Śiva
Possessing nothing and the source of all
wealth,
lord of the world and denizen of the abode of
the dead,
dreadful in form he’s called “Gentle” Shiva.
No one knows the Bearer of the Pinaka bow as
he truly is.
(KumSambh. 5.77; trans. Smith, 2005)
Śiva almost by nature defies definition and is, if
anything, an ambivalent god of contrasts. Although
he is often presented as the third aspect of the
Hindu trinity (trimūrti) – with → Brahmā assum-
̣ that of preserver,
ing the role of creator, → Viṣnu
and Śiva (or rather, Rudra) that of destroyer of
the universe at the end of a cycle of time – Śiva’s
full identity is far more complex. Indeed, from a
Śaiva perspective, Śiva encompasses this trinity
and is the great lord (Maheśvara), the supreme
power who pervades and transcends all existence.
His many names (Rudra, Bhava, Paśupati,
Maheśvara, etc.) reflect different aspects of this
identity. The development of his mythology and
cult is as complex as the historical formation of
Hinduism itself, and numerous aspects of this
development are still relatively unexplored.
A more intensive engagement with the study of
the mythology of Śiva was only started in the
West in the final decades of the 20th century, ini-
tiated by the highly influential study of W. Doni-
ger O’Flaherty (1973), followed several years later
by the works of S. Kramrisch (1981) and others
(e.g. Handelman & Shulman, 1997). Many of
these studies, however, tend to “exaggerate con-
sistency [of myths] and to isolate them from
sociohistorical contexts” (Lorenzen, 1987, 8),
and as such a more historically and culturally
informed study of this major Hindu deity is still a
desideratum. The present article highlights some
significant developments in Śiva’s mythology.
Early History of Rudra
Vedic or Non-Vedic?
The question of Śiva’s cultural background is one
that has received much attention from scholars
© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2009
Also available online – www.brill.nl
past and present. Studies of Śiva and of Hinduism
in general almost invariably start with a discus-
sion of the so-called proto-Śiva or Paśupati (“Lord
of Cattle”) Indus Valley seal, which shows a
horned figure, apparently seated in a yogic pos-
ture, possibly ithyphallic, with long nails (indicat-
ing his asceticism?) and surrounded by animals.
In the end, however, the identity of the figure
represented on this seal remains obscure, and,
given our limited knowledge of the Indus Valley
civilization in general, little (if anything) can
be said about a possible connection between this
figure and the later Hindu god Śiva (→ historical
periods).
A central issue at stake here is whether Śiva stems
from a Vedic (Āryan) or a non-Vedic (non-Āryan,
Dravidian) background. The debate revolves
around the question of whether the deity Rudra,
thought to be Śiva’s predecessor in the → Vedas, is
essentially an outsider or an insider to the Vedic
pantheon (see Srinivasan, 1983). Rudra in the
Vedas comes across as a dangerous god – a hunter
in the wilderness whose abode is in the moun-
tains in the north, who is clad in animal hide, has
braided hair, and is excluded from the Vedic sac-
rificial cult. No major Śrauta (“Solemn”) sacrifices
are offered to him, and later sources indicate his
exclusion from sacrifice. Instead he would receive
the remainder (ucchiṣtạ ) of what has been offered
to the gods during the sacrifice so that he will not
harm these offerings. A sense of fear underlies
the depictions of Rudra in the Veda. The issue of
the true background of Rudra remains unre-
solved, but the complex nature of Śiva himself
most probably points to a complex cultural back-
ground in which both Vedic and extra-Vedic ele-
ments have played a role.
Rudra in the Vedas
Only 3 out of the 1,028 hymns of the Ṛgveda
(→ Vedas) are exclusively dedicated to Rudra
(ṚV. 1.114; 2.33; 7.46; → Vedic gods). These hymns
may be said to have a predominantly negative
character in that they play upon Rudra’s danger-
ous and unpredictable nature. He is typically
requested not to strike with his arrows and to
BEH, vol. I
742
spare the cattle, children, and people of the vil-
lage. However, these same hymns also stress
Rudra’s healing powers. The god who strikes with
disease and death also has the power to heal.
These hymns are obviously meant to pacify a
deity who could be malevolent if not treated
properly.
By the end of the Vedic period, it is clear that
Rudra has taken on many aspects of other deities
in the pantheon and has grown in stature. In par-
ticular he shares certain traits with Agni and
Indra (→ Vedic gods), to the extent that some
scholars even hold the view that he represents a
particular form of these deities (see e.g. Das,
2000, with respect to Indra). Eight names of the
god are listed in the Brāhmaṇas (→ Vedas and
Brāhmaṇas), pointing to the amalgamation of dif-
ferent characters into that of a single deity. There
are variations in names, but a common list is
Rudra, Śarva, Ugra, Aśani, Bhava, Paśupati,
Mahādeva, and Īśāna (ŚBr. 6.1.3.10–18). These
names remain in vogue as epithets of Śiva in later
times. Most of these names also occur in book
15 of the Atharvaveda, a part of that Veda con-
nected with the enigmatic vrātyas, organized
bands of young, celibate → warrior ascetics living
on the edges of Vedic society. They worship a
deity Ekavrātya, who is also referred to as
Mahādeva or Rudra. It is not altogether unlikely
that their livelihood advanced and influenced the
development of the god’s cultic worship.
Another important stage in the development
of Rudra as an all-god is reflected in the
Śatarudrīya (lit. “Belonging to 100 Rudras”; YV.,
TaiSa. 4.5; VājSa. 16), which is a long hymn extol-
ling Rudra’s hundred names and forms. Rudra
comes across here as an ambiguous character
who roams the mountains and is not only master
of hunters and thieves but also guardian of the
field (kṣetrapāla), capable of taking on all forms
(viśvarūpa). A number of his later iconographic
features are already indicated: he is a hunter
with bow and arrow, he has a dark-blue neck
(nīlagrīva), his hair is wound up on his head
(kapardin), and he is said to be the master of
thousands of Rudras roaming in all directions.
The hymn has remained very popular and is pre-
scribed for ritual worship in a wide variety of
post-Vedic sources.
It is in the Brāhmaṇas that the first indications
of a more developed mythology of Rudra can be
found. He is said to have acquired his eight names
from Prajāpati (“Lord of Creatures”) at the time
Śiva
of his birth, when he wept eight times until he
was given his eight names (KauṣBr. 6.1–9). This
not only accounts for his name Rudra (derived
from the root rud, to weep), but also indicates a
more complex persona. In later times these eight
names reoccur in connection with the worship of
Śiva’s eight forms, which constitute his body
(aṣtạ mūrti, see below). A crucial myth in the
Brāhmaṇas tells of Rudra’s piercing of Prajāpati,
the creator god equated with the sacrifice, to pun-
ish him for committing incest with his daughter.
The same myth also accounts for Rudra’s being
granted the status of Paśupati. Various, divergent
versions of this episode are narrated in the
Brāhmaṇas (see Deppert, 1977), indicating the
god’s rising status and his natural conflict with
the Brāhmaṇa deity Prajāpati.
The Great Lord of the Śvetāśvataropaniṣad
The first Vedic text to present a developed theol-
ogy of Rudra as an all-god is the Śvetāśva-
taropaniṣad, generally regarded as one of the first
theistic → Upaniṣads, although perhaps later than
had been previously thought. While earlier gen-
erations of scholars tended to date this theistic
document to a period preceding the composition
of the → Bhagavadgītā, more recently a post-
Bhagavadgītā date has been proposed (Oberlies,
1988). The text shares specific terminology with
that used by the → Pāśupatas, the earliest known
sect of ascetics who worshipped Paśupati as their
lord, and it is by no means impossible that the
Śvetāśvataropaniṣad stems from a period when
the Pāśupata cult was already developing. The
Upaniṣad holds Rudra to be the great lord
(Maheśvara), identified with all kinds of supreme
principles, and recommends devotion (→ bhakti)
to him as the way to → liberation. It is also one of
the first texts that frequently uses the name Śiva,
in addition to Rudra, to refer to this great lord.
Its theology centers around the relationship
among three principles: god, souls, and matter/
nature (→ prakṛ ti). Ultimately it is Rudra alone
who can rescue the soul from the fetters (pāśa)
of existence; release is due to the knowledge of
this god, while the moment of liberation is
defined as merging with him (tanmaya). In this
theology the original status of the early god Rudra
has changed fundamentally: no longer regarded
as a dangerous outsider, only called upon in order
to keep him at bay, he has become the supreme
lord, the one god (eko devaḥ), master of creation
and destruction, in whose powers all creation
 Śiva
ultimately rests and upon whose grace final liber-
ation depends.
Śiva in the Two Epics
In the → Rāmāyaṇa and → Mahābhārata, Śiva
appears more and more as the supreme deity he is
to become in later times. No longer reducible to
the dangerous deity Rudra of the Vedic period,
here is a more developed and complex figure with
an extensive mythology. A noticeable difference
between Vedic Rudra on the one hand and epic
Śiva on the other is that the former appears as a
single deity, while the latter is married to the
Himavat’s daughter → Pārvatī (Umā), a situation
that informs much of the development of his later
mythology. Although both epics reflect a pre-
dominantly Vaiṣṇava perspective, the role of Śiva
is by no means a minor one, and, especially in the
later parts of the Mahābhārata, an increasing
presence of Śaiva material is noteworthy.
The Rāmāyaṇa
The Rāmāyaṇa in its current form may be said to
be the most Vaiṣṇava of the two epics, with its
depiction of its central hero, → Rāma, as an incar-
̣ . In comparison to the
nation (→ avatāra) of Viṣnu
Mahābhārata, there is less scope for the telling of
mythology beyond the main storyline, and, as a
source for the reconstruction of the early mythol-
ogy of Śiva, it does not have as much to offer as
the other epic. Nevertheless, some major myths
connected with Śiva are indicated, and the text
certainly shows evidence of a developing mythol-
ogy of Śiva. This is primarily attested in books 1
(Bālakāṇḍa, Childhood Book) and 7 (Uttarakāṇḍa,
Further Book), two books that are generally con-
sidered to belong to the later stages of the text
(Brockington, 1998, 446). Śiva frequently appears
as a granter of boons (vara), a role he also plays in
the Mahābhārata and one which presents him as
a major deity in charge of powers and destinies.
Three chapters of the Bālakāṇḍa (Rām. 1.33–36)
tell of Śiva’s marriage to Umā (a girl who prac-
ticed austerities [→ tapas]) and the birth of their
son Skanda (Kārttikeya; → Murukaṉ). The latter
episode is recounted two times. According to the
first version (Rām. 1.35), the gods approach Śiva
and Umā after the two have been making love for
a hundred years, and they request that Śiva retain
his semen, fearing its destructive power. Śiva
agrees, but some of the seed already emitted he
743
sheds on the earth, where Agni enters it, after
which it is transformed and turns into a white
mountain on top of which Kārttikeya is born in a
thicket of reeds. The second version (Rām. 1.36)
starts off in a different manner, with the gods
looking for a general to lead their army. On the
advice of Brahmā, Agni fathers a son upon the
celestial → Gaṅgā, who releases the burning
embryo at the foot of the Himālaya, where the six
kṛ ttikās (six heavenly nymphs [→ gandharvas and
apsarases] who afterwards became stars) breast-
feed him, thus accounting for the child’s name,
Kārttikeya. These two versions serve as early
examples of the complicated narrative of Skanda’s
birth, which remains a dominant theme in later
puranic mythology, with fatherhood being ascribed
to Agni, Śiva, or both, and with even more confu-
sion about the mother(s) of the child. In the end,
though, Umā always accepts Skanda as her son,
and in classical depictions of Śiva’s family, Skanda
is one of the couple’s two children, alongside
the elephant-headed Gaṇeśa (→ Gaṇapati/Gaṇeśa),
who does not yet make his appearance in the
two epics.
Other major myths alluded to or told in some
detail in the Bālakāṇḍa include Śiva’s destruction
of the god of love Kāma (Rām. 1.23.11–14) and
the descent of the holy river Gaṅgā (Rām.
1.42–43). The latter myth is recounted in great
detail, starting with Bhagīratha’s propitiation of
Śiva for the sake of his 60 thousand ancestors who
have not received the proper funerary rites, fol-
lowed by the descent of the heavenly Gaṅgā from
the sky, her loss in Śiva’s matted hair for many
years, and her final arrival on earth, where she
floods and purifies the ashes of Bhagīratha’s
ancestors. In this story Śiva comes across as a
great yogin and savior at the same time. Within
the Rāmāyaṇa’s narrative, it is noteworthy that
the bow of King Janaka, which Rāma breaks and
through which he wins the hand of Sītā (→ Drau-
padi and Sītā), is declared to be the bow formerly
belonging to Śiva, who used it at Dakṣa’s sacrifice
(Rām. 1.65.9–11). The Uttarakāṇḍa contains the
famous episode, depicted in many later works
of art, of Rāvaṇa attempting to uproot Mount
Kailāsa, after not being admitted to Śiva’s home
there by his door guardian, Nandin (→ sacred
animals; Rām. 7.16). Śiva presses the mountain
with his great toe, which is enough to make
Rāvaṇa scream and force him into submission.
744 Śiva
The Mahābhārata
While episodes concerned with Śiva in the
Rāmāyaṇa, with a few exceptions, do not affect
the overall narration of the story, the case of the
Mahābhārata is more complex (see Brockington,
1998, 249–256). Indeed, it has been observed by
many scholars that Śiva plays a crucial role in the
development of the outcome of the battle that
forms the heart of the Mahābhārata’s narrative.
Scholars with a structuralist perspective in par-
ticular have emphasized the complementary rela-
tionship of → Kṛsṇ ̣a on the one hand and Śiva on
the other (e.g. Scheuer, 1982). The battle is viewed
as a cosmic sacrifice (→ yajña), in which Kṛsṇ ̣a is
the preserver and upholder of → dharma (order),
connected with action (pravṛ tti), and Śiva the
great destroyer who appears at the end of time
(pralaya) and is linked to inaction (nivṛ tti). Vari-
ous central but opposing characters in the
Mahābhārata seem to have a special relationship
with Śiva, in particular the Pāṇdạ va hero Arjuna
and the Kaurava general Aśvatthāman, and Śiva’s
presence is needed at crucial moments for the
main narrative to evolve to its bloody outcome. In
addition, the epic is full of didactic portions in
which more sectarian Śaiva material has found its
place. These most probably belong to the later
stages of the redaction of the Mahābhārata.
A central episode in which Śiva plays a key role
concerns Arjuna’s acquiring of the magical and
all-powerful Pāśupata weapon (the arrow for his
bow Pināka). He attains it after a long and inten-
sive fight with Śiva disguised as a kirāta (moun-
tain man). Arjuna proves a match for the kirāta
for a long time but in the end has to accept defeat,
after which Śiva, who is pleased with Arjuna’s
heroism, manifests himself in true form and
grants him the weapon (MBh. 3.39–41). The story
has been very popular in devotional Śaivism,
especially in South India, where the episode is
found depicted on the panels of many temples. It
is also the subject of one of the classical
Mahākāvyas (court epics; → Sanskrit texts), the
Kirātārjunīya of Bhāravi (6th cent.). However, it
does not play a major role in the → Purāṇas, most
probably because it is so intrinsically tied up with
the story of the Mahābhārata. Another episode
connected to Arjuna’s arsenal of weapons is found
in the narrative of the Droṇaparvan (Book of
Droṇa), where, after receiving a vision of Śiva,
Arjuna and Kṛsṇ ̣a transform two snakes they see
in a lake into a bow and arrow by reciting the
Śatarudrīya hymn (MBh. 7.57) addressed to
Rudra.
There are other passages in the epic too where
characters receive a vision of Śiva. These epipha-
nies form an important source for tracing the
evolution of Śiva’s iconography (see Laine, 1989).
One of them is the vision granted to the sage
(→ ṛsị ) Upamanyu, who beholds Maheśvara,
seated on a bull, accompanied by Pārvatī, with
three eyes, a blue throat (nīlakaṇtḥ a), dressed in
white, surrounded by singing, dancing, and
jumping attendants, and with the crescent moon
on his crown (MBh. 13.14.115-119). Upamanyu
tells Kṛsṇ ̣a of this vision, which he received after
long austerities as a child, and tells him to wor-
ship Śiva as well. In these visions the god is
accompanied by his devoted wife Pārvatī and his
attendants, variously called gaṇas, pramathas, or
rudras, who display a variety of forms. He bears
the Pināka bow, a lance (śūla), an axe (paraśu),
and a staff (daṇḍa), and his vehicle is the bull
(vṛsạ bha). It is after worshipping Śiva and receiv-
ing such a vision that Kṛsṇ ̣a receives a son, Sāmba,
as a boon. The entire section (MBh. 13.14–18) is
filled with a spirit of devotion (bhakti), an ideal
that may be summed up by Upamanyu’s request
to Śiva after being offered a boon by him: “May
my devotion to you remain constant, O Śaṅkara!”
(MBh. 3.14.187).
Perhaps one of the most dramatic episodes in
which Śiva as Rudra is involved in the main nar-
rative is when he takes possession of Aśvatthāman
in the Sauptikaparvan (book 10; Book of the Noc-
turnal Combat). Possessed by Śiva, the Kaurava
general Aśvatthāman manages to enter the
Pāṇdạ va camp unseen at night to slaughter the
sleeping Pāṇdạ va warriors in revenge for the
deceitful killing of his father Droṇa. After
Aśvatthāman invokes Rudra and sacrifices him-
self on a sacrificial altar, the god appears, accom-
panied by terrifying creatures, and enters him
(MBh. 10.7), whereby it is effectively Rudra who
is the agent of the destruction that is to follow.
Here the god appears as the great destroyer, and it
seems fitting that at the end of the Sauptikapar-
van, the myth of Rudra’s destruction of the gods’
sacrifice is told, in which he likewise appears
in his destructive form (MBh. 10.18). As Kṛsṇ ̣a
surmises in the final verse of the book, it was
because he had secured Mahādeva’s favor that
Aśvatthāman could carry out the destructive
deed (MBh. 10.18.26).
 Śiva
The story of Rudra’s destruction of the sacrifice
is one of the most central to Śiva’s mythology and
is told on several occasions in the Mahābhārata
(MBh. 7.173; 10.18; 12.274; 13.154–155; app.I.28),
while numerous later versions can be found all
over the Purāṇas, indicating the centrality of this
myth to the mythological understanding of the
nature of the evolving deity Rudra-Śiva (see
Mertens, 1998). Essentially, the myth addresses
Rudra’s exclusion from sacrifice and his demand
of a share in it, but depending upon context, vari-
ant elements are added, changed, or deleted, cre-
ating an intricate mythological complex that
resists final explanation. While in the majority of
cases the agent of the sacrifice is the patriarch
(prajāpati) Dakṣa – hence the myth is often
referred to as The Destruction of Dakṣa’s Sacrifice
(dakṣamakhamathana; → Pārvati) – the Sauptika-
parvan’s version presents the gods in the role of
sacrificers. This may represent an earlier stage of
the myth. While in early versions it tends to be
Rudra himself who is angry because he has not
been invited and who consequently attacks the
sacrifice, demanding his share, in later versions
the anger about his exclusion and also the subse-
quent act of destruction tend to be attributed to
those who accompany him or to embodiments of
his fury, signaling a trend to define Śiva himself
as a more transcendent and ultimate deity. The
myth most probably arose at a time when Rudra’s
status was on the rise and his position vis-à-vis
the Vedic gods had to be redefined.
Another myth that attests to the opposition
between Śiva and the other gods is found in the
chapter preceding the destruction of sacrifice in
the Sauptikaparvan (MBh. 10.17). Here, Śiva as
Sthāṇu (“Post”), instructed to create living beings
by Brahmā (Pitāmaha), withdraws from the scene
of creation and engages in austerities for a very
long time, refusing to create beings that are
imperfect. After some time the impatient Brahmā
creates the prajāpatis (→ Vedic gods) headed by
Dakṣa, who accept the job of creation, but when
Śiva finally rises from the water and sees the
imperfect beings created by them, he tears out his
→ liṅga (aniconic phallic symbol) and casts it to
the earth in anger. This myth addresses a domi-
nant aspect of Śiva’s mythology: his opposition to
the creator god Brahmā. The great asceticism with
which he stores up his creative powers is defined
as the very opposite of Brahmā’s imperfect cre-
ative activity, and as such the conflict reflects a
745
more general opposition between the two ideals
of action (pravṛ tti) and nonaction (nivṛ tti),
respectively. The opposition between the two
gods has an earlier precedent in the antagonism
between Rudra and Prajāpati in the Brāhmaṇas,
but it becomes more defined in this myth and in
particular in the fully developed versions of the
Purāṇas. It also features the liṅga, the icon in
which Śiva is worshipped in temple ritual, but
which is remarkably absent in other parts of the
text, considering its prominent place in Śiva wor-
ship (see below).
As in the case of the Rāmāyaṇa, in the
Mahābhārata too Śiva frequently appears in the
role of dispenser of boons for acts of asceticism
(tapas), often with violent results. Thus, for exam-
ple, Jayadratha, king of the Sindhus and ally of
the Kauravas, secures the death of Arjuna’s son
Abhimanyu with the help of a boon received from
Śiva (MBh. 3.256.24–29; 7.51.9). In another pas-
sage relevant to the main narrative, Śiva grants
the overanxious → Draupadī in a former life a hus-
band five times after the same number of requests,
resulting in her marriage to all five Pāṇdạ va
brothers (MBh. 1.157.6–14; 1.189.41–49).
Other myths, however, are not intrinsically tied
up with the narrative, and these are the ones that
remain most prominent in the Purāṇas, repre-
senting perhaps the core of the god’s mythology
at the time. Mention has already been made of
the destruction of Dakṣa’s sacrifice and the oppo-
sition between Śiva and Brahmā. Some myths
build on earlier Vedic material, but they take it in
an entirely new direction, as is the case with the
story about the destruction of Tripura, the triple
city of the demon (→ asura) sons of Tāraka (MBh.
8.24; → Śrī Vidyā). After the three brothers have
taken control over the cosmos thanks to a boon
from Brahmā and start harassing everyone, the
gods seek the help of Śiva. The gods prepare a
magnificent chariot consisting of all that is
great in the universe (gods, constellations, ages,
planets, etc. are mentioned), and Śiva takes up
his position on this chariot. The very moment he
draws his bow, exactly a thousand years after the
demons had received their boon, the three cities
merge into one, whereupon Śiva releases a single
arrow with which he burns the triple city at once.
This myth of cosmic proportions, in which Śiva
rescues the three worlds of earth, sky, and heaven
from the hands of the demons, builds upon ear-
lier Vedic material, but at the same time there is
746 Śiva
much in here that is new and unprecedented. It
represents a new phase in Brahmanical mythol-
ogy, in which the gods have to rely on Śiva’s power
to carry out their tasks and occupy their posi-
tions. In myths such as these, Śiva has become a
savior even for the gods.
Variant versions of the descent of the Gaṅgā
(MBh. 3.107–108) and the birth of Skanda
(MBh. 3.213–221; 9.43–45; 13.83–86), already dis-
cussed in connection with the Rāmāyāṇā above,
also appear in the Mahābhārata, attesting to a
shared and rapidly expanding mythology. The lat-
ter story also served as the model for the
Kumārasambhava (Birth of Kumāra; → Sanskrit
texts), the beautiful court poem of the 5th-
century Sanskrit poet and playwright Kālidāsa,
which is a rich source of early Śaivism in its
own right. In addition to Skanda’s birth story,
the Mahābhārata tells of Skanda’s consecration
(abhiṣeka) as general (senāpati) of the army of the
gods and his defeat of a number of demons (MBh.
9.45.64–81). In later times it is specifically Tāraka
whom Skanda conquers and for which his birth is
needed, but this passage shows that the mythol-
ogy of Skanda was still evolving at the time and
subject to change and transformation. Skanda is a
relative newcomer in the pantheon, a deity not
mentioned in the Vedas, and as such these myths
may be seen as representing different ways of
accommodating him in the pantheon of the gods.
While they do not directly deal with Śiva, these
episodes are nevertheless essential parts of Śiva’s
mythology because they concern the conquests
of his son, indicating not only Śiva’s rise to prom-
inence but also his fluidity and adaptability.
Śiva appears to be a god whose nature remains
to a certain extent open and who could as
such easily accommodate new elements, which
explains the complexity of his mythology in the
classical Purāṇas, where this process has already
taken place.
Many other aspects of Śiva’s mythology are
dealt with in the Mahābhārata, although there are
also famous episodes of puranic mythology that
are still remarkably absent, such as his drinking
of the kālakūṭa poison (→ asuras), his chopping off
of Brahmā’s head, and his visit to the Pine Forest
sages (see below). Other episodes are only hinted
at by an epithet or a simile and do not receive
extensive treatment, a good example being the
slaying of the demon Andhaka (MBh. 7.130.38;
7.131.53; 7.172.65; 8.15.18; 13.36.31; Rām. 3.290.27;
6.33.6; 7.6.26). The Anuśāsanaparvan (MBh. 13,
Book of Instruction), in particular, is a rich source
for the reconstruction of early Śaiva mythology,
but it has not yet been subjected to systematic
scrutiny. This book also contains one of the
first references to the puranic trimūrti (having
three forms as Brahmā, Viṣnu ̣ , Rudra) doctrine,
although there are some suggestive passages in
the Nārāyaṇīyaparvan (Book of Nārāyaṇīya) as
well (e.g. MBh. 12.328.12–17). According to
Mahābhārata 13.14.183–185, it is Śiva who brings
forth Brahmā from his body to create the cosmos,
Viṣnụ to protect it, and Rudra to destroy it. This
passage clearly reflects sectarian influence, with
its emphasis on Śiva as the ultimate source of
these three agent-deities. It is in the probably late
Anuśāsanaparvan also that the Kṛsṇ ̣a and Upa-
manyu episode occurs, which is characterized by
a new spirit of devotion absent in other parts of
the epic.
Liṅga Worship
It is curious to note that the epics have little to say
on the subject of liṅga worship, considering the
importance of worship of Śiva in his aniconic,
phallic form in later Śaiva religion and the abun-
dance of evidence to show that liṅga worship was
already widespread at the time of the start of the
Common Era. It seems likely that liṅga worship
developed only relatively late, and there is in
any case no clear evidence for a phallic Rudra
in the Vedas, although some scholars have tried
to connect the śiṣṇadevas (penis worshippers)
criticized in Ṛgveda (7.21.5; 10.99.3) with early
forms of Rudra worship. One of the earliest
surviving liṅgas may be the realistic phallus
fronted by a two-armed Śiva from Gudimallam,
Andhra Pradesh, which is usually dated before
the start of the Common Era. The majority of
early examples, however, come from Mathura
and environs, where liṅgas have been found at
least from the time of the Kushana period (Kre-
isel, 1986, 44–45). These early liṅgas are often pro-
vided with either a single head (ekamukhaliṅga)
or a row of four heads facing the four directions
(caturmukhaliṅga). It is in this context that an
episode from the Mahābhārata is relevant (see
Bakker, 2002).
According to a story told in the Ādiparvan
(MBh. 1.203, First Book), two demon brothers
Sunda and Upasunda could only be killed by each
other, whereupon Viśvakarman (“All-Creator”;
 Śiva
→ Vedic Gods) created a beautiful nymph called
Tilottamā to seduce them with her captivating
beauty so that they would kill each other. Before
visiting the demons, however, she takes leave
of the gods and circumambulates them in respect.
At that time Sthāṇu (another name for Śiva mean-
ing “Motionless” or “Post”) emits three more faces
in his desire to see her and as a result becomes
four faced (caturmukha). In the Anuśāsanaparvan
(MBh. 13.128.3–8), Śiva explains how his four
forms (caturmūrti) exercise different functions:
sovereignty with his eastern face, sporting with
Umā with his northern face, conveying happiness
with his western face, and destroying creatures
with his southern face. Although there are varia-
tions among the early four-headed liṅgas from
Mathura, a similar differentiation of individual
faces and functions of Śiva clearly underlies these
sculptures as well.
As H. Bakker (2002) has observed, there are
only a few passages in the Mahābhārata where
liṅga worship is acknowledged, and these are
generally characterized by an apologetic mode.
Ṛsị s (sages), gods, gandharvas, and apsarases also
worship the liṅga, says Mahābhārata 7.173.84,
suggesting that man should do the same and reap
its benefits. By contrast, the Rāmāyaṇa attributes
liṅga worship to the demons (rākṣasas), headed
by Rāvaṇa, who installs a golden liṅga on an altar
of sand on the banks of the river Narmadā and
worships it with incense and flowers, followed by
song and dance (Rām. 7.31.38–40). In opposing
ways, both epics seem to attest to the reluctance
with which liṅga worship was acknowledged by
the Brahmanical elite at the time.
Śiva in the Purāṇas
It is from the Purāṇas that most medieval and
modern conceptions of Śiva derive, and their
influence upon the historical development of the
religious culture of Hinduism cannot be overesti-
mated. Unfortunately, the Purāṇas, a huge corpus
of anonymous religious texts, are notoriously dif-
ficult to date. They present themselves from an
ahistorical, higher-religious perspective and have
been subjected to numerous revisions and adap-
tations through the course of time. Indeed, many
of the quotations from puranic texts in medieval
testimonia, the Dharmanibandhas (medieval
digests of dharma [law] texts; → Sanskrit texts),
cannot be traced in the current editions of these
747
texts. Given this confusing state of affairs,
scholars have often shied away from a historico-
philological study of the Purāṇas and resorted to
structuralistic methods to analyze the entire cor-
pus simultaneously instead (Doniger O’Flaherty,
1973). Significant progress has been made in recent
years, however, with the critical edition and study
of one Purāṇa, the original Skandapurāṇa, and
this has the potential of revolutionizing the field.
This Purāṇa is particularly important for the
study of the mythology of Śiva because it is with-
out a doubt one of the oldest Śaiva Purāṇas
and has influenced, directly or indirectly, many
of the Purāṇas that came after, such as the
Matsyapurāṇa, Liṅgapurāṇa, and Śivapurāṇa. It
should not be confused with the text known
by the same name in India today, since that
text, divided into khaṇḍas (sections, such as
the Kedārakhaṇḍa about Kedarnath and the
Kāśīkhaṇḍa about Varanasi, Kāśi being another
other name for Varanasi), is rather a collection
of individual texts, composed in different areas
and at different times, which are attributed to
but never actually formed part of one single
Skandapurāṇa (see Adriaensen, Bakker & Isaac-
son, 1998). The original Skandapurāṇa is a crucial
work for the study of the development of Śiva’s
mythology because it shows an early, develop-
mental stage of myths that later became classic. It
also attests to the growing presence of Śaivism as
a dominant religion in early medieval India. The
present section takes into account some of the
new insights gained from this text.
Śiva in the Skandapurāṇa
The Skandapurāṇa (6th/7th cent. CE) advocates
Śiva devotion and presents a Śaiva vision
of the cosmos and its affairs. Śiva is the supreme,
all-powerful lord, accompanied by his devoted
wife Pārvatī. The central theme of the text is self-
professedly the birth of Śiva’s son Skanda, which
accounts for its name: Ancient Narrative of
Skanda. The Purāṇa opens with a question of the
sage Vyāsa to Brahmā’s mind-born son, the sage
Sanatkumāra, how Skanda can be the son of
Rudra and of Vahni (the god of fire), of the
Gaṅgā, of Umā, of Svāhā, of Suparṇī, of the
mātṛkās (mothers), and of the kṛ ttikās. The ques-
tion hints at the complicated development of
the myth of Skanda’s birth (see above), while it
also presents the Skandapurāṇa as a continuation
of the Mahābhārata, for it is in that epic, tradi-
tionally attributed to the very sage Vyāsa who is
748
asking the question here, that Skanda’s birth is
narrated.
The Skandapurāṇa is Sanatkumāra’s answer to
this question, but it is in fact mostly about other
matters. It presents a perspective of the cosmos in
which Śiva is the supreme lord (Maheśvara) who
controls all affairs in the universe and who grants
liberation to his devotees. As such, Śiva is pre-
sented as a benign and positive god in contrast to
the earlier, terrifying Rudra of early Vedic litera-
ture. The Skandapurāṇa bears testimony to a
highly developed Śaivism, in which previous
mythology is placed in a Śaiva perspective and
new Śaiva mythology is added. It also testifies to
the significant development of Śiva’s iconography.
Perhaps most important for Śiva’s identity by the
time of composition of the Skandapurāṇa is his
close relationship with his wife Pārvatī. This is
also borne out by the sculptures of Śiva produced
in the early period, which very rarely depict him
on his own. In all affairs he is accompanied by
her, and although she takes up a subordinate
position, she is considered to be the most impor-
tant power in the cosmos next to her husband,
Śiva himself. The text has been instrumental in
the development of the cult of the Great Goddess
(→ Mahādevī) and provides important evidence of
the integration of the many local goddesses of
India into that of the Great Goddess, here identi-
fied with Pārvatī, Śiva’s devoted wife. It shows that
the early history of what is often referred to as
Śāktism (goddess worship) is intrinsically tied up
with the history of Śaivism (see Yokochi, 2004).
In addition to the two epics, a number of new
myths make their appearance. One of them is the
story about Pārvatī’s austerities (tapas) in order to
gain a fair complexion after Śiva had teasingly
called her “dark” (kṛsṇ ̣ā; SkP. 34.4). It is in this
context that the mythology of the Great Goddess
is developed, for the text tells us that Pārvatī, the
daughter of the Himālaya who was married to
Śiva as Satī (→ Pārvatī) in a previous age, acquired
her fair (gaurī) complexion through her austeri-
ties and sloughed off her dark skin, which trans-
formed into a dark virgin goddess, Kauśikī (SkP.
58). This goddess is a demon-killing goddess,
responsible among others for the killing of the
buffalo-demon, an event depicted in numerous
Mahiṣāsuramardinī (“Destroyer of the Buffalo-
Demon”) images from this period. She gives rise
to various other local goddesses, whose names
and abodes are mentioned, attesting to their
mythological and hierarchical integration (SkP.
Śiva
68.1–10). The fair Pārvatī, in contrast, is married
to Śiva, and she is his devoted companion,
although the couple have their occasional quar-
rels as well, which remain characteristic also for
their relationship in later times. A constant theme
running through these quarrels is Pārvatī’s desire
for a real and natural-born son of her own, a
desire that remains unfulfilled with a husband
like the archetypical yogin Śiva.
One of the major new myths told in the
Skandapurāṇa is that of the slaying of the demon
Andhaka. His birth and life are remarkable in
many respects. Andhaka is born when Pārvatī in
jest blindfolds Śiva’s eyes, through which all the
worlds become dark (andha). However, Śiva and
Pārvatī do not keep this son born from darkness,
for Śiva gives Andhaka to the childless demon
Hiraṇyākṣa as a reward for his austerities and
informs him that the child cannot be killed by
anyone but Śiva himself (SkP. 73.76–95). Later in
life, after gaining a boon from Brahmā that he can
only be killed if he does not pay his respects to
the mother of the world (Lokamātṛ), Andhaka
gains sight of Devī and falls in love with her.
Being warned by the good demon Prahlāda that
she is the wife of Śiva, he insists on marrying her,
and a long battle commences with Śiva’s gaṇa
(attendants) army (SkP. 130–155). In the end, Śiva
commands his spear (śūla) to pierce him. How-
ever, from the drops of blood falling on the
ground, new Andhaka clones are born, who are
then eaten by the yogeśvarīs, ferocious goddesses
created by Śiva on the spot. Andhaka himself is
cooked by the heat of the sun for a thousand years
while he is impaled on the tip of the spear. As a
result, he is purified, and, recognizing Śiva to
be the cause of all, he praises him and asks to
become a gaṇa. This request is granted, and with
this things return to normal. The myth has
remained very popular, and the central moment
of the battle when Andhaka remains suspended
in midair on the tip of Śiva’s spear recalls the
famous panels of the cave temples at Elephanta,
Ellora, and elsewhere. One of the most elaborate
Mahākāvyas, Ratnākara’s Haravijaya (9th cent.),
is entirely devoted to this story of Śiva’s victory
over Andhaka.
The Andhaka myth also illustrates in an
extreme way a dominant concern of Śiva’s mythol-
ogy in the Purāṇas, in particular in this early
period, namely, how a being becomes a gaṇa or
gaṇapa of Śiva (Granoff, 2004, 112–116). The
ideal of puranic Śaiva religion may be summed
 Śiva
up as reaching the state of a gaṇa of Śiva
(gāṇapatya). These gaṇas are Śiva’s loyal assis-
tants, accompanying him and the goddess wher-
ever they go, and they perform all kinds of often
destructive tasks for their master. Together they
constitute Śiva’s army, but some of them have a
more individual character of their own, and their
life stories are told, examples in the Skandapurāṇa
being Nandin (Śiva’s door guardian and master
of the troops, not to be confused with the reclin-
ing bull who is Śiva’s vehicle, to be seen in all
Śiva temples and nowadays commonly referred
to as Nandi), Piṅgala (a former → yakṣa, spirit,
turned gaṇa who becomes the protector of the
sacred site of Varanasi), and Somanandin (a tiger
who becomes the special servant of Pārvatī). It
is their intense devotion (bhakti) that is crucial
to their acquiring the status of a gaṇa, and as
such these stories provide examples of the true
character of Śiva devotion to the followers of
the religion.
The opposition between Śiva and Brahmā, the
god of creation, harking back to the old conflict
between Rudra and Prajāpati in the Brāhmaṇas,
continues in the Skandapurāṇa but becomes more
marked in a new religious setting. When Brahmā
grows haughty, considering himself to be the
most excellent being in the universe, a magnifi-
cent, luminous orb (maṇḍala) appears in the sky,
and Brahmā has to emit a fifth head (he is already
four headed) in order to see it. When he expands
his head in anger to eclipse it, the god in the orb
instantly chops off this expanding head with the
nail of his left thumb. A voice in the sky reveals to
him that Nīlalohita (another name of Śiva) has
just chopped off his head to teach him a lesson.
Subsequently Nīlalohita takes up Brahmā’s head
and starts begging with it for a period of 12 years
until he installs it at a spot called Mahākapāla
(“Great Skull”; SkP. 5–7). This myth is told in
many Purāṇas afterwards with variations, although
in most cases the one who chops off Brahmā’s
head is identified as → Bhairava, a terrifying form
emitted for this purpose by Śiva and one of his
many mūrtis (manifestations). The spot where
Bhairava drops the skull is usually identified with
Kapālamocana (“Release of the Skull”) in Vara-
nasi, which became a major pilgrimage site in the
medieval period. The 12-year begging round with
a skull for an alms bowl conforms to the penance
for killing a Brahman (brahmahatyā) according
to the law books (YājSm. 3.243). The skull-bowl
also became the characteristic attribute of the
749
Kāpālikas (“Skull Bearers”), a radical cult of Śaiva
ascetics who immersed themselves in the nature
of Rudra, abandoning all notions of → purity and
impurity.
Further evidence for the Skandapurāṇa’s sec-
tarian standpoint comes from the incidents
involving Viṣnu ̣ ’s incarnations (avatāra). These
episodes have been studied by P. Granoff (2004),
who has shown that they testify to the critical
assimilation of Vaiṣṇava mythology in a Śaiva
milieu. In these episodes Śiva interferes after two
animal avatāras of Viṣnu ̣ have done their job.
Śiva’s interference is necessary to prevent them
from doing any further harm and to allow Viṣnu ̣
to return to his proper form. In one case Śiva
takes on the form of the Śarabha, a fabulous
eight-footed animal, to allow Viṣnu ̣ the man-lion
(Narasiṃ ha; →Viṣnu ̣ ) to return to his proper form
by putting up a simple fight with him, which ends
in the latter’s recognition of Śaṅkara’s supremacy
(SkP. 71.48–72). In the second case it is Śiva’s son
Skanda who finishes the boar (Varāha; →Viṣnu ̣ )
incarnation by striking him in the heart with his
spear, after the boar’s own son Vṛka had destroyed
Skanda’s garden (SkP. 109–110). In a similar way,
later Vaiṣṇava Purāṇas also accommodate Śaiva
mythology by giving it a Vaiṣṇava twist.
If anything can be deduced from this rich
material, illustrated here with just a few examples,
it is that by the 7th century, Śaivism had become
a dominant religious force on the scene and that
mythology played a major role in the integration
and assimilation of the different local cultures of
India under the heading of a grand Brahmanical
religion devoted to the great god Śiva.
Further Developments in the Purāṇas
Other Sanskrit Purāṇas that contain a significant
body of Śaiva mythology include the Vāyupurāṇa,
Matsyapurāṇa, Liṅgapurāṇa, Śivapurāṇa, Kūrma-
purāṇa, Saurapurāṇa, and various late khaṇḍas
ascribed to the Skandapurāṇa, although this is by
no means an exhaustive list. Among these, only
the Vāyupurāṇa precedes the time of composition
of the Skandapurāṇa. The Kūrmapurāṇa contains
a semi-independent work called the Īśvaragītā,
which is regarded as the Śaiva equivalent of
the Bhagavadgītā. The Purāṇas mentioned are
not all exclusively Śaiva, but it is fair to say that in
their current form they reflect a dominant Śaiva
sectarian ideology. However, major developments
in the mythology of Śiva are not confined to the
Śaiva Purāṇas alone, for Purāṇas with a Vaiṣṇava
750
viewpoint have played a significant role in the
process as well. An exhaustive overview cannot
be given here, but a few significant developments
in Śiva’s mythology in puranic literature may be
pointed out.
An episode that features only briefly in the
Skandapurāṇa but is prominent in most medieval
Purāṇas is Śiva’s visit to the hermitage of the Pine
Forest (Devadāruvana) sages. As in the case of
other myths, there are many (often conflicting)
versions, but the gist of the story is that Śiva visits
the sages’ hermitage on his begging round as a
naked mendicant with an erect penis, which
offends the sages who are living an orthodox life
there together with their wives and sons. In most
accounts the wives fall madly in love with this
naked beggar and start following him, showing
signs of intensive longing. Sculptural depictions
of this episode are known as bhikṣāṭanamūrtis
(manifestations as the beggar). Jealous with rage,
the sages cause Śiva’s penis (liṅga) to fall by pro-
nouncing a curse. There is disagreement among
the different sources, dependent upon the sectar-
ian background, whether it is ultimately Śiva
himself who voluntarily abandons his liṅga or
whether it is due to the power of the curse of the
sages. When Śiva’s liṅga falls to the ground, the
entire universe falls into disorder, and the sages
seek the help of Brahmā to instruct them as to
what has happened. Brahmā tells them that it was
not some anonymous beggar who appeared in
their hermitage, but the great god Śiva himself,
and they should propitiate him by setting up
his liṅga and worshipping it. When the sages
do so, Śiva is pleased, and the universe again
returns to its former state. The myth is a good
example of an etiological myth explaining the
origin of liṅga worship and allows for numerous
adaptations and retellings. Many places in India
indeed claim to be the original Devadāruvana,
most notably Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu,
whose local Māhātmya (glorification), the Cidam-
baramāhātmya, centers around the myth of
Śiva in the Forest of Pines (see Handelman &
Shulman, 2004).
Another etiological myth explaining the origin
of the liṅga and its worship is at the same time a
telling example of the sectarian background of
some of the puranic mythology. It starts with
Brahmā and Viṣnu ̣ arguing about who is greater, a
vain dispute that is finally resolved by Śiva, who
appears in a magnificent column of light. Brahmā
Śiva
and Viṣnu ̣ try to find the end of it, Brahmā in the
form of a swan flying upwards and Viṣnu ̣ in the
form of a boar finding his way downwards, but
neither succeeds, and both have to recognize the
supremacy of the great god Śiva. Sculptural rep-
resentations of this episode, traditionally known
as liṅgodbhavamūrti, are particularly popular in
South India.
The Purāṇas frequently refer to Śiva as an
androgynous god (Ardhanārīśvara). In depic-
tions of Śiva in this form, the right side of the
image shows male features and the left side
female. This form of Śiva already makes its first
appearance in Kushana-period sculptures from
Mathura, which suggests that it played a funda-
mental role in the early development of Śaiva
imagery and theology. While the concept of a
creator god who divides himself into male and
female parts has a long history going back to the
time of the Brāhmaṇas and initially involves
Prajāpati or Brahmā, by the time of the Purāṇas,
it is Śiva who is presented as the god who gives
rise to creation through the union of his two sides
(Meinhard, 1928, 27–34). In the mythological
cycle, this division of Śiva or Rudra into male and
female sides tends to follow upon an initial,
unsuccessful period of ascetic creation by the
impotent, mind-born sons of Brahmā. The imag-
ery is cosmic and reflects a → Sāṃ khya philosoph-
ical background: the male side is → puruṣa, the
conscious subject, identified with the great god
Śiva, while the female side is → prakṛ ti, the mate-
rial matrix, conceived of as the god’s → śakti
(power) and personified as the goddess Umā. The
theology involving a male god who is the con-
scious and transcendent subject overseeing cre-
ation and a goddess who is the active agent of
material creation remains characteristic for many
later forms of Śaivism. Also central to the under-
standing of Śiva in the Śaiva Purāṇas is the con-
cept of the god’s eight forms or embodiments
(aṣtạ ṃ ūrti): earth, water, fire, air, ether, the sun,
the moon, and the sacrificer (Meinhard, 1928,
9–14). The aṣtạ mūrti theology, which is connected
with the eight names of Rudra mentioned in the
Brāhmaṇas, again indicates the concept of an all-
encompassing god who pervades and transcends
all existence.
Another conception attesting to the complex
character of Śiva and the merging of identities
concerns the composite deity Hari-Hara. Accord-
ing to this view, the gods Hari (Viṣnu ̣ ) and
 Śiva
Hara (Śiva) are actually one, although they take
on different roles and have distinguishing charac-
teristics. In sculptural depictions, Hari-Hara is
typically represented as a four-armed deity whose
right side bears the characteristics of Śiva while
̣ . Somewhat
the left side has the attributes of Viṣnu
similar to the trimūrti doctrine referred to in the
introduction above, this may reflect an attempt to
overcome sectarian differences by assigning dif-
ferent functions to the main Hindu deities,
although it should also be noted that from a Śaiva
perspective the supreme deity who encompasses
and transcends these aspects is ultimately Śiva and
not any other god. In other words, this is not just
religious tolerance but syncretism with a sectarian
bias. Indeed, Śiva’s relationship to Brahmā on the
one hand and to Viṣnu ̣ on the other remains a
dominant concern of puranic mythology, attested
also by numerous other episodes in which both
gods play a role (Meinhard, 1928, 34–43).
While Skanda appears as a son of Śiva and
Pārvatī already in the epics, the couple’s other
son, the elephant-headed Gaṇeśa (→ Gaṇapati/
Gaṇeśa), only makes his appearance in the
Purāṇas relatively late, even though he is already
represented in sculpture at an earlier time: he is
absent in the Vāyupurāṇa and Skandapurāṇa. In
most later Purāṇas, however, he is a well-estab-
lished member of Śiva’s household, which typi-
cally consists of Śiva and Pārvatī, their sons
Skanda and Gaṇeśa, the bull (vṛsạ ), and their
doorkeeper Nandin, all dwelling on Mount
Kailāsa. Variant birth stories of Gaṇeśa exist,
often involving an explanation of the deity’s ele-
phant head. According to one such story, told in
the Śivapurāṇa (Rudrasaṃ hitā, Kumārakhaṇḍa),
Gaṇeśa was formed from the dirt of Pārvatī’s
body when she wanted a servant of her own. The
beautiful young man was stationed at her door to
hold guard while she was bathing. One time when
Śiva arrived, he did not recognize him to be
Pārvatī’s son, got into an argument with him, and
in anger cut off his head. When he was informed
that this was Pārvatī’s own son, he quickly ordered
the gods to seek for the first being they could find,
cut off its head, and join it to Gaṇeśa’s body. This
being happened to be an elephant with a single
tusk (ŚiP. 2.4.19.49). This etiological myth not
only explains the origin of the deity’s bodily fea-
tures but also suggests the relatively late arrival of
Gaṇeśa as a recognized member of Śiva’s house-
hold as such.
751
The development of Śiva’s mythology is further
reflected in regional traditions. Local Māhātmyas
and Sthalapurāṇas (Purāṇas on sacred places,
temples or shrines), many of them written in the
Indian vernaculars, are concerned with the glori-
fication of specific localities and traditions and
shed much light upon the interaction between
the higher Brahmanical tradition and local cults
(→ tīrtha and tīrthayātrā). In particular, the Tamil
Purāṇas (→ Tamil texts) constitute an impressive
corpus of regional texts in which Śiva’s mythol-
ogy is extensively developed. These vernacular
Purāṇas are still relatively unexplored (see for the
Tamil Purāṇas: Shulman, 1980). Sacred sites of
Śaivism are present all over India, but by the
medieval period, 12 sites are held in particularly
high regard because they are home to the 12
jyotirliṅgas (columns of light): Somnath, Nagesh-
war, Bhimashankar, Ghishneshwar, Tryambake-
shwar, Mahakaleshwar (Ujjain), Omkareshwar,
Rameswaram, Mallikarjuna, Kedarnath, Vishvanath
(Varanasi), and Vaidyanath (ŚiP., Jñānasaṃ hitā
38). Śiva’s most beloved and sacred abode on
earth from the time of the Skandapurāṇa is Vara-
nasi, also called Avimukta because it is never
abandoned (a-vimukta) by him. The medieval
Kāśīkhaṇḍa contains an extensive mythological
cycle concerned with Śiva’s presence in the form
of liṅgas dotted all over the sacred town. Individ-
ual narratives take the form of etiological myths
in which the origin of a particular liṅga is
recounted, and they attest to the interaction
between regional and transregional traditions.
Sacred sites all over India have been instrumental
in developing Śiva’s mythology and often lay
claim to being the particular spot on earth where
Śiva performed the deeds for which he is remem-
bered in the puranic tradition.
Śiva’s Iconography
The iconography of Śiva is wide and varied. It
includes representations of the various individual
forms (mūrti) of the god, although the true nature
of Śiva remains embodied in the non-anthropo-
morphic liṅga. The anthropomorphic forms of
the deity can be divided somewhat arbitrarily
between ugra forms and saumya forms, repre-
senting his terrifying and his gracious sides,
respectively. Historically, however, these distinc-
tive features may represent the amalgamation of
752
An early carving of the dancing Śiva. Badami caves, Karnataka, circa 6th century CE (photo by Vasudha Narayanan).
different deities, and as such there is potential
scope for confusion. The classical image of Śiva
has a number of distinctive features. First of all,
the god’s matted hair stands out. It is adorned by
the digit of the moon on the one side and the
Gaṅgā flowing from his locks on the other, some-
times features a skull or a chaplet of skulls, and is
tied up by a snake. His forehead is characterized
by the fiery third eye, with which he reduced the
god of love (Kāma) to ashes when the latter once
tried to lure him out of his yogic concentration.
Images of Śiva can be multiheaded and have more
than two arms. In his arms he holds his charac-
teristic attributes, such as a trident (triśūla), spear
(śūla), water pot (kamaṇḍalu), beaded necklace
(akṣamālā), and a deer (paśu).
It is thought that among the earliest anthropo-
morphic representations of Śiva are the depic-
tions on the Kushana coins, datable to the early
centuries of the Common Era, although the exact
identity of the deity depicted on these coins
remains doubtful. Often identified as the Kushana
deity Oēsho, in the accompanying script the rep-
resented deity on these coins shares characteristic
Śiva
features such as the bull, trident, club, water pot,
and multiheadedness with Śiva, which may attest
to central Asian influence on the development of
the god’s iconography. Among the earliest anthro-
pomorphic depictions from Mathura and envi-
rons, besides the individual heads of the deity
protruding out of liṅga icons, two forms stand
out: one in which he is accompanied by his wife
Umā (umāsahitamūrti), the other representing
the deity in hermaphrodite form (ardhanā-
rīśvaramūrti). Both forms of the deity tend to be
ithyphallic. Depictions of narrative episodes only
make their appearance at a relatively late stage:
one of the earliest such depictions appears to be
that of the destruction of Dakṣa’s sacrifice, show-
ing a group of aggressive gaṇas (Kreisel, 1986,
plate A27).
Another anthropomorphic depiction from
Mathura that deserves mention is Śiva in the form
of the → Pāśupata teacher Lakulīśa. He has a
human body, not unlike that of the Buddha, and
is seated with a stick (lakula or laguḍa), while his
hands are held in the teaching gesture (Kreisel,
1986, plate 124). In this early image he is sur-
 Śiva
rounded by two pupils, but in later depictions a
group of four pupils became the standard.
Lakulīśa’s first pupil Kuśika is generally identified
with the Kuśika mentioned as the first of a lineage
of ten teachers in the Mathurā Pillar Inscription
of Candragupta of the Gupta year 61 (380 CE).
The Pāśupatas are the earliest established sect of
Śiva worshippers, and it is they in particular who
have been instrumental in the spread of Śaivism
in the early period. They revered Lakulīśa, the
first teacher of Pāśupata Yoga and purported
author of the Pāśupatasūtra, as an incarnation of
Śiva who descended to earth in Kārohaṇa/
Kāyāvataraṇa (Karvan, modern Gujarat). Later
Śaiva Purāṇas make him the 28th in a long suc-
cession of incarnations (avatāra) on earth, but in
the Skandapurāṇa, where he is mentioned for the
first time, this doctrine is not yet found (Bisschop,
2004, 41–44). Depictions of Lakulīśa can be
found from the 6th to 7th century in an increas-
ingly wide area, attesting to the rapid spread of
the Pāśupata movement throughout India.
By the medieval period, a standardization of
iconography of individual mūrtis had developed.
These mūrtis, many of which depict episodes of
puranic mythology, are especially well attested in
South India. Examples are the liṅgodbhavamūrti
(Śiva appearing in the liṅga before Brahmā and
Viṣnu ̣ ), gaṅgādharamūrti (wearing the Gaṅgā in
his hair), tripurāntakamūrti (riding on the chariot
to destroy the triple city), and bhikṣāṭanamūrti
(the beggar of the Pine Forest myth), but there
are numerous others (for an overview, see Bhatt,
2008, 211–308). Two particularly popular forms
in the south are dakṣiṇāmūrti (Śiva in the form of
the teacher seated beneath a banyan tree) and
naṭarājamūrti (“Lord of → Dance”). The latter form
is specifically connected to the influential temple
of Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu, which func-
tioned as a veritable state temple of generations of
Chola rulers of medieval India and is still a prom-
inent center of Śiva worship. The naṭarāja icon is
related to a unique variant of the Pine Forest story
as told in Tamil Nadu, according to which Śiva
starts his dance to counteract the sages who direct
various magically created weapons to him, which
all turn into attributes of his dance (Handelman
& Shulman, 2004). From another perspective, it is
an object of theological speculation for the → Śaiva
Siddhānta system still prevalent in Tamil Nadu,
where specific features of the icon are identified
with Śiva’s five fundamental acts (pañcakṛ tya) of
sṛsṭ ị (emission), sthiti (preservation), saṃ hāra
753
(dissolution), tirobhāva (concealment), and anu-
graha (→ grace).
Schools of Śaivism
The Pāśupatas represent the first sectarian tradi-
tion of Śiva worship, and they were as such
instrumental in the early development of Śaiva
ritual, worship, and theology. They meditated
upon Śiva under five aspects with the help of the
five Brahmā mantras, which are revealed in the
fundamental Pāśupatasūtra: Sadyojāta, Vāmadeva,
Aghora, Tatpuruṣa, and Īśāna. These five aspects
of god shaped much of Śaivism’s later theology
and iconography. The dominant form of Śaivism
during the medieval period was the school of
Śaiva Siddhānta. This tantric school (→ Tantrism)
was present all over the Indian subcontinent, and
its members played a prominent role in state
affairs as well because many later kings were initi-
ated in the Śaiva Siddhānta, and its priests fre-
quently served as chaplains to the king. This led
to the construction of a great number of state-
sponsored temples in the medieval period. The
tradition survives to the present day in Tamil
Nadu, but it has undergone many changes, par-
ticularly due to the absorption of → Vedānta
thought and the influence of the Tamil devotional
poetry of the → Nāyaṉārs, and as such it should be
properly referred to as Tamil Śaiva Siddhānta in
order to distinguish it from the earlier pan-Indian
tradition. Another tradition prevalent in South
India, specifically in the border areas of modern
→ Maharashtra and → Karnataka, is that of the
Vīraśaivas (heroic Śiva worshippers) or
→ Liṅgāyats (bearers of the liṅga). This sectarian
devotionalist movement goes back to the teach-
ings of the 12th-century Brahman reformer
→ Basava. In addition to these regional traditions,
a number of more radical tantric and nondualis-
tic traditions arose during the medieval period
under the names of Krama and Trika. They
evolved from an earlier Kāpālika background
(→ Aghoris and Kāpālikas), which centered on the
more macabre form of Śiva as Bhairava and
favored the use of death imagery in an attempt to
overcome all forms of dualism. Within these
tantric traditions, a gradual rise of the goddess
can be observed. Some of their most influential
texts and authors stem from → Kashmir, and they
survived in that part of the Indian subcontinent
for a long time, although these traditions were
754
not confined to Kashmir alone. They are often
grouped together under the heading of → Kash-
mir Śaivism, but this is a misnomer, if only
because the dualistic Śaiva Siddhānta was strong
in Kashmir up to the 11th century, when the
famous and influential Śaiva thinker → Abhinav-
agupta synthesized these and other traditions into
one all-encompassing, nondual, Kaula vision
(Sanderson, 1988; → Kaula Tantrism).
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Peter Bisschop