with Shiva are Mahadeva, Mahesha, Maheshvara, Shankara, Shambhu, Rudra, Hara, Trilochan, Devendra (meaning Chief of the gods) and Trilokinatha (meaning Lord of the three realms).[21][22][23]
The Sanskrit word śaiva 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.[24] It is used as an adjective to characterize certain beliefs and practices, such as Shaivism.[25]
Some authors associate the name with the Tamil word śivappu meaning "red", noting that Shiva is linked to the Sun (śivan, "the Red one", in Tamil) and that Rudra is also called Babhru (brown, or red) in the Rigveda.[26][27]
Adi Shankara, in his interpretation of the name Shiva, the 27th and 600th name of Vishnu sahasranama, the thousand names of Vishnu interprets Shiva to have multiple meanings: "The Pure One", or "the One who is not affected by three Guṇas of Prakṛti (Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas)" or "the One who purifies everyone by the very utterance of His name."[28] Chinmayananda Saraswati, in his translation of the Vishnu sahasranama, further elaborates on that verse: Shiva means "the One who is eternally pure" or "the One who can never have any contamination of the imperfection of Rajas and Tamas".[29]
Shiva's role as the primary deity of Shaivism is reflected in his epithets Mahādeva ("Great god"; mahā "Great" and deva "god"),[30][31] Maheśvara ("Great Lord"; mahā "great" and īśvara "lord"),[32][33] and Parameśvara ("Supreme Lord").[34]
There are at least eight different versions of the Shiva Sahasranama, devotional hymns (stotras) listing many names of Shiva.[35] The version appearing in Book 13 (Anuśāsanaparvan) of the Mahabharata is considered the kernel of this tradition.[36] Shiva also has Dasha-Sahasranamas (10,000 names) that are found in the Mahanyasa. The Shri Rudram Chamakam, also known as the Śatarudriya, is a devotional hymn to Shiva hailing him by many names.[37][38]
Historical development and literature[edit]
A sculpture of Shiva depicting him with a moustache
See also: History of Shaivism
The worship of Shiva is a pan-Hindu tradition, practiced widely across all of India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Assimilation of traditions[edit]
See also: Roots of Hinduism
The figure of Shiva as we know him today was built up over time, with the ideas of many regional sects being amalgamated into a single figure.How the persona of Shiva converged as a composite deity is not well documented According to Vijay Nath:
Visnu 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."[40]
An example of assimilation took place in Maharashtra, where a regional deity named Khandoba is a patron deity of farming and herding castes. The foremost center of worship of Khandoba in Maharashtra is in Jejuri.Khandoba has been assimilated as a form of Shiva himself,[43] in which case he is worshipped in the form of a lingam.Khandoba's varied associations also include an identification with Surya[41] and Karttikeya.[45]
Indus Valley origins[edit]
Main article: Pashupati seal
Seal discovered during excavation of the Indus Valley archaeological site in the Indus Valley has drawn attention as a possible representation of a "yogi" or "proto-Shiva" figure
Many Indus valley seals show animals but one seal that has attracted attention shows a figure, either horned or wearing a horned headdress and possibly ithyphallic[46][47][48] figure seated in a posture reminiscent of the Lotus position and surrounded by animals was named by early excavators of Mohenjo-daro Pashupati (lord of cattle), an epithet of the later Hindu gods Shiva and Rudra.[46][49][50][51] Sir John Marshall and others have claimed that this figure is a prototype of Shiva and have described the figure as having three faces seated in a "yoga posture" with the knees out and feet joined. Some academics like Gavin Flood[52][53] and John Keay have expressed doubts about this claim. 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.[54] Writing in 1997 Doris M**h Srinivasan rejected Marshall's package of proto-Shiva features, including that of three heads. She interprets what John Marshall interpreted as facial as not human but more bovine, possibly a divine buffalo-man.[55]
Writing in 2002, Gregory L. Possehl concluded that while it would be appropriate to recognize the figure as a deity, its association with the water buffalo, and its posture as one of ritual discipline, regarding it as a proto-Shiva would "go too far."[56]
Vedic origins[edit]
Shiva's rise to a major position in the pantheon was facilitated by his identification with a host of Vedic deities, including Purusha, Rudra, Agni, Indra, Prajāpati, Vāyu, and others.[57]
Rudra[edit]
Main article: Rudra
Three-headed Shiva, Gandhara, 2nd century AD
Shiva as we know him today shares many features with the Vedic god Rudra,[58] and both Shiva and Rudra are viewed as the same personality in Hindu scriptures. The two names are used synonymously. Rudra, the god of the roaring storm, is usually portrayed in accordance with the element he represents as a fierce, destructive deity. The oldest surviving text of Hinduism is the Rig Veda, which is dated to between 1700 and 1100 BC based on linguistic and philological evidence.[59] A god named Rudra is mentioned in the Rig Veda. The name Rudra is still used as a name for Shiva. In RV 2.33, he is described as the "Father of the Rudras", a group of storm gods.[60] Furthermore, the Rudram, one of the most sacred hymns of Hinduism found both in the Rig and the Yajur Vedas and addressed to Rudra, invokes him as Shiva in several instances, but the term Shiva is used as an epithet for the gods Indra, Mitra and Agni many times. Since Shiva means pure, the epithet is possibly used to describe a quality of these gods rather than to identify any of them with the God Shiva. The identification of Shiva with the older god Rudhra is not universally accepted, as Axel Michaels explains:
