|
|
Go to Hindu mythology
home page
Shiva
Shiva is represented in a wide range of kinds: in a pacific temper with his
consort Parvati and son Skanda, as the cosmic dancer (Nataraja), as a naked
ascetic, as a mendicant beggar, as a yogi, and as the androgynous union of Shiva
and his consort in one body, half-male and half-feminine (Ardhanarishvara). As
Bhairava, he is often depicted as a Dalit (previously called an untouchable) and
accompanied by a dog. He's both the nice ascetic and the master of fertility,
and he's the grasp of each poison and medicine, by means of his ambivalent power
over snakes. As Lord of Beasts (Pashupati), he's the benevolent herdsman-or, at
instances, the merciless slaughterer of the “beasts” which are the human souls
in his care. Although some of the combos of roles could also be explained by
Shiva's identification with earlier mythological figures, they arise primarily
from a bent in Hinduism to see complementary qualities in a single ambiguous
figure.
Shiva's feminine consort is thought underneath varied manifestations as Uma,
Sati, Parvati, Durga, and Kali; Shiva can be typically paired with Shakti, the
embodiment of power. The divine couple, together with their sons-Skanda and the
elephant-headed Ganesha-are mentioned to dwell on Mount Kailasa in the
Himalayas. The six-headed Skanda is said to have been born of Shiva's seed,
which was shed within the mouth of the god of fire, Agni, and transferred first
to the river Ganges and then to six of the celebrities in the constellation of
the Pleiades. According to another well-known fable, Ganesha was born when
Parvati created him out of the dirt she rubbed off throughout a shower, and he
acquired his elephant head from Shiva, who was responsible for beheading him.
Shiva's automobile in the world, his vahana, is the bull Nandi; a sculpture of
Nandi sits opposite the principle sanctuary of many Shiva temples. In temples
and in non-public shrines, Shiva can be worshipped within the type of the linga,
or phallus, usually embedded within the yoni, the symbol of the feminine sexual
organ.
Shiva is often depicted in painting and sculpture as white (from the ashes of
corpses which are smeared on his physique), with a blue neck (from holding in
his throat the poison that emerged at the churning of the cosmic ocean, which
threatened to destroy the world), his hair arranged in a coil of matted locks
(jatamakuta) and adorned with the crescent moon and the Ganges (in keeping with
legend, he brought the Ganges River to earth from the sky, the place she is the
Milky Means, by allowing the river to trickle by way of his hair, thus breaking
her fall). Shiva has three eyes, the third eye bestowing inward vision however
capable of burning destruction when focused outward. He wears a garland of
skulls and a serpent round his neck and carries in his two (generally 4) palms a
deerskin, a trident, a small hand drum, or a membership with a cranium on the
end. This cranium identifies Shiva as a Kapalika (“Cranium-Bearer”) and refers
to a time when he reduce off the fifth head of Brahma. The top stuck to his hand
till he reached Varanasi (now in Uttar Pradesh, India), a metropolis sacred to
Shiva. It then fell away, and a shrine for the cleaning of all sins was later
established in the place where it landed.
|
|
