Hinduism's Destroyer is also the patron of yoga and the arts
Shiva wears a serpent round his neck, a crescent moon in his hair and a third eye that can burn whatever it looks at. He is the Destroyer of the Hindu trinity, yet also a family man, the first yogi and the Supreme Lord for Shaivites across India, Nepal and Bali.
Few Hindu gods carry so many roles. Shaivites treat Shiva as the Supreme Lord who creates, sustains and transforms the cosmos. In the goddess-centred Shakta tradition, the Devi is his equal partner and creative power. Smarta Hindus worship him as one of five equivalent deities, and in the Trimurti he is the Destroyer beside Brahma and Vishnu. He is revered across India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, especially Java and Bali.
His images swing between calm and ferocity. As an all-knowing ascetic he meditates on Mount Kailasa; as a householder he lives with Parvati and their sons Ganesha and Kartikeya; in fierce forms he destroys demons. The serpent king Vasuki coils at his throat, the Ganga pours from his matted locks, and he carries a trident and a small drum called the damaru. Most worship, though, is directed at the lingam, an abstract rather than human form. As Adiyogi, the first yogi, he presides over meditation and the arts.
Scholars suspect he grew from a fusion of older gods, Vedic and non-Vedic, including the Rigvedic storm god Rudra. In the Rig Veda, composed around 1700 to 1100 BCE, shiva was an adjective of praise handed to several gods. The Monier-Williams dictionary glosses it as auspicious, gracious, benign and friendly. Competing etymologies abound: Sharma derives it from a root meaning to injure, casting him as the slayer of darkness, while other writers link it to a Tamil word for red, connecting him with the sun.
He collects titles to match. Mahadeva means great god, Maheshvara great lord and Parameshvara supreme lord, while Neelakanta and Trilochana point to his blue throat and three eyes. Viswanatha names him lord of the universe. The Vishnu sahasranama reads his name as the Pure One, untouched by the three gunas of nature.
Source: Shiva
