Lord Shiva appears in a meditating but ever-happy posture. He has matted hair which holds the flowing Ganges River and a crescent moon, a serpent coiled around his neck, a trident (trishul) in his one hand and ashes all over his body.
The Lord's attributes represent his victory over the demonic activity, and calmness of human nature. He is known as the "giver" god. His vehicle is a bull (symbol of happiness and strength) named Nandi.
Siva, the last of the Trinities is the God of destruction & his consort Parvati, the Goddess of disintegration, assists him in this. Parvati represents prakriti or nature, which means perishable matter, in the absence of which true and complete destruction by Siva becomes impossible. (As we are all aware of today, only biodegradable matter can be destroyed). This could possibly be the meaning of the idea that Siva becomes nothing in the absence of Sakti.
Siva is generally worshipped in the form of the phallus (linga) fixed on a pedestal. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed & the Linga symbolizes this scientific fact. The Linga denotes the primeval energy of the Creator. At the end of Creation all Gods find their resting place in the Linga - Brahma being absorbed into the right, Vishnu is absorbed into the left & Gayatri Devi being absorbed into the heart of the Linga. Linga, the emblem of Siva is the main form worshipped in Siva temples. Siva in his human form is worshipped as the Utsava murti, taken out on processions.
Siva Lingas worshipped in temples are mostly made of stone & consists of three parts. The lowest portion in the shape of a square symbolizes Brahma (the God of Creation). The middle part in the shape of an octagon symbolizes Vishnu (the God of Maintenance). These two portions are embedded inside a pedestal. The cylindrical portion projecting from the pedestal symbolizes Shiva (the God of Destruction).
Siva resides high up on snowy mountain ranges. Image of Siva in his physical form presents him as a soothing meditative figure. His ornaments are not gold & precious stones
He wears a necklace made of skulls signifying his role as destructor. He has snakes coiling all over his body & his hair is matted and long extending over the whole sky & space. The crescent moon adorns his crown, signifying his control on the time cycle. (Amavasaya & Purnima). He smears his body with ashes & wears a tiger skin and elephant skin. He has a third eye on his forehead, which is the source of knowledge & wisdom. The holy Ganges is imprisoned in his flowing locks. In his two arms he holds the Trisul (the three prongs representing the three gunas or quality of sattva, tamas & rajas) in one & Damaru in the other. His vehicle is the Nandi, who is also his chief disciple to whom Siva passed on all his immense knowledge in arts.
The above description should convey him as an angry & destructive image, yet being the source of all knowledge he is often in a meditative pose with half closed eyes looking out into the universe as well as in to his self, signifying that his act of destruction is in itself an act of creation for in the absence of destruction there can be no creation.
Other names & manifestations of Lord Siva:
--- Nataraja
--- Dakshinamurti
--- Lingodhbava
--- Haryardhamurti
--- Ardhanariswara
--- Bhikshatana
--- Pashupatinath
Siva, last deity of the Trinity is responsible for the dissolution of the Universe. Literally, Siva is one in whom the Universe 'sleeps' after destruction before the next cycle of creation.
Iconographically Siva may have two, three, four, eight, ten or even thirty-two hands. Some of the various objects shown in the hands are :Trisula (trident), Chakra (discus), Parasu (battle axe), Damaru (drum), Aksamaba (rosary), Mrga (deer), Pasa (noose), Danda (staff), Pinaka or Ajagava (bow), Khatvanga (magic wand), Pasupata (spear), Padma (lotus), Kapala (skull-cap), Darpana (mirror), Khadga (sword) and soon.
The icon of Siva is never worshipped as the Mulamurti (original, installed in the sanctum sanctorum), but only as an Utsavamurti (the icon used during festivals for taking out in a procession).
Lord Siva is a great master of dance (Nataraja). It is believed that all the 108 modes of dancing known to the treatises on dancing have come from him.
Siva's consort is Parvati (also known as Uma, Sati, Kali and Durga). His vehicle is bull (Nandi). Ganapati and Subrahmanya are his son's.
Shiva: One of the Trimurtis. Shiva is the supreme God in the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism. In the Smartha tradition, he is one of the five primary forms of God.
Followers of Hinduism who focus their worship upon Shiva are called Shaivites or Shaivas (Sanskrit Śaiva). Shaivism, along with Vaiṣṇava traditions that focus on Vishnu, and Śākta traditions that focus on the goddess Devī are three of the most influential denominations in Hinduism.
Shiva is usually worshipped in the form of Shiva linga. In images, he is generally represented as immersed in deep meditation or dancing the Tandava upon the demon of ignorance in his manifestation of Nataraja, the lord of the dance.
In some other Hindu denominations, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva represent the three primary aspects of the divine in Hinduism and are collectively known as the Trimurti. In this school of religious thought, Brahma is the creator, Vishnu is the maintainer or preserver, and Shiva is the destroyer or transformer.
Etymology and other names: The Sanskrit word Shiva (is an adjective meaning kind, friendly, gracious, or auspicious. As a proper name it means "The Auspicious One", used as a euphemistic name for Rudra. In simple English transliteration it is written either as Shiva or Siva. Pronunciation is written in the International Phonetic Alphabet as IPA: [ɕivə]. The adjective śiva meaning "auspicious" is used as an attributive epithet not particularly of Rudra, but of several other Vedic deities. In the Rig Veda, Indra uses this word to describe himself several times.
In Tamil language, Shiva literally means "the supreme one". Tamil "Siva" means Red. Adi Sankara in his interpretation of the name Shiva, the 27th and 600th name of Vishnu sahasranama interprets Shiva to mean either "The Pure One", the One who is not affected by three Gunas of Prakrti, Sattva, Rajas and Tamas or "the One who purifies everyone by the very utterance of His name." Swami Chinmayananda, in his translation of 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
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 one of those sects. It is used as an adjective to characterize certain beliefs and practices, such as Shaivism.
The name Shiva, in one interpretation, is also said to have derived from the Dravidian word “Siva” meaning “to be red”. It is the equivalent of Rudra, “the red” RigVeda.
Siva's role as the primary deity of Shaivism is reflected in his epithets Mahādeva ("great god"; mahā = great + deva = god), Maheśhvara ("great lord"; mahā = great + īśhvara = lord), and Parameśhvara ("Supreme Lord").
There are at least eight different versions of the Shiva Sahasranama, devotional hymns (stotras) listing many names of Shiva. The version appearing in Book 13 (Anuśāsanaparvan) of the Mahabharata is considered the kernel of this tradition. 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.
Historical development: The worship of Shiva is a pan-Hindu tradition, practiced widely across all of India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Some historians believe that 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. Axel Michaels explains the composite nature of Shaivism as follows:
Like Vişņu, Śiva is also a high god, who gives his name to a collection of theistic trends and sects: Śaivism. Like Vaişņavism, the term also implies a unity which cannot be clearly found either in religious practice or in philosophical and esoteric doctrine. Furthermore, practice and doctrine must be kept separate.
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 both as a name for Karttikya and also as a form of Shiva himself in which case he is worshipped in the form of a lingam. Khandoba's varied associations also include an indentification with Surya. The derivation of the name Khandoba has been variously interpreted, and M. S. Mate says that the most commonly-held belief is that it was a distorted form of Skanda, but also notes alternate theories.
The Pashupati seal: A seal discovered during the excavation of Mohenjo-daro has drawn attention as a possible representation of a "proto-Shiva" figure. This "Pashupati" (Lord of animal-like beings - Sanskrit paśupati) seal shows a seated figure, possibly ithyphallic, surrounded by animals. 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. However, this claim is not without its share of critics with some academics like Gavin Flood and John Keay characterizing them as unfounded.
Rudra: Shiva as we know him today shares many features with the Vedic god Rudra and both Shiva and Rudra are viewed as the same personality in a number of Hindu traditions. 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 1700–1100 BCE based on linguistic and philological evidence. A god named Rudra is mentioned in the Rig Veda. The name Rudra is still used as a name for Shiva. He is described as the "Father of the Maruts", a group of storm gods. 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. |
