Shiva (deity)

Symbols: third eye, snake, trident

Culture: Hindu

Children: Karttikeya, Ganesh

Shiva is one of three main deities in the Hindu religion, along with Brahma and Vishnu, and he is the supreme deity in Shaivism, one of the four most influential branches of Hinduism. Shiva has also been adopted for veneration in as well as adapted by Buddhism, making him a central figure in worldwide religious life.

Because Shiva is the focus of devotion in an ancient religion with many current practitioners, there is an enormous range of belief about his nature as well as about the nature of the other Hindu deities, about how they are depicted, and about what they symbolize. Shiva is often understood to be limitless, transcendent, and formless, although he is depicted in many different guises: as an ascetic master of yoga, as a householder with wife and children, and as a fierce destroyer and slayer of dragons.

The Sanskrit word Shiva means "auspicious one." He is also sometimes known as Mahadeva (Great God), Mahesh, and Rudra, among many other names. When depicted in quasi-human form, Shiva frequently has a third eye on his forehead and a snake around his neck. He is often carrying a trident, called a trishula.

In Mythology

While a focus of current devotion for a major, living religious group, Shiva is also a subject of a large body of traditional literature that might well be called mythic. A widespread and fundamental Shiva narrative explains his brief and ill-fated marriage to Sati, who was a granddaughter of Brahma. Her father Daksha did not approve of the match and went out of his way to snub the couple. He invited all of the gods but Shiva and Sati to a great sacrifice. Sati defied her father by attending against his wishes. When he insulted her publicly at his gathering, she became enraged and sacrificed herself on the altar. Shiva was furious when he learned of his wife’s death. He traveled swiftly to the sacrificial party and destroyed it, beheading Daksha in the process. In some versions of the story, Shiva then recovered the corpse of his beloved Sati and danced wildly with it across the universe.

Many scholars believe that this myth indicates Shiva’s origin outside the main current of Hinduism, probably as one of many locally revered deities. As Shiva’s initially local traditions were put into writing in Sanskrit and created resonance with Hindus living across a wider region, he became one of the pan-Hindu deities by a process that religious historian Gavin Flood calls Sanskritization.

Most narrative traditions concerning Shiva maintain that after Sati's death, he married Parvati, daughter of the mountains. Shiva and Parvati had two sons. One son is Karttikeya, sometimes called Skanda. The other son is Ganesh, who has a human body with four arms and the head of an elephant. For many Hindu worshippers, Ganesh is the first deity invoked during any ceremony because he is the god of wisdom and remover of obstacles.

The character of Shiva as revealed in the great number of stories and traditions about him is a paradoxical figure. He is presented as a wild-eyed, filthy wanderer and as an ideal family man; as a promiscuous seducer and as a strictly celibate master of yoga; and, very commonly, as a dancer, recalling his dance with the corpse of Sati. In his character as Lord of Dance, his energy creates, enlivens, and destroys the world of human beings.

Origins and Cults

Throughout the geographic range of Hinduism, many local deities, rituals, and mythologies have been absorbed into the whole, creating a very rich and complicated tapestry. The veneration of Shiva is found throughout all local variations of Hinduism, including those that have emerged in the Hindu diaspora that has taken shape since the nineteenth century, primarily in the Western world.

The Hindu pattern of worship usually involves the making of an offering to a god figure and receiving a blessing in return. These offerings may range from a few coins, to a few crumbs of bread, to animal sacrifice. Worship may occur at home within the family circle, in a wayside shrine, or in a large and elaborate temple to which pilgrims might travel great distances. There is also a strong tradition in Hinduism of private devotion for individual enlightenment.

Followers of Shaivism, one of four major sects within Hinduism, worship Shiva as a unique, transcendent god. Followers tend more toward asceticism than other Hindus. The phenomenon of holy men and women wandering the countryside—something of a Western stereotype of Hinduism—would primarily be found among Shaivists.

Much of the worship of Shiva involves veneration of the linga, a sexual symbol that is found in many homes, temples, and shrines. The most important festival for Shiva is called Mahashvaratri, which is celebrated on a moonless night during the winter months. Pilgrims and worshippers come together for a long day and night of fasting and prayer, breaking their fast on the second morning. Mahashvarati is considered an especially auspicious time for female worshippers to pray for their husbands—or to find good husbands. According to religious myths about Shiva, his wife, the goddess Parvati, prayed for him on this moonless night that was thought to be full of peril.

Bibliography

Coogan, Michael David, and Vasudha Narayanan. Eastern Religions: Origins, Beliefs, Practices, Holy Texts, Sacred Places. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005. Print.

Flood, Gavin D. An Introduction to Hinduism. New York: Cambridge UP, 1996. Print.

Johnson, Judy A. "World Religion Profile: Hinduism." World Religion Profile: Hinduism (2009): 1. Print.

Klostermaier, Klaus K. Hinduism: A Short History. Oxford: Oneworld, 2000. Print.

Widdicombe, Lizzie. "Om Sweet Om." New Yorker 16 Mar. 2015: 22–23. Print.