Hindu God Lord Shiva the Destroyer
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Shiva
(Sanskrit: Auspicious One), or
Siva, is one of the main
Deities of Hinduism, worshipped as the paramount lord by the
Saivite sects of India. Shiva is one of the most complex
gods of India, embodying
seemingly contradictory qualities. He is the destroyer and the
restorer, the great ascetic and the symbol of sensuality, the
benevolent herdsman of souls and the wrathful avenger.
Shiva was originally known as
Rudra, a minor deity addressed only three times in the Rig
Veda. He gained importance after absorbing some of the
characteristics of an earlier fertility god and became
Shiva, part of the trinity, or
trimurti, with
Vishnu and Brahma.
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The Cult of Shiva
Shaivism, or Saivism, is one
of the most popular Hindu cults. It embraces many theological
practices, although all agree on three principles: pati. or God;
pasu, or individual soul; and pasa, or bonds that confine the
soul to earthly existence. The aim of Shaivites is to rid their
souls of bondage and achieve shivata, the "nature of Shiva".
They achieve this through ascetic practices and penances, with an
emphasis on yoga and renunciation. Many Shaivites become wandering
sadhus, or hold men. Shiavites mark their foreheads with three
horizontal marks representing the three aspects of
Shiva.
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Shiva
wears a snake coiled around his upper arms and neck symbolizing
the power he has over the most deadly of creatures. Snakes are
also used to symbolize the Hindu dogma of reincarnation. Their
natural process of molting or shedding their skin is symbolic of
the human souls transmigration of bodies from one life to
another.
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Thiruvalangadu, north of Madras, is associated with the dance
contest between
Shiva
and his consort in the form of
Kali.
According to legend,
Shiva
danced vigorously, and to subdue
Kali,
threw up his leg in the rhythm of the dance. Being a lady,
Kali
could not repeat this feat and stood dismayed. This dance
and the subjugation of
Kali,
are described in the hymns of the female saint-poet Karaikkal
Ammai.
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He
often holds a trident, which represents the Hindu trinity of Brahma,
Shiva and
Vishnu. It is also said to
represent the threefold qualities of nature: creation, preservation
and destruction, although preservation is usually attributed to
Vishnu.
As
the destroyer
Shiva is dark and terrible,
encircled with serpents and a crown of skulls.
In the pictures to the
right and left
Shiva wears sacred Rudraksha beads,
perhaps a reference to his earlier name Rudra. |
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The
crescent moon
Shiva wears on his crown, besides being a symbol of Kama
the goddess of nightly love, also represents the bull, Nandi, a
fertility symbol.
Shiva
holds a skull that represents samsara, the cycle of life, death and
rebirth. Samsara is a central belief in Hinduism.
Shiva
himself also represents this complete cycle because he is Mahakala
the Lord of Time, destroying and creating all things.
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Shiva is represented in a variety of
forms. One such form is as a lingam. The ovoid shape is
a representation of the absolute perfection of
Lord Shiva - if that which is
beyond form had to be given form, the lingam would be the closest
form to the mystical experience of the absolute perfection of
Shiva.
The Story of the
Shiva Lingam:
Shiva saw not sense in the transitory pleasures of life, so he
rejected samsara, smeared his body with ash, closed his eyes and
performed austerities.
Shiva's tapas generated so much heat that his body transformed into
a pillar of fire - a blazing lingam that threatened to destroy the
whole world. The gods did not know how to control Shiva's
fire.
Suddenly there appeared a yoni
- the divine vessel of the mother-goddess. It caught the
fiery lingam and contained its heat, thus saving the cosmos from
untimely destruction.
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Shiva also takes the form of
Ardhanari, his androgynous form. The right side of the
sculpture is
Shiva and the left side is
Parvati. The attributes
of each are split directly down the middle.
Another example of
Shiva's apparent synthesis of male and
female attributes is seen in his earrings. He wears one
earring in the style of a man and the other as a female as shown in
the two different earrings
Shiva
wears.
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In
the picture to the left you can clearly see
Shiva's third eye. The
third eye is a symbol of higher consciousness. It is also
something with which he can destroy his enemies "with fire." He
can also kill all the gods and other creatures during the
periodic destruction of the universe.
Shiva's third eye first appeared
when
Parvati, his wife, playfully
covered his other two eyes, therefore plunging the world into
darkness and putting it in danger of destruction.
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