Shiva

Shiva
A statue in Bangalore depicting Shiva meditating
Devanagari:	शिव
Abode:	Mount Kailāsa[1]
Mantra:	Aum Namah Sivaya
Weapon:	Trident (Trishul)
Consort:	Parvati or Sati or Shakti or Durga
Mount:	Nandi (bull)

Shiva (pronunciation: [ʃɪ.ʋə]; Sanskrit: शिव, Śiva) is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. Within Shaivism he is viewed as the supreme deity, whereas in other branches of Hinduism such as the Smarta tradition he is worshipped as one of the six manifestations of the divine. Followers of Hinduism who focus their worship upon Shiva are called Shaivites or Shaivas (Sanskrit Śaiva). His role as the primary deity of Shaivism is reflected in his epithets Mahādeva ("great god"; mahā = great + deva = god), Maheśvara ("great lord"; mahā = great + īśvara = lord),and Parameśvara ("Supreme Lord"). 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 one of the six primary forms of the Divine in Smartism, a denomination of Hinduism that puts particular emphasis on six deities, the other five being Vishnu, Shakti, Ganesha, Kartikkeya and SuryaAnother way of thinking about the divinities in Hinduism identifies Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva as each representing one of the three primary aspects of the divine in Hinduism, known collectively as the Trimurti. In the Trimurti system, Brahma is the creator, Vishnu is the maintainer or preserver, and Shiva is the destroyer or transformer.

Shiva is usually worshipped as the 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.

Worship

In Shaivism, Shiva is the God of all and is worshipped by all, from Devas (gods) such as Brahma, Indra, by Asuras(demons) like Bana, Ravana, by humans like Adi Shankara, Nayanars, by creatures as diverse as Jatayu, an eagle, and Vali, an ape. Furthermore, people of different backgrounds and qualities worship Shiva with many temples having histories of even cranes, bees, elephants, (see Kalahasti), spiders, snakes, worshipping Shiva and getting blessed. It concludes that the Good Lord blesses anyone who worships him with sincere devotion as there is no discrimination based on the seeker. Although Lord Shiva loves His devotees equally and does not ignore the meditation even of demons such as the rakshasas and asuras, He always finds ways to protect righteousness and never allows any evil to triumph over good.

Major deities, rishis, planets, worshipped Shiva and established Shivalingas in various places.

1. Pashupatinath Lord of all living beings, located at Kathmandu, Nepal.
2. Somnath located at Prabhas Patan in Saurashtra in Gujarat.
3. Dwarka in Gujarat is home to the Nageshwar Jyotirlinga temple.
4. Mahakal, Ujjain (or Avanti) in Madhya Pradesh is home to the Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga temple.
5. Srisailam - Srisailam near Kurnool enshrines Mallikarjuna in an ancient temple architecturally and sculpturally rich.
6. Bhimashankar, in the Sahyadri range of Maharashtra, contains a Jyotirlinga shrine associated with Shiva destroying the demon Tripurasura.
7. Omkareshwar in Madhya Pradesh is an island in the Narmada river, home to a Jyotirlinga shrine and the Amareshwar temple.
8. Sukreswar Temple located on Sukreswar hill in Guwahati on the southern bank of Brahmaputra, with the ghat leading down to the river.
9. Uma Nanda Temple located on the Peacock island in middle of River Brahmaputra in Guwahati.
10. Kedarnath in Uttarakhand is the northernmost of the Jyotirlingas.
11. [[Varanasi|(Benares) in Uttar Pradesh is home to the Vishwanath Jyotirling temple.
12. Trimbakeshwar, near Nashik in Maharashtra, has a Jyotirlinga shrine located associated with the origin of the Godavari river.
13. Grishneshwar Jyotirlinga shrine, in Maharashtra, is located near the rock-cut temples of Ellora.
14. Deoghar, in the Santhal Parganas region of Jharkhand, is home to the Vaidyanath Jyotirlinga temple.
15. Ganesha worshipped Shiva at Pillayar patti (100 km from Madurai, India)
16. The four Vedas worshipped Shiva at Thirumaraikaadu (i.e., Vedaaranyam near Tanjore)
17. Skanda worshipped Shiva at Thiruchendur (200 km from Madurai, India)
18. Rama (avatar of Vishnu) worshipped Shiva in Rameswaram(India)
19. Vishnu worshipped Shiva atKanchipuram (Kachiswarar Temple)
20. Parasurama (avatar of Vishnu) worshipped Shiva at Sreesailam, Karnataka and also at Chennai (Parasurama at Lingeshwara Temple, Iyanavaram)
21. Goddess Lakshmi (wife of Vishnu) worshipped Shiva at Tirupachethi (50 km from Madurai).
22. Surya worshipped Shiva at Srivilliputhur (Vaidhyanathaar Temple 100 km from Madurai)
23. Brahma and Vishnu at Tiruvannamalai (180 km from Chennai)
24. Brahma at Vrinchipuram (155 km from Chennai, 15 km from Vellore)
25. Rahu and Ketu at Kaalahasthi (50 km from Tirupathi, Andhra Pradesh, India)
26. Indra at Madurai (Soma Sundareeswar Temple)
27. The Rishi Agastya at Papanasam (100 km from Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India)
28. Goddess Parvati at Kancheepuram (Ekambeeswarar Temple, 70 km from Chennai, India)
29. Shani at Thirnallar (near Kaaraikal, Pondicherry)
30. Moongod at Thingalur (near Tanjore)
31. Shiva and Sani at Thirvidaimaruthoor (near Kumbakonam)
32. Brahma at Kumbakoonam (Kumbeeswarar, near Tanjore)
33. Ujjain Jyotirlinga shrine, in Madhya Pradesh.
34. Lord Shiva at Trilochan, is famous with name of Trilochan Mhadev Temple, 30 km from varanasi , india
35. Manjunatha-Lord of mist at Dharmasthala this one famous pilgrim of Dakshina Kannada,Karnataka.
36. Nanjundeshwara -One who has gulped nanju-pain or Halahala in his throat or SriKanteshwara at Nanjangud near Mysore,Karnataka
37. AtmaLinga at Gokarna ,Karnataka.
38. Panchalingeshwara-5 Linga all of which is covered with sand but opens up at specific dates at [Talakad]] ,Karnataka.
39. Shivagange-Believed to be patalaGanga flowing by rishi Agastya worship. Bangalore, Karnataka.
40. Murudeshwara in Uttara Kannada,Karnataka.
41. Kudalasangama in Basavakalyana,Karnataka.
42. By Lava and Kusha (sons of Rama) in Kurungaleeswar temple at Koyambedu Chennai.
43. Bakreshwar and Tarakeshwar in West Bengal

In South India, five temples of Siva are held to be particularly important, as being manifestations of him in the five elemental substances:

1. Tiruvannamalai, as fire
2. Chidambaram, as ether
3. Srikalahasti, as air
4. Tiruvanaikal, as water
5. Conjeeveram, as earth

Names of Shiva

In Hinduism, deities are called by many names, which describe them in different ways. These names often refer to specific stories about the deities, functions they perform, or ways of thinking about them. Study of these names is helpful to understanding deities from multiple points of view. Some names are used by more than one deity, so looking for names that uniquely describe a deity is one way to pinpoint their functions.

Sahasranamas

There are at least eight different versions of the Shiva Sahasranama, devotional hymns (stotras) listing many names of Shiva.^[181] The version appearing in Book 13 (Anuśāsanaparvan) of the Mahabharata is considered the kernel of this tradion.^[182]

The nine versions of Shiva sahasranamas are

1. Mahabharata 13.17.30-150 (Anuśāsanaparvan Version)

2. 'Rudrayamala

3. Linga Purana (version 1, LP 1.65.54-168) is close to the Mahabharata Anuśāsanaparvan version.

4. Linga Purana (version 2, LP 1.98.27-159) has some passages in common with LP version 1, but also with other sources

5. Shivapurana 4.35.1-131.

6. Mahabharata (Śāntiparvan version). The critical edition of the Mahabharata does not include this version, relegating it to Appendix 28 to Śāntiparvan. It does appear in the text of the Gita Press edition as 12.284.68-180.

7. Vayu Purana (1.30.179-284) is almost the same as the Mahabharata Śāntiparvan version.

8. Brahmanda Purana (38.1.1-100) is almost the same as the Vayu Purana version.

9. Mahābhāgavata Upapurana (67.1-125) appears to be of comparatively recent origin.

Lord Shiva also has DashaSahasranamas (10,000 names) that are found in the Mahanyasa.

Rudram Chamakam

The Shri Rudram Chamakam, also known as the Śatarudriya, is a devotional hymn to Shiva hailing him by many names.^[183][18

Etymology

The Sanskrit word śiva or Shivam (Devanagari शिव) 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.

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," i.e., 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.

The Pashupati seal

An Indus Valley seal with the seated figure termed pashupati.

A seal discovered during excavation of the Mohenjo-daro archaeological site in the Indus Valley has drawn attention as a possible representation of a "proto-Shiva" figure. This "Pashupati" (Lord of Animals,or Lord of 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.

This claim has not fared well with some modern academics. Gavin Flood characterizes these views as "speculative", saying that while 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, it is nevertheless possible that there are echoes of Shaiva iconographic themes, such as half-moon shapes resembling the horns of a bull. Historian John Keay is more specifically dismissive, saying:

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. In RV 2.33 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.

The identification of Shiva with the older god Rudra is not universally accepted, as Axel Michaels explains:

To what extent Śiva's origins are in fact to be sought in Rudra is extremely unclear. The tendency to consider Śiva an ancient god is based on this identification, even though the facts that justify such a far-reaching assumption are meager.

Rudra is called "The Archer" (Sanskrit: Śarva) This name appears in the Shiva Sahasranama, and R. K. Sharma notes that it is used as a name of Shiva often in later languages. and the arrow is an essential attribute of Rudra. The word is derived from the Sanskrit root śarv- which means "to injure" or "to kill" and Sharma uses that general sense in his interpretive translation of the name Śarva as "One who can kill the forces of darkness". The names Dhanvin ("Bowman")and Bāṇahasta ("Archer", literally "Armed with arrows in his hands") also refer to archery.

Attributes of Shiva

Third Eye: Shiva is often depicted with a third eye with which he burned Desire (Kāma) to ashes.^] There has been controversy regarding the original meaning of Shiva's name Tryambakam (Sanskrit: त्र्यम्बकम्), which occurs in many scriptural sources.In classical Sanskrit the word ambaka denotes "an eye", and in the Mahabharata Shiva is depicted as three-eyed, so this name is sometimes translated as "Having Three Eyes".^] However, in Vedic Sanskrit the word ambā or ambikā means "mother", and this early meaning of the word is the basis for the translation "Having Three Mothers" that was used by Max Müller and Arthur Macdonell. Since no story is known in which Shiva had three mothers, E. Washburn Hopkins suggested that the name refers not to three mothers, but to three Mother-goddesses who are collectively called the Ambikās. Other related translations have been "having three wives or sisters", or based on the idea that the name actually refers to the oblations given to Rudra, which according to some traditions were shared with the goddess Ambikā.^[76]

• Blue Throat: The epithet Nīlakaṇtha (Sanskrit नीलकण्ठ; nīla = blue, kaṇtha = throat) refers to a story in which Shiva drank the poison churned up from the world ocean. (see: Halāhala)

• Crescent Moon: Shiva bears on his head the crescent of the moon. The epithet Chandraśekhara (Sanskrit: चन्द्रशेखर "Having the moon as his crest" - chandra = Moon, śekhara = crest, crown) refers to this feature. The placement of the moon on his head as a standard iconographic feature dates to the period when Rudra rose to prominence and became the major deity Rudra-Shiva. The origin of this linkage may be due to the identification of the moon with Soma, and there is a hymn in the Rig Veda where Soma and Rudra are jointly emplored, and in later literature Soma and Rudra came to be identified with one another, as were Soma and the Moon.

• Matted Hair: Shiva's distinctive hair style is noted in the epithets Jaṭin, "The One with matted hair" and Kapardin, "Endowed with matted hair" or "wearing his hair wound in a braid in a shell-like (kaparda) fashion".A kaparda is a cowrie shell, or a braid of hair in the form of a shell, or more generally hair that is shaggy or curly.^] Depictions of Shiva with a flowing beard are to be encountered in Nepali and South Indian art, while most other forms show him clean-shaven. However, the depictions showing him with beard may be considered more traditional if his asceticism, associated in Hindu iconography with uncut hair and beard, is taken into account.
• Sacred Ganga: The Ganga river flows from the matted hair of Shiva. The epithet Gaṅgādhara ("Bearer of the river Gaṅgā") refers to this feature. The Ganga (Ganges), one of the major rivers of the country, is said to have made her abode in Shiva's hair.^[93] The legend of Bhagiratha states that when the sage of that name invoked the gods to send the divine Ganges to earth to relieve a drought and purify the remains of his ancestors, he was warned that the earth had not the capacity to withstand the descent of the Ganges from heaven, in pursuit of which he propitiated Siva to receive the Ganges upon her descent from heaven and release her with diminished force. Siva agreed to trap the youthful and mischievous Ganges in his matted locks and release her to the earth. It was thus, according to Hindu legend, that the Ganges came to be trapped in Siva's locks, and to be portrayed as flowing therefrom, in all representations of Siva.

• Ashes: Shiva smears his body with ashes (bhasma). Some forms of Shiva, such as Bhairava, are associated with a very old Indian tradition of cremation-ground asceticism that was practiced by some groups who were outside the fold of brahmanic orthodoxy. These practices associated with cremation grounds are also mentioned in the Pali canon of Theravada Buddhism. One epithet for Shiva is "Inhabitant of the cremation ground" (Sanskrit: śmaśānavāsin, also spelled Shmashanavasin) referring to this connection.

• Tiger skin: He is often shown seated upon a tiger skin, an honour reserved for the most accomplished of Hindu ascetics, the Brahmarishis. Since Shiva is held to be the greatest of ascetics, the depiction is in keeping with this belief. Shiva Bearing the Descent of the

• Serpents: Shiva is often shown garlanded with a snake.

• Trident: (Sanskrit: Trishula) Shiva's particular weapon is the trident.

• Drum: A small drum shaped like an hourglass is known as a "damaru" (Sanskrit: ḍamaru). This is one of the attributes of Shiva in his famous dancing representation^[103] known as Nataraja. A specific hand gesture (mudra) called ḍamaru-hasta (Sanskrit for "ḍamaru-hand") is used to hold the drum.This drum is particularly used as an emblem by members of the Kāpālika sect.

• Nandī, also known as Nandin, is the name of the bull that serves as Shiva's mount (Sanskrit: vāhana).^[106][107] Shiva's association with cattle is reflected in his name Paśupati or Pashupati (Sanskrit पशुपति), translated by Sharma as "Lord of cattle"^] and by Kramrisch as "Lord of Animals", who notes that it is particularly used as an epithet of Rudra.^[109]

• Gaṇa : In Hinduism, the Gaṇas (Devanagari: गण) are attendants of Shiva and live in Kailasa. They are often referred to as the Boothaganas, or ghostly hosts, on account of their nature. Generally benign, except when their Lord is transgressed against, they are often invoked to intercede with the Lord on behalf of the devotee. Ganesha was chosen as their leader by Shiva, hence Ganesha's title gaṇa-īśa or gaṇa-pati, "lord of the gaṇas".

• Mount Kailāsa in the Himalayas is his traditional abode.In Hindu mythology, Mount Kailāsa is conceived as resembling a linga, representing the center of the universe.

• Varanasi (Benares) is considered as the city specially-loved by Shiva, and is one of the holiest places of pilgrimage in India. It is referred to, in religious contexts, as Kashi.