Śiva / Rudra

Śiva, also called Rudra, is the form of Parabrahman who holds the power of dissolution and change in the Trimūrti. The Trimūrti is Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva, who carry out creation (sṛṣṭi), preservation (sthiti) and dissolution (laya).

Many Purāṇas tell of his origin. In them he is born from Brahmā’s anger, stands in the cosmos in his eight forms, and is closely linked with the teaching on Vaikuṇṭha. The texts also show him as the highest devotee of Bhagavān Viṣṇu and Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, and at the same time as a distinct form of the same Parabrahman.

Names and epithets

• Rudra: “one who causes crying”, or “one who was told not to cry” (mā ruda). He was born weeping from Brahmā’s anger.
• Śiva: the auspicious one.
• Śaṃbhu: the source of happiness.
• Śarva
• Bhava
• Mahādeva
• Trikṣaṇa or Trinetra: the three-eyed one.
• Pinākin: bearer of the Pināka bow.
• Pāśupata: master of all paśus (souls).
• Sthāṇu: the immovable one.
• Kapardī: the one with matted locks.
• Nīlakaṇṭha: the blue-throated one.
• Umāpati: husband of Umā.

First birth from Brahmā’s anger

The Varāha Mahā Purāṇa (Chapters 2 and 33) tells this birth. Brahmā had created the world, but it was not growing. He burned with rage. From that rage a child was born and sat on Brahmā’s thigh. The child wept, and Brahmā comforted him. The child asked for a name, and Brahmā said: “Rudra”. The name comes from roda (crying), or from mā ruda (do not cry).

Brahmā asked Rudra to create. Rudra did not have enough strength for this. He dived into the primal waters and performed tapas (austerity). Meanwhile Brahmā’s mind-born sons and Dakṣa carried on the work of creation.

Chapter 33 gives more detail. Rudra came forth as an ancient being (purāṇa puruṣa) of a dark-tinged red hue (pīta-rakta), with yellow eyes, and with a great shout. Brahmā told him:

“You are capable. Create the world in an expansive form.”

Rudra answered by diving into the water. Then Brahmā produced Marīci and the others to continue creation.

Rudra rises and destroys Dakṣa’s yajña

The Varāha Mahā Purāṇa (Chapters 21 and 33) goes on. After ten thousand years of tapas under the water, Rudra rose. He saw a flourishing earth and heard the Vedic chants of Dakṣa’s yajña (fire ritual). He was angry that he had not been included. He cried: “Who has done all this without me?” and raised a great battle-cry. From his angry shout, millions of vetālas, bhūtas and pūtanas poured forth.

He built a war-chariot from the parts of the Veda and the rite:

• Horses: the Ṛg, Yajur and Sāma Vedas.
• Three axles: the three tattvas.
• Three wheels: the three savanas (pressings of soma).
• Axle: Dharma.
• Sound: Vāyu.
• Bow: Gāyatrī. Bowstring: Oṃkāra.
• Arrows: the seven musical notes.
• Driver: Brahmā himself.

Rudra came to Dakṣa’s yajña and destroyed it. He knocked out Bhaga’s eyes and Pūṣan’s teeth. The devas fled in all directions.

Brahmā then pleaded with him. Rudra restored Bhaga’s eyes, Pūṣan’s teeth and Kratu’s testicles (vṛṣaṇa), and gave the devas full knowledge. He took his share of the yajña (jyeṣṭha bhāga, the foremost share), which the Veda herself declared to be his.

Stotra of the devas

After this event the devas praised Rudra (Chapters 21 and 33):

“Viṣama-netra, Trikṣaṇa, thousand-eyed, O Parameśvara, salutation. Bearer of the club-like weapon, salutation. Destroyer of the triple city (Tripurāntaka), salutation. One who knocked out Bhaga’s eyes, salutation. Bearer of elephant-hide, salutation. Nīlakaṇṭha, Viśveśvara, Acyuta, protect us.”

Kailāsa

After the reconciliation Brahmā gave the mountain Kailāsa to Rudra as his lasting home. The name Pāśupati also came to be linked with this mountain (Chapter 21).

Caturdaśī

Brahmā declared Caturdaśī (the fourteenth day of the lunar fortnight) to be Rudra’s favoured tithi (Chapter 33). A person who fasts on this day, eats food made of wheat flour (godhūma anna) and feeds brāhmaṇas gains Rudra’s grace.

Rudra as a form of Viṣṇu

One Purāṇa passage (Chapter 10) presents Rudra as the rājasa mūrti (form of the quality of passion) of Nārāyaṇa:

“Keśava, with his rājasa aspect, created the time-form, fierce by nature, trident-bearing Rudra, and honoured his own rājasa mūrti with devotion.”

In Chapter 9 the same account says:

“That mūrti of Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa is Śaṅkara. And that Śaṅkara is himself Hari.”

In Chapter 17, in the teaching of Mahātapa, he says to Śiva:

“You yourself are Agni, prāṇa, apāna, Sarasvatī, ākāśa, vāyu, bodily dhātus, ahaṃkāra, Āditya… all of this is you, O Parameśvara.”

Rudra’s vision of Nārāyaṇa in the primal waters

In the Varāha Purāṇa (Book 2, Chapter 73), Rudra tells the ṛṣi Agastya of a vision. It came when he first dived into the cosmic waters after Brahmā told him to create. Rising from deep meditation, he saw eleven radiant figures (pādasa) rise from the waters, blazing like a forest fire. They were the Ādityas, hurrying toward the creation that Brahmā was setting in motion. They left without speaking.

Then Rudra saw a supreme being of rare beauty, dark as a rain-cloud, with eyes like fully opened lotuses, resting in the cosmic waters. This was Nārāyaṇa himself. Rudra asked who he was. The being answered:

“I am Nārāyaṇa, resting in the waters, the eternal one.”

Nārāyaṇa then gave Rudra the divine eye (divya-cakṣus) to see his true form. With it Rudra saw the lotus on Nārāyaṇa’s navel, Brahmā on the lotus, and himself within Nārāyaṇa’s body. All three of the Trimūrti were seen within the one cosmic form of Nārāyaṇa.

Filled with devotion, Rudra praised him with a great stotra. Two passages from it:

“O Nārāyaṇa! Upon your lotus dwells the ancient Creator Brahmā. I bow to him and to you. The one who created the entire universe abides in you, and you are beyond Brahmā’s understanding. I alone, purified by tapas, know you as the original, the eternal, the all-knowing.”

“Neither speech, nor mind, nor senses, yet you are full of consciousness. You are both saṃsārin and beyond saṃsāra. How can you be known, O Deva-vara?”

After the stotra Nārāyaṇa answered in a voice deep as clouds. He gave Rudra sarvajñatā (all-knowing power) so that he could take up creation. Rudra ended his account with these words:

“There is no deva higher than Prabhu Nārāyaṇa, apart from him alone.”

The Varāha Purāṇa shows here that Rudra’s power, existence and power to create all come from Nārāyaṇa, and that the Trimūrti is the threefold form of the one Paramātmā.

The Moha-śāstra

In the Varāha Purāṇa (Book 2, Chapter 70), Rudra himself tells Agastya how the Moha-śāstra, the teaching that deludes, began. Three yugas had passed. Nearly all beings, through sincere upāsanā (devotion) to Janārdana, were reaching liberation in great numbers. The devas who had already reached mukti (liberation) went to Nārāyaṇa in worry:

“O Deva-deva! All people are moving along the path to liberation. Who will remain to keep creation going? Who will dwell in naraka?”

Nārāyaṇa knew that creation had to continue. He said:

“In the Kali age, I am creating moha (delusion). It will make people fall into confusion. O Mahā-bāho Rudra! You too must create śāstras that cause delusion, showing small effort and great fruit, presenting false appearances, contrary conduct and deceptions, so that people are quickly deluded.”

Nārāyaṇa then hid his own true form. He said that from then on, people in general would pay less attention to the scriptures he had given.

Rudra followed this command. He composed the Niḥśvāsa Saṃhitā, a vast work of one lakh (one hundred thousand) ślokas. It became the Pāśupata-dīkṣā and the Pāśupata-yoga. Rudra says plainly that this teaching is a deviant form of Vedic karma (raudram) and an impure path:

“This, which is outside the Vedic path, is a minor (kṣudra) karma. It is raudra. It is without śuddhi.”

He also gives the background. Jealous ṛṣis once made an illusory cow collapse in the āśrama of the ṛṣi Gautama. Gautama then spoke a śāpa (a curse): the brāhmaṇas of the Kali age would become baidālika (cat-natured). The Niḥśvāsa Saṃhitā was revealed for those brāhmaṇas who had fallen from Vedic dharma, so that they would have at least some form of discipline.

The main teaching Rudra stresses is this. Those who see Rudra, Brahmā and Nārāyaṇa as separate are pāpakārins (doers of pāpa, sinners) and go to naraka. The three are one:

“Nārāyaṇa, Śiva, Viṣṇu, Śaṅkara, Puruṣottama: all these names declare the one eternal Para-brahman. Those who consider us separately are evil-minded and go to duḥgati.”

Kapāla-mocana at Kāśī

The Varāha Purāṇa (Book 2, Chapter 96) tells how Rudra cut off Brahmā’s fifth head, how the skull clung to his hand, and how he wandered for twelve years through all the tīrthas (sacred places) until the skull fell away in the Gaṅgā at Kāśī. This event is the basis of:

• the Kāpālika tradition of Śaiva renunciation;
• the Kapāla-mocana-tīrtha at Kāśī (Vārāṇasī);
• the vratas (vows) called Nagna-kāpālika, Mahā-vrata, Bābhravya and Śuddha-śaiva.

The tapas in the cremation ground after Tripura

The Varāha Purāṇa (Book 3, Chapter 136) tells a separate account of Śiva’s tapas in the śmaśāna (cremation ground) after the battle of Tripura. It is different from the Kapāla-mocana event.

When the three asura cities of Tripura were destroyed, Śiva’s weapons also killed those who lived in them and were not fighting: children, old people and women. This killing, like brahmahatyā, made Śiva lose his yoga, his māyā and his aiśvarya (lordly power). He stood motionless as Sthāneśvara, held fast by the weight of the pāpa he had done without meaning to.

Bhagavān Viṣṇu came to Śiva and brought back his awareness with a touch of compassion. Then Bhagavān Viṣṇu set out the way to put right the wrong:

1. Go to Samala, a cremation ground.
2. Take up the skulls of the dead and carry them.
3. Roam the cremation ground for thousands of divine years, eating the flesh of the dead and living in the place of the departed.
4. In time, travel to the āśrama of the ṛṣi Gautama.
5. There, Gautama’s gathered tapas-śakti (power of austerity) would knock the skull from Śiva’s hand. That would be the moment of release from the pāpa.

The Kapāla-mocana account comes from the cutting of Brahmā’s fifth head through Śiva’s pride. This account comes from the killing of those inside the cities by the weapon of destruction.

Pāśupati, master of all souls

After the Dakṣa event, Brahmā said to Rudra:

“You are Paśupati. The word ‘paśu’ refers to all souls. You dwell among them as pati, with the nature of a master. Hence you will be known as Paśupati.”

The Pāśupata dīkṣā (initiation) comes from honouring him in this way.

Appearance and iconography

• Weapons: the triśūla (trident), a bow, and arrows (the seven notes).
• Mount: the bull, Vṛṣabha.
• Ornaments: snakes as garlands and as the sacred thread (nāga-yajñopavīta), the crescent moon on his head, ash (bhasma) on his body, and a garland of skulls (asthimāla).
• Home: the mountain Kailāsa.
• Clothing: elephant skin (gaja-carmāmbara).
• Eyes: three, the third being fire; one eye is crooked.
• Form: Ardhanārīśvara, half man and half woman, when he was first born from Brahmā.

The eleven Rudras

When Brahmā created the first prajāpati and his wife to bring forth beings, Rudra, who had dived into the water, came out after those beings had multiplied. He divided his male form into eleven, the Ekādaśa Rudras. His female half he divided into further forms.

The eight names and stations: Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa

The Mārkaṇḍeya Mahā Purāṇa (Chapters 47 and 49) says that when Brahmā first created Rudra, a child of nīla-rakta (blue-red) colour came weeping from his body. Brahmā comforted him: “Do not weep” (mā ruda). From that very command the name Rudra was given. But the child wept seven more times. Each time he asked for a name, a place to dwell and a companion. Brahmā granted each request, giving a station in the cosmos and a wife:

Through these eight names and stations, Rudra fills the five elements, the lights of the sky, the fire of the yajña and the consecrated brāhmaṇa. He is the Īśvara present in every layer of the world that can be seen.

Rudra in the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa

Birth from Brahmā’s abhimāna

The Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa (Poorva Bhāga, Chapter 9) tells of Rudra’s birth at the earliest stage of creation. In the Svāyambhuva Manvantara, Brahmā’s efforts were not giving enough growth in the number of beings. His mind turned inward. He saw that only tamas (darkness, inertia) was moving through him. Grief seized him and he cast off his bright body. From that moment of deep self-awareness, abhimāna, Nīlalohita Rudra was born. Together with Rudra, Brahmā created four others: Dharma, Manas, Ruci and Ākṛti. These five, the pañcakartās, are the great supporting powers of creation.

The text says:

“Nīlalohitaṃ rudraṃ tannabhimānāt brahma sasarja”

Brahmā created the Nīlalohita Rudra from his own abhimāna (ego-awareness, the force of ahaṃkāra).

Rudra received Satī as his wife, from among the twenty-four daughters of Dakṣa. Brahmā gave Satī to Bhava, that is, to Rudra.

The gaṇas with elephant skins

When Brahmā commanded Rudra to create, Rudra turned to his wife Satī and made a great retinue through her. In one yāma (a period of three hours) he made thousands of sons like himself in form, tejas (radiance), strength and learning (svayam-tulya). They were:

• Piṅgala-varṇa: of tawny colour.
• Jaṭā-jūṭa: wearing matted locks (kapardins).
• Gajacarmadharī: wearing elephant skins.
• Nīlalohita-varṇa-miśrita: the colour of the body a mix of blue and red.
• Viśikhāḥ, hīna-keśāḥ: some with raised hair, some bald.
• Kapāla-dhāriṇaḥ: bearers of skulls.
• They had three eyes, eight fangs and two tongues, and some had hundreds of arms. They carried bows and arrows.
• They moved through the sky, the earth and svarga, the three realms.
• Some sat in meditation, some ran, some yawned, some studied the Vedas, some sat in yoga postures, and some blazed like fire.
• Some were blue-throated (nīlagrīva) and some thousand-eyed.

They were the śataraudras, the multitude of Rudras.

Brahmā saw that in a single yāma Rudra was making ūrdhvaretas (those whose seed is held upward) beings equal to himself or better. They would be immortal, and so would never act. Brahmā spoke to him:

“O Rudra! Cease creating beings like yourself or better than yourself. Create mortal beings instead, those subject to death and old age, for immortal beings do not perform karma.”

The Sthāṇu declaration

Rudra’s answer is the famous declaration that gave him the name Sthāṇu:

“Mṛtyu-jarā-samanvitān prajāḥ na srakṣyāmi. Tvaṃ eva sṛja. Sthito’smi.”

It means: “I will not create beings subject to death and old age. Let that be well for you. You yourself create. I stand firm.”

From sthito’smi (I stand firm, I am established), Rudra became known as Sthāṇu, the Immovable One. From then on he was ūrdhvaretas and a brahmacārin. He stayed so until the end of the present pralaya, and withdrew from all creating of offspring. The qualities of jñāna, tapas, satya, aiśvarya, dharma, vairāgya and ātma-sambodha stayed fixed in him for ever.

The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa also gives the reason for the name Mahādeva:

“By his own tejas, Śaṃkara surpassed all devas, all ṛṣīśvaras, and all asuras; by jñāna he surpassed all munis; by yoga he surpassed all bhūtas. Therefore in all worlds, Rudra alone is saluted as Mahādeva.”

The eight names and eight bodies

Chapter 10 of the Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa is titled “Mahādeva Vibhūti Varṇana”. It sets out the aṣṭa-tanus, the eight cosmic bodies of Śiva, and it builds on the teaching of the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa. In this kalpa, Brahmā sat in dhyāna (meditation) wishing for a son equal to himself. The child Nīlalohita appeared on his lap, blazing with tejas and weeping with a terrible, ringing cry. Brahmā asked: “O kumāra, why do you weep?” The child said: “Give me a name, O Pitāmaha.” Brahmā gave him a name. The child wept again and asked for another. This happened eight times, until he had all eight names and stopped weeping.

For each name Brahmā gave a cosmic body, and for each body he laid down rules of conduct for those who want the protection of that form. The eight names and what goes with them are:

With each body went a gift of a power. Rudra’s tejas entered the sun and became the eye of the sun. Bhava’s rasa (essence) entered water. Śarva’s bones (asthi) entered the earth. Īśāna’s five prāṇas entered the wind. Paśupati’s bodily heat entered fire. Bhīma’s hollow spaces (suṣiras) became ākāśa. Ugra’s caitanya (awareness) entered the consecrated brāhmaṇa. Candra entered Mahādeva’s manas (mind, the seat of resolve and meditation). In this way the whole visible world is the living body of Mahādeva: the light of the sun, water, earth, wind, fire, space, the awareness of the twice-born in the yajña, and the mind-stuff of the moon.

The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa then says:

“This entire visible world is pervaded by Rudra through his names and bodies. One who knows Parameśvara thus, through his names and tanus, gains progeny and attains sāyujya with Bhava.”

Satī and Pārvatī: Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa

The Mārkaṇḍeya Mahā Purāṇa (Chapter 49) says that Satī, the daughter of Dakṣa, was Rudra’s first wife. The union was fixed when Brahmā arranged the marriages of his daughters. She was the model of pātivratya (devotion to her husband) and was one with Rudra in devotion and being. Dakṣa held a great yajña and left Rudra out of all honour and share. The insult was too much to bear. She could not stand to see her husband dishonoured in her own father’s assembly, and she gave up her body in the fire of the yajña.

Her death shook the cosmos. Rudra, overcome by grief and fury, brought ruin on Dakṣa’s yajña. But the order of the world needed Rudra’s faithful wife to return. So Satī was born again as Pārvatī, daughter of Himavān (the Himālaya) and Menakā. Through her fierce tapas and single-minded devotion, Rudra once more received his inseparable wife. The union of Śiva and Pārvatī made the full form of Parameśvara complete again in the cosmos.

The eleven names: Bhāgavata Purāṇa

The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa (3rd Skanda, Chapter 10) gives another account of Rudra’s birth, in the setting of Brahmā’s work of creation. Brahmā had made the prajāpatis and his mind-born sons. Then he fell into anger. From that anger Rudra was born, blazing red with fury, as a child weeping in Brahmā’s lap.

Brahmā named him Rudra and told him: “Take your eleven stations in the cosmos, and create.” He gave Rudra eleven names and eleven wives who were forms of śakti:

Each of these eleven Rudras took eleven wives and had children. These became the many thousands of Rudra-gaṇas that fill the cosmos as his attendants. The Bhāgavatam says that they were so many and so powerful that even Brahmā was alarmed. These beings had overwhelming tejas and the power to destroy. Brahmā asked Rudra not to make any more beings of this kind and to take up the path of tapas instead.

The Dakṣa yajña: Bhāgavata Purāṇa

The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa (4th Skanda, Chapters 2 to 7) tells the account of Dakṣa’s yajña at length.

Dakṣa’s insult

Dakṣa Prajāpati came into the great assembly of the ṛṣis. All rose in his honour except Brahmā, who was presiding, and Śiva, who sat in meditation. Dakṣa was angered by Śiva’s seated posture and spoke against him in public: “This Śiva has broken the rules of ācāra (right conduct). He is not fit to receive a share in yajñas. He acts like a fallen wanderer, keeps company with bhūtas and piśācas, and smears himself with ash from cremation grounds.”

Nandin, Śiva’s faithful attendant, could not hold back his anger. He spoke a śāpa on the brāhmaṇas who were present for cheering Dakṣa’s words. Bṛgu Maharṣi, provoked by Nandin, spoke a śāpa on those who follow Śiva, that they would become pāṣaṇḍas (those outside the Vedic path). A chain of śāpas followed. Śiva himself stayed perfectly calm and simply left for Kailāsa. (Chapter 2)

Satī’s yoga-death

Dakṣa then held a great yajña in his capital and invited all the devas and ṛṣis, leaving out Śiva on purpose. Satī saw the divine vimānas (flying chariots) going toward her father’s yajña, and asked Śiva to go. Śiva warned her that Dakṣa would insult them there. But her longing for her father’s house could not be held back, and she went alone. At the yajña Dakṣa dishonoured Śiva in public with unbearable words. Satī could not bear to see her husband insulted. She said: “This body born of Dakṣa is a shame to me. I give it up.”

She did prāṇāgni-yoga, sat facing north in a yoga posture, sent the fire of yoga up through the cakras, and left her body. The assembly saw a flame rise from her body and merge into the sky. (Chapters 3 and 4)

Creation of Vīrabhadra

The news reached Śiva. He rose in grief and fury that shook the three worlds. He tore a matted lock from his head with his left hand and dashed it on the earth. From it arose Vīrabhadra, a huge dark being with a thousand arms, holding divine weapons and wearing the moon as a crown ornament. From Satī’s body arose Bhadrakālī, just as terrifying. Śiva ordered Vīrabhadra: “Go to Dakṣa’s yajña. Destroy it.” A vast army of Śiva-gaṇas followed Vīrabhadra south. (Chapter 4)

Destruction of the yajña

Vīrabhadra and the gaṇas fell on Dakṣa’s yajña with terrible force. The devas fought back but were beaten one by one. Indra’s elephant was struck down, Yama’s staff was broken, Viṣṇu’s disc was driven back, Brahmā’s beard was pulled, and the Aśvin twins had their noses cut off. In the end Vīrabhadra seized Dakṣa and cut off his head at the post of the yajña (yajña-stambha). The yajña was wholly destroyed. (Chapter 5)

Peace and restoration

Brahmā, all the devas and the ṛṣis went to Kailāsa. There they made a stotra (the Śiva-stava) praising Śiva as the highest support (adhiṣṭhāna) of all creation, beyond even the work of the Trimūrti, and the very ground on which Viṣṇu and Brahmā themselves rest. Śiva was pleased. He agreed to restore the yajña and the wounded devas. He put a goat’s head in place of Dakṣa’s cut-off head. The yajña was finished, and Dakṣa, now humbled, himself offered the Śiva-stava. (Chapters 6 and 7)

The Rudra Gīta

In Chapter 24 of the 4th Skanda, Rudra appears in the account of the Pracetasas. The ten Pracetasas, sons of Prācīnabarhis, had been doing tapas in the ocean for ten thousand years. Rudra found them at the start of their tapas and taught them the Rudra Gīta, a deep stotra to Śrī Hari that they were to recite all through their tapas. In it Rudra says:

“I am not independent of Śrī Hari. My existence, my tejas, my dharma-sthiti, all rest in him alone. The worship of Śrī Hari is the highest dharma for us both.”

Śiva in the Agni Purāṇa

The Agni Mahā Purāṇa gives a detailed Āgama-style account of Śiva’s iconography and pūjā-vidhi (rules of pūjā) in Chapter 74. Maheśvara himself tells it to Skanda.

Pañcamukha Śiva, the five faces

The highest form of Śiva in this account is the pañcamukha (five-faced) Parameśvara. Each face looks to one direction and shows one aspect of the divine:

• Sadyojāta: the western face. White in colour. Linked with creation (sṛṣṭi). It rules the Nivṛtti-kalā, the lowest cosmic level. Its bīja (seed syllable) is “Saṃ”.
• Vāmadeva: the northern face. Red in colour. Linked with keeping (sustenance). It rules the Pratiṣṭhā-kalā. Its bīja is “Haṃ”.
• Aghora: the southern face. Black or dark in colour. Linked with dissolution and fire (tejas). It rules the Vidyā-kalā. Its mantra is the Aghora-mantra.
• Tatpuruṣa: the eastern face. Yellow-gold in colour. Linked with concealment (tirodhāna). It rules the Śānti-kalā.
• Īśāna: the face that looks upward (ūrdhva). Clear as crystal (sphaṭikasama). Linked with grace (anugraha). It rules the highest, beyond-all Śāntyatītā-kalā. In the Āgama tradition its bīja is “Saṃ”.

The practice of bhūtaśuddhi (purifying the elements) in Śiva-pūjā uses all five elemental kalās that go with these five faces. The five pañcabhūtas are dissolved upward through the five faces in order, in the fire of the mantra for each. The pūjā of the faces goes in order from east to south to west to north to the upward face. (Chapter 74)

The nine śaktis of Śiva

The Agni Purāṇa names nine chief śaktis of Śiva who are honoured in Śiva-pūjā. Chapter 21, the general pūjā chapter, lists them: Vāmā, Jyeṣṭhā, Raudrī, Kālī, Kalavikariṇī, Balavikariṇī, Balapramathanī, Sarvabhūtadamanī and Manoṇmanī. Each has her own mantra, and they are honoured in order after the five faces.

The Śiva-pūjā procedure

According to Chapter 74, the Śiva-pūjā begins with ācamana (sipping water) and praṇava-japa (repeating Oṃ), and then an offering of arghya to Sūrya. The worshipper enters the pūjā hall (maṇḍapa), sprinkles it with pañcagavya (five products of the cow), and continues:

1. Dvārapāla-pūjā. Nandī and Mahākāla are honoured at the door. Nandī stands on the south side (to the right as one enters), with Gaṅgā beside him. Mahākāla stands on the north side (to the left), with Yamunā beside him. The bīja-mantra “Hāṃ” begins this.
2. Vāstu-pūjā. Brahmā, as the Vāstu-puruṣa, is honoured at the floor of the maṇḍapa with the mantra:

“Oṃ Hāṃ Vāstvadhipataye Brahmaṇe Namaḥ.”

This means: salutation to Brahmā, the lord of the Vāstu.

1. Bhūtaśuddhi and dehaśuddhi (purifying the elements and the body). The worshipper purifies the body through the five elemental zones using “Yaṃ” (the bīja of wind), “Raṃ” (of fire) and “Laṃ” (of earth), with meditation on the Kuṇḍalinī-śakti.
2. Pañcamukha pūjā. The five faces are honoured in order with their own mantras. “Hāṃ Hūṃ Hāṃ Śivamūrtaye Namaḥ” is used for the limbs of the body. “Hauṃ Śivāya Ho” is used for Śiva himself. “Saṃ” is used for the Īśāna face.
3. The Pañcākṣarī. The mantra of five syllables is the central mantra:

“Namaḥ Śivāya.”

This means: salutation to Śiva. For the full pūjā the six-syllable form (ṣaḍākṣarī) with the praṇava is used:

“Oṃ Namaḥ Śivāya.”

Śiva as Nīlakaṇṭha

The Agni Purāṇa (Chapter 3) briefly mentions the churning of the ocean (Kūrma-manthana). Śiva drank the Hālāhala poison that rose from the churning. To save all beings from being wiped out, Śiva held the poison in his throat. It turned his neck dark for ever, and so he got the name Nīlakaṇṭha, the blue-throated one. By this act all the worlds were saved.

Śivarātri

The Agni Purāṇa (Chapter 193) says that the Śivarātri-vrata gives both bhukti and mukti, the two fruits of worldly enjoyment and liberation. It is kept on the Kṛṣṇa-Caturdaśī of Māgha-Phālguna (the caturdaśī of the dark fortnight of Phālguna).

The worshipper fasts (upavāsa) through the day and keeps a night-long vigil (rātri-jāgaraṇa). He calls on Śiva with this prayer:

“O Śiva! You are like a ship that crosses the ocean of naraka. You are the giver of praja, rājya, saubhāgya, ārogya, vidyā, dhana, and svarga. Grant me dharma, dhana, kāma-bhogādika, guṇa, kīrti, sukha, svarga, and mokṣa.”

The power of this vrata is shown by the account of the hunter Sundarasena, a pāpātmā (one full of pāpa). He became puṇyavān (full of puṇya) by keeping Śivarātri without meaning to. Even a fast and vigil kept by chance on this night carries great spiritual power.

Other Śiva-vratas

The Agni Purāṇa (Chapters 184, 191, 192 and 194) gives several more Śiva-related vratas.

Kālāṣṭamī-vrata (Chapter 184). It is kept from Mārgaśīrṣa kṛṣṇa-aṣṭamī. Through the year, on each kṛṣṇa-aṣṭamī (eighth day of the dark fortnight), a different name of Śiva is honoured and a different food is eaten:

At the end of the year, one makes a Sarvatobhadra-liṅga, honours Śaṃkara, and gives a cow, cloth and gold to the ācārya (teacher).

Avyaṃga-Trayodaśī-vrata (Chapter 191). Each month, on trayodaśī (the thirteenth day), a different name of Śiva is honoured. The names include Kāma-deva-Hara (Mārgaśīrṣa), Yogeśvara, Vīrabhadra, Surūpa, Umāpati, Śūlapāṇi, Sadyojāta, Tridaśādhipa-Śaṃkara and Viśveśvara, across the twelve months. At the end of the year one gives a golden Śivaliṅga.

Śiva-Caturdaśī-vrata (Chapter 192). This is a monthly vrata. On every caturdaśī, in both fortnights, one fasts completely and honours Śiva. The fruit is bhoga (enjoyment), dhana (wealth) and long life (dīrghāyus). One who fasts on caturdaśī in both fortnights gains svarga. Caturdaśī is Śiva’s favoured tithi, as the Varāha Purāṇa (Chapter 33) also says.

Vṛṣotsarga-vrata (Chapter 194). On Kārtika-pūrṇimā (the full moon of Kārtika), one lets a sacred bull go free (vṛṣotsarga) and keeps the night-vrata. The fruit is Śivaloka. It is one of the most auspicious Śiva-vratas of the year.

Parameśvara in the Liṅga Purāṇa

The Liṅga Purāṇa (Pūrvārdha) sets out a full teaching of Parameśvara as the highest, self-shining, endless Brahman, without cause, and the only source of all being. The Varāha Purāṇa presents Śiva mainly as a mūrti of Nārāyaṇa. The Liṅga Purāṇa presents Maheśvara as Parabrahman, the one in whom Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Rudra arise, are kept and are dissolved.

The Jyotirliṅga

Brahmā and Viṣṇu once argued over who was supreme in the cosmos. Parameśvara appeared between them as an endless pillar of fire, the Jyotirliṅga. Brahmā took the form of a swan and flew up for countless years. Viṣṇu took the form of a boar and dived down into the deep. Neither could find the top or the bottom. Having humbled both, Parameśvara came out of the Jyotirliṅga in his five-faced form and gave them varas. Brahmā received the power of creation (sṛṣṭi), and Viṣṇu received matchless strength. The Jyotirliṅga itself remains in the cosmos as the first appearance of Parameśvara’s endless nature.

The Pañcabrahma forms

The Liṅga Purāṇa is the chief source for the teaching of the Pañcabrahma. Parameśvara appeared in five kalpas, one after another, as:

• Sadyojāta, in the white (Śveta) kalpa;
• Vāmadeva, in the red (Lohita) kalpa;
• Tatpuruṣa, in the yellow (Pīta) kalpa;
• Aghora, in the black (Kṛṣṇa) kalpa;
• Īśāna (Viśvarūpa), in the present kalpa.

Each Pañcabrahma form goes with a part of the body (the feet, the private part, the heart, the face and the crown) and with a mantra used in all Śaiva pūjā.

The Dāruvana Līlā

Parameśvara tested the great ṛṣis of Dāruvana. He came before them in a disguise as a digambara (sky-clad wanderer), smeared with bhasma, holding a burning stick, dancing and acting like a madman. The ṛṣis then knew him and honoured him. He showed his divine form, accepted their twofold stotra (the Dāruvana-ṛṣi-stotra), and gave them the first rank of leader of the gaṇas (Prathama Gaṇādhipatya) at Kailāsa. He then taught them the Pāśupata-vrata, the highest discipline: wearing bhasma (bhasmadhāraṇa), the virajā dīkṣā, control of the senses, keeping the seed upward (ūrdhvaretastā) and meditation on Śiva (Śivadhyāna).

Parameśvara as Paśupati, the freer of all souls

In the Liṅga Purāṇa’s order of the lokas, Śivaloka is above all, even above Vaikuṇṭha, Kumāraloka, Umāloka and Maheśvaraloka. Parameśvara alone, as Paśupati, has the power to free all paśus (bound souls) from the bond of saṃsāra (saṃsāra-pāśa). Those who follow the Pāśupata discipline reach Śivaloka. This discipline uses bhasma, rudrākṣa, mantra, wearing the liṅga (liṅgadhāraṇa) and meditation on Śiva. At the end of their prārabdha (the karma now bearing fruit) they gain Śiva-sāyujya, union with Śiva. The Śiva Sahasranāma, the thousand and eight names, was passed on by Ṭaṇḍi Maharṣi. It takes away the ten mahāpātakas (great pāpas) and gives lasting leadership of the gaṇas to those who recite it.

Śiva in the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa

Śiva as the jñāna-svarūpa of Parabrahman

The Brahma Khaṇḍa of the Brahma Vaivarta Mahā Purāṇa gives Śiva’s origin and nature differently from the Liṅga Purāṇa. Śiva arose from Kṛṣṇa’s left side at the start of creation. In Chapter 28 he is named the jñāna-svarūpa (the form of knowledge) of Parabrahman-Kṛṣṇa. Śiva himself is the teacher of this framework and says that he is one particular form of Kṛṣṇa. This is among the weightiest passages of the Brahma Khaṇḍa.

Kṛṣṇa-nāmajapa at Kailāsa

Chapter 23 of the Brahma Khaṇḍa tells how Nārada came to Kailāsa. He found Śiva absorbed in Kṛṣṇa-nāmajapa (repeating the name of Kṛṣṇa) on a rosary of dark lotus seeds. Nārada sang a stotra to Kṛṣṇa. On hearing it Śiva was so full of joy in bhakti (devotion) that he stood up, embraced Nārada warmly and wept tears of devotion. This shows Śiva as the highest devotee of Kṛṣṇa, a knower who never stops his japa. It gives authority to the teaching of the Āhnika that follows.

Śiva’s teaching of the Āhnika to Nārada

In Chapters 25 to 27, Śiva taught Nārada the whole Āhnika, the code of daily conduct. It covers rising in the brahmi-muhūrta with meditation on the guru, cleanliness (śauca) and bathing (snāna), the Aśvakrānta mantra, saṃdhyāvandana at three times of day (each equal in puṇya to all the tīrthas), the sixteen-part ṣoḍaśopacāra pūjā, pūjā of the Śālagrāma, daily śrāddha and homa.

Śiva’s teaching of Brahma-svarūpa

In Chapter 28, after the Āhnika, Śiva taught Nārada the nature of Brahman (Brahma-svarūpa). It is a full framework that places Kṛṣṇa as Parabrahman and the four chief devas as particular forms of that one reality. This teaching leads straight into the vivid description of Goloka.

Candraśekhara

In the account of Candra and Dakṣa’s śāpa (Chapter 8), Candra was struck with kṣaya-roga (wasting disease) through Dakṣa’s śāpa. He did tapas and took refuge in Śiva. Śiva placed Candra on his head. From then on the illness was eased to a waxing and waning, and Śiva took the name Candraśekhara, the one who has Candra on his crest.

Śiva’s stotra to Kṛṣṇa at creation

When he came forth from Kṛṣṇa’s left side, Śiva sang a stotra of creation praising Kṛṣṇa as jaya-svarūpa, viśva-svarūpa, tejaḥ-svarūpa and aparājita. Its fruit (phala) is all siddhis, victory in all undertakings, the gain of friends, wealth, aiśvarya and the end of enemies.

Śiva in the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Janana Khaṇḍa

Kṛṣṇa’s praise of Śaṅkara (Chapter 36)

Kṛṣṇa, speaking to Rādhādevī, says that Śaṅkara is dearer to him than any being except Rādhādevī herself. Kṛṣṇa states the truth plainly: Śiva lives in Kṛṣṇa’s heart, and Kṛṣṇa lives in Śiva’s heart. They live in each other and cannot be parted, as the prāṇa (life-breath) of Parabrahman and its expression.

Kṛṣṇa explains the signs of Śiva’s form:

• Pañca-mukha (five faces) stand for the five cosmic tattvas.
• Three eyes on each face (trinetra) stand for past, present and future.
• Bhasma (sacred ash) on the body goes back to Satī’s body turning to ash. Śiva wears it in constant memory of her.
• Kapāla-mālā (skull garland, or asthi-mālā): these are the bones of Satī. Śiva wears her remains as a sign of grief and lasting devotion.
• Vṛṣabha vāhana (the bull as his mount): the bull is dharma-svarūpī, the form of dharma itself.
• Śmaśāna (cremation ground) as his home: a sign of the highest vairāgya (non-attachment).
• Bilva patras (bilva leaves): most dear to Śiva.
• Jaṭā (matted locks): they hold Gaṅgā.

Both the bhasma and the asthi-mālā are signs of Śiva’s lasting love for Satī, which goes beyond her death.

Two accounts of Śiva’s pride broken: Vṛkṣāsura and Tripurāsura (Chapter 36)

After 60,000 yugas of tapas, Śaṅkara himself became proud of his power. Chapter 36 gives two accounts of how this pride was broken.

Vṛkṣāsura. An asura received a vara from Śiva: “Whoever’s head I touch shall be burned to ash.” The asura at once tried the power on Śiva himself, turning the vara on its giver. Śiva ran in terror through the three worlds. Kṛṣṇa came in disguise and cleverly made Vṛkṣāsura touch his own head while showing how the vara worked. The asura burned to ash. Śiva’s pride, that his power to give varas put him above all, was broken.

Tripurāsura. Śiva set out to fight Tripurāsura, the asura of the three flying cities, without asking for Kṛṣṇa’s divine weapons and kavaca (armour). His divine war-chariot fell apart, his divine weapons were not enough, and he was helpless before the asura. Kṛṣṇa appeared as a bull (Vṛṣabha), lifted Śiva’s chariot, and gave him a divine śūla filled with Kṛṣṇa’s own power. With this śūla Śiva could destroy Tripura. The teaching is that Śiva’s power is real and great, but it is Kṛṣṇa’s śakti that finally makes it unbeatable.

Grief after Satī’s death and the Śakti Pīṭhas (Chapters 42 and 43)

After Satī gave up her body at Dakṣa’s yajña, Śiva found her form on the banks of the Gaṅgā, still bright, still beautiful, still whole. He was overcome with grief. He embraced the body, kissed it and could not let it go.

Śiva wandered for one full year carrying Satī’s body on his shoulders through all the worlds. His grief was such that no one, not Brahmā and not Nārāyaṇa, could break it at once.

The 52 Śakti Pīṭhas. As Śiva wandered, Satī’s limbs fell at different holy places across Bhārata. Each place where a limb fell became a Śakti Pīṭha (siddha-pīṭha), a place of the highest divine power. This is the origin of the Śakti Pīṭha tradition.

Sacred lakes from tears. Śiva’s tears of grief fell and made a sacred lake. A person who bathes in it is freed from the pāpa of one hundred births. A second lake formed from the tears of Hari and Hara together, with even greater power to free.

Nārāyaṇa’s comfort. Nārāyaṇa came with Brahmā, Dharma-deva, Śeṣa and the deva-ṛṣis to console Śiva. He gave a deep teaching on the self (adhyātma): sukha (joy) and duḥkha (sorrow) arise from the guṇas and māyā, and they are not the final reality. He described the two forms of Kṛṣṇa: the two-armed form of Goloka (dvibhujaḥ) and the four-armed form of Vaikuṇṭha (caturbhujaḥ). He taught that Śiva and Nārāyaṇa are both nitya vigrahīs (beings with eternal divine forms). Their aṃśas (portions) born in the world are prākṛtika (subject to prakṛti), but they themselves are beyond all loss.

Śiva’s Prakṛti Stotra. Nārāyaṇa taught Śiva a stotra to Prakṛti Devī. Its fruit is that one is not parted from one’s spouse in this life or any later life, and reaches Śivaloka after death.

Satī’s divine appearance. Satī then appeared in the sky in her own divine form, with one hundred arms, seated in a chariot set with gems (maṇi-ratha). She comforted Śiva and promised to be born again as Pārvatī in the house of Himavat. Śiva’s grief ended. He went back to Kailāsa.

Śiva’s beautiful form at Pārvatī’s wedding (Chapters 44 and 45)

For the wedding with Pārvatī, Śiva did not come in his usual ash-smeared austerity. By the grace of Nārāyaṇa he took a divine, youthful and beautiful form, to please Himavat, Menā and Pārvatī. He came in a divine gem chariot (ratna-ratha). The women of Himavat’s palace fainted at his beauty.

At the wedding, Rati, the wife of Manmatha, begged for her husband’s return to life. Śiva turned his glance of grace and compassion (kṛpā-dṛṣṭi) on the ash of Manmatha, and Manmatha was brought back to life. The good fortune of the wedding was the cause of this act of grace.

The avatāras of Rudra: Garuḍa Purāṇa

The Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa (Brahma Khaṇḍa, Chapter 18) gives a teaching from Śrī Kṛṣṇa to Garuḍa on the nature of Śiva and Rudra and on his avatāras. The text names two aspects of Sadāśiva:

1. Sadāśiva (Śiva): the auspicious one (Śubha, Kalyāṇa, Maṅgala-prada), the ever-gentle form who protects his devotees.
2. Raudra: the destructive form, the one of the cremation ground, who drives the wicked toward the good through terror.

Śiva is declared to be a Viṣṇu-bhakta (devotee of Bhagavān Viṣṇu) and a Viṣṇu-mitra (friend of Bhagavān Viṣṇu). He is Sadāśiva. The Brahma Khaṇḍa then lists his avatāras:

Kṛṣṇa ends:

“Whatever deva or devī they may be, they are all born as kāraṇa-janmas for the welfare of the loka.”

Śiva in the Mahābhārata

Sauptika Parva: the āveśa in Aśvatthāmā (Chapter 7)

On the night after Duryodhana’s fall, Aśvatthāmā came to the camp of the Pāñcālas, meaning to destroy the Pāṇḍava-allied forces who lay asleep there. Before going in, he got down and made a long and fervent stotra to Mahādeva, calling him by many names: Ugra, Sthāṇu, Śiva, Rudra, Śarva, Īśāna, Īśvara, Girīśa, Varada, Nīlakaṇṭha, Umāpati, Kapardī, Tripurāntaka, Śūlapāṇi, Pinākadharī, Viśvarūpa and Bahurūpa. He offered himself as havis (the offering) in the fire of a golden altar that appeared before him, and stepped into the flames as an act of yajña.

Mahādeva was moved. He appeared and said:

“I protected the Pāñcālas until now because of my love for Kṛṣṇa. For Kṛṣṇa is dearer to me than any being in existence, and the Pāñcālas were under his protection. But their time is now finished. They are no longer marked for life by daiva. Go now.”

Bhagavān Śiva then entered Aśvatthāmā’s body and gave him āveśa (divine possession). He put a bright sword (vimala khaḍga) in his hand. The Pramatha-gaṇas, Śiva’s own attendants, appeared and went with Aśvatthāmā, unseen, into the camp. Under this āveśa Aśvatthāmā killed Dhṛṣṭadyumna and all five Upa-Pāṇḍavas in a single night. This passage makes plain Mahādeva’s words about his bond with Kṛṣṇa. He holds Kṛṣṇa dearer than all, and yet acts as the agent of destruction when daiva (fate) decrees it.

Later Yudhiṣṭhira asked Kṛṣṇa how Aśvatthāmā alone could kill so many fighters, men whom even Droṇa at his greatest could not face. Kṛṣṇa answered (Chapter 17):

“He took refuge in Parameśvara, Devadeva, Īśvara of all īśvaras, Avyaya. Through his mahimā alone, that son of Droṇa was able to kill so many. Mahādeva, when pleased, can grant even immortality; can bestow the power to kill Indra.”

Sauptika Parva: the account of creation (Chapter 17)

In Chapter 17, Kṛṣṇa goes on with his answer to Yudhiṣṭhira and tells an ancient account of creation to show why Parameśvara comes first. It shows Śiva and Rudra as the original creator, who came before all others in intent, though creation itself was finished while he was away.

Brahmā’s first command. When Brahmā (Pitāmaha) wished to create, he first went to Parameśvara (called Harikeśa in this account) and said: “Create beings. Do not delay.” Parameśvara agreed. Then he dived into the primal waters (jala) and stayed there in deep tapas for a long time, looking at the faults in existence before he would create.

The second creator. After waiting a long time with no result, Brahmā made another being from his mind, a mānasa-putra (mind-born son), to take up creation. When this being saw his father Brahmā, he told him that Giriśa was sleeping in the waters. He said: “If there is none born before me, I will create beings.” Brahmā confirmed: “There is no one born before you. That one is Sthāṇu, motionless in the waters. Create without doubt.” On this word the mind-born son made Dakṣa and six other Prajāpatis, seven in all, and from them came the four kinds of living beings. The beings, overcome by hunger, ran at once at their Prajāpati to eat him. He fled to Brahmā. Brahmā settled the matter by giving oṣadhis (plants), sthāvara beings (those that do not move) and weaker moving creatures as food for the stronger. This set up the food-chain by which all beings could live. The world grew and multiplied.

Rudra comes out, and his anger. When Parameśvara finally rose from the waters, he looked on a world already full of beings, already made and already multiplying. Fierce, terrible anger seized him. In his wrath he threw his liṅga to the earth, where it was fixed (pratiṣṭhita). This was the first liṅga-pratiṣṭhā in the cosmos. Brahmā came to calm him: “Śarva, you were in the water so long. Why did you cast the liṅga into the earth?” Rudra answered, barely holding back his fury: “You asked me to create beings. Another did it. What shall I do with this (his power to create)? With my tapas I have made the oṣadhis that keep all creatures alive. Let those oṣadhis go on making oṣadhis and be food for all beings, for ever.” With these words he left in anger, his mind disturbed, for the mountain country of Muñjavanta to do tapas.

Kṛṣṇa tells this account to explain why Mahādeva can grant such great varas. He is the first being, who was there before all creation. His tapas is behind the food that keeps the cosmos alive, through the oṣadhis born of his will to create. He is also the source of the first liṅga-pratiṣṭhā in the world.

Anuśāsana Parva: Śiva tests and blesses Upamanyu and Kṛṣṇa (Chapters 14 and 15)

Kṛṣṇa tells Yudhiṣṭhira this account in the Anuśāsana Parva (the section called Meghavāhana Parva), as the frame just before the Śiva Sahasranāma. Śiva twice tests ekānta-bhaktas (single-minded devotees) and then rewards them with a vision and varas.

Upamanyu. Śiva wanted to test the child Upamanyu, who had done a thousand years of tapas. He took the form of Indra on Airāvata and offered any vara Upamanyu wanted. Upamanyu refused everything except devotion to Rudra. Indra then challenged him with a philosophical question. Upamanyu answered with the liṅga-yoni argument: all beings bear only the male or female mark of creation, never the signs of any other deva, which proves that all creation comes from Śiva and Pārvatī alone. Airāvata then became the bull Nandin and Indra’s form melted away, to show Maheśvara himself, with eighteen arms, seated with Pārvatī. He bore:

• the Pināka, which itself appeared as a seven-hooded serpent;
• the Pāśupatāstra, with which Śiva once destroyed the Tripuras;
• the triśūla, with which, as this passage says, the daitya Lavaṇāsura and his army were destroyed by the cakravartin (universal king) Māndhātā;
• the paraśu (axe) once given to Paraśurāma, by which the kṣatriya order was wiped out and Kārtavīryārjuna was killed.

Brahmā on his swan (haṃsa), Nārāyaṇa on Garuḍa, Kumārasvāmī on his peacock and Nandikeśvara stood in attendance. Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Indra sang the Rathantara, Jyeṣṭha and Śatarudrīya sāmans. Śiva gave Upamanyu immortality, youth that does not fade, access to the Kṣīrasāgara (the ocean of milk), and his own constant presence.

Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa then did a similar tapas for six months in the same āśrama, under Upamanyu’s initiation. He saw Śiva and Pārvatī with eleven hundred Rudra-gaṇas. He offered a stotra that names Śiva as the Mahat and the Ātman, using fourteen names of the same meaning from the Veda: Mahān, Ātmā, Mahat, Brahma, Viśva, Śambhu, Svayambhū, Buddhi, Prajñā, Upalabdhi, Saṃvit, Khyāti, Dhṛti and Smṛti. Śiva declared Kṛṣṇa his dearest devotee in all three worlds. Together with Pārvatī he gave him sixteen varas in all. They include firmness in dharma (dharma-dṛḍhatā), victory in war and ten thousand sons from Śiva. From Pārvatī there were a hundred sons, sixteen thousand wives and seven thousand guests each day.

Before this, Upamanyu had told of a long list of earlier devotees of Śiva who were rewarded with similar varas. Among them were Hiraṇyakaśipu, Yājñavalkya, Vyāsa, the Vālakhilya ṛṣis, Anasūyā, Indra and Nārada. The full account includes Upamanyu’s own childhood and the long salutation-stotras to Śiva’s many forms (Ardhanārīśvara, Harihara, Tripurāntaka, Andhakāsura-saṃhāra and Dakṣayajña-dhvaṃsa).

Anuśāsana Parva: Īśvara Praśaṃsā and Māheśvara Māhātmya (Chapters 160 and 161)

Kṛṣṇa kept on instructing Yudhiṣṭhira just after the account of Durvāsa’s stay with the food offering at Dvārakā (Chapter 159). He recited the Śatarudrīya and then told a further account of the burning of Tripura (Tripura-dahana).

The account. Rudra was in fury at the destruction of Dakṣa’s yajña, in which Bhaga was blinded and Pūṣan’s teeth were kicked out, as in the Varāha Purāṇa account above. The frightened devas begged him to destroy the three flying cities of the asuras, which even all of Indra’s weapons could not take. Rudra made his weapon from the bodies of other devas. Viṣṇu became the arrow-shaft, Agni its tip, Yama (son of Sūrya) its feathered end (pumkha), all the Vedas the bow, the excellent Sāvitrī the bowstring, and Brahmā the charioteer. With this weapon of three joints and three barbs he burned Tripura and its asuras completely.

Umā’s question and the origin of Durvāsa. During the burning, Umā saw a boy with five tufts of hair (pañca-śikhā) sitting on Rudra’s own thigh and asked who he was. Neither the devas nor Brahmā could say, until Brahmā, by meditation, knew him and bowed to Umāpati. The boy was shown to be the same being who later became the great brāhmaṇa Durvāsa, who lived for a long time in Kṛṣṇa’s house at Dvārakā. That is the very episode Kṛṣṇa had just finished telling in Chapter 159. The Śata Rudra Saṃhitā gives Durvāsa’s birth from the tapas of Atri and Anasūyā, as one of three brothers with Candra and Dattātreya.

Māheśvara Māhātmya (Chapter 161). Kṛṣṇa goes on with a further praise of Śiva. He tells of Śiva’s two natures: a ghora (fierce) form of agni (fire) and vidyut (lightning), and a śiva (gentle, auspicious) form of dharma, jala (water) and candra (the moon). He explains several of Śiva’s names through their roots, as this text gives them:

• Agni: he who burns.
• Mahādeva: the greatest of all devas.
• Sthāṇu: the fixed, immovable pillar.
• Maheśvara: the great lord.
• Dhūrjaṭi: from his ash-grey, smoke-coloured hue.
• Bahurūpa: his countless forms across past, present and future.
• Viśvarūpa: all the devas live within him.
• Śiva: he who ceaselessly wills the welfare of all beings.

The explanation of the name Rudra as mā ruda, given above from the Varāha and Bhāgavata accounts, is a different one. This chapter praises the constant pūjā of the Śivaliṅga as bringing great wealth to the one who does it. It also confirms Śiva as Paśupati, the protector and master of all creatures (paśus), who lives always among his gaṇas, with countless eyes from which tejas itself streams out.

Sources

• Varāha Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 2, 21, 25, 27, 33
• Varāha Mahā Purāṇa, Book 2, Chapters 70, 73, 96
• Varāha Mahā Purāṇa, Book 3, Chapter 136
• Mārkaṇḍeya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 47, 49
• Agni Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 3, 21, 74, 184, 191, 192, 193, 194
• Liṅga Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha
• Brahma Vaivarta Mahā Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa, Chapters 8, 23, 25 to 28
• Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapters 36 to 46 (Chapters 36, 42, 43, 44, 45 used above)
• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 3rd Skanda, Chapter 10
• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 4th Skanda, Chapters 2 to 7 and 24
• Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa, Chapter 18
• Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Poorva Bhāga, Chapters 9, 10, 13
• Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa (mentioned in connection with the Brahmāṇḍa account of the eight bodies)
• Mahābhārata, Sauptika Parva, Chapters 7 and 17
• Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapters 14 and 15, 160 and 161