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| Lord Shva |
The great and powerful god Lord Shiva is the third deity of the Hindu triad. He is more so described as the destroyer. Under the name of Rudra or Maha - Kala he is endowed with destroying and dissolving power. But the word destroy in true hindu belief actually means reproduction. So Siva or Shankara the auspicious is truly the reproductive power who is rather perpetually restoring that which has been dissolved and hence is regarded as Maha - deva or the great god. He is more often represented by the symbol of Phallus or the Linga It is this form alone or in combination with the female organ Yoni representative of Shakti or female energy he is worshiped everywhere. He is the Maha yogi or the great ascetic where the highest perfection of austere and penance is centered by which the unlimited powers are attained miracles are worked and highest spiritual knowledge is received. The Lord in this character appear as naked ascetic Digambara with matted hair and his body smeared with ashes. When his destructive power is intensified then he becomes the ' Vairaba ' the destroyer. He is also known as ' Vuteswara ' or the Lord of the ghosts. In this form he haunts cemetries and places of cremation with serpents round his neck and wearing skulls for necklace. Lord Shiva also indulges in revelry and dances furiously which is called the ' Tandava ' dance while huge number of demons surround him. Being possessed of so many powers and attributes he has a great number of names and is represented under a veriety of forms. Siva is commonly depicted as seated in profound thought with a third eye in the middle of his forhead and surmounted by the crescent moon. He is also known as Tri- lochana or the ' three eyed ' and Nil - kontho or blue throated. His matted hair is gathered up in the form of a coil which bears upon it the symbol of river ganges. The necklace of skulls hangs round his neck and the serpents twines round it. His throat is blue from consuming the deadly poison which would have otherwise destroyed the world and in the hand he holds a ' Trisula ' or trident called ' Pinaka '. His garment is the skin of a tiger or a deer or elephant and hence he is also called ' Kritti - vasas '. At times he is seen clothed in deer skin and seated upon a tiger skin and accompanied by his bull Nandi. He is seen to carry a bow ' Ajagava ' a ' damaru ' shaped in the form of an hour - glass the Khatwanga or club with a skull at the end and last of all a cord for binding offenders. His third eye is very destructive with which he reduced to ashes ' Kama ' for daring to inspire amorous thoughts of Parvati while he himself was engaged in penance. He is represented to have destroyed one of the heads of Lord Brahma for speaking disrespectfully to him. Siva is the object of worship in Benares and his heaven is on Mount - Kailasa. The word ' destroyer ' said before is not synonimous with the word destruction. The Lord is really a creator since he destroys only for the cause of creation to assume new phases of existence. Hence the name ' Siva ' the bright or the happy one is attributed to him. Once Uma the daughter of Daksha who reappears as Parvati Durga Kali etc. in various stages of the life of Lord Siva was sitting with her husband in their home in Mount Kailasa saw the Gods proceeding at her father Daksha's invitation to take part in a sacrifice he was going to make. But Siva was not invited as he offended him. The Bhagavata Purana gives a brief description of this incident. Uma was very eager to attend Daksha's ceremony but Lord Shiva tries to dissuade her which she ignores and reaches her fathers place but after being slighted by him reprimands Daksha for his hostility towards her husband and threatens to a leave her corporal frame which she ultimately does. Seeing this Shiva's attendants present at the place rushes to slay Daksha which was however prevented but they inturn informs Shiva. On hearing this the Lord was greatly angered and from his hair lock arose a giant demon named as Viravadra whom the Lord directs to destroy Daksha, which he does. He not only slayed Daksha but plucked out Bhrigu's beard, gouged out Bhaga's eyes and knocked out Pushan's teeth. Seeing the extreme anger and the destructive form the Gods tried to propitiate Shiva and the Lord relents partly but allows daksha to have a goats head. Daksha himself worships Shiva and Uma was reborn as Parvati being the daughter of ' Himavat ' which means god of the Himalayas. The Lord is worshipped in the ' Linga ' form but he is also represented in the human form living in the Himalayas with his consort Parvati. The three eyes of which one is in the middle of his forhead are in allusion either to the three vedas or to the time past present and the future. The crescent moon on his forhead have been given as a share for the products for churning the ocean. An interesting event in Ramayana states that Lord Rama who wanted to overthrow his enemy Ravana was getting unsuccessful repeatedly because of the assistance of Lord shiva. The gods who Ravana had oppressed went along with Rama to Shiva for asking him to withdraw his help to which he consented but Parvati reprimanded her husband for destroying her own worshipper. A worshipper who underwent severe austeristies for the cause of Lord Shiva!!! A quarrel ensured between them which took a very ugly form. Parvati became so enraged that the other gods became frightened and entreated Rama to join them to sooth her or else Ravana can never be destroyed. Ultimately she became propitious and gave her consent for his destruction. Another legend from the Vamana purana explains that after Shiva destroyed the fifth head of Brahma the head got stuck in his hand and did not fall to the ground. Brahma got very annoyed on Shiva and created a giant to slay Shiva for his act of Brahminicide. To escape from him he fled to Benaras which is a very sacred place. The sanctity of the city arises from the fact that Lord Shiva became absolved from his sin here and was freed from the dissevered head of Brahma. An interesting note is found in Skanda Purana. Once Laksmi and Durga were sitting together with lord Shiva. Laksmi said her husband Vishnu is greater than Shiva since he worshipped Vishnu and as they were conversing Lord Vishnu himself appeared and just to convince his wife he said both are equal. Shiva asked Vishnu to take the form of a beautiful woman which he once did during the churning of the ocean to divert the attention of the asuras whilst gods drank the amrita to which he consented. Shiva became greatly excited and tried to embrace her, Vishnu ran away chased by Shiva. Though Vishnu returned to his original form but Shiva embraced him so tightly they became one and the name Hara and Hari is given to the united deities. Every god is represented by their vahan on which it is supposed to travel so bull is the vahan of Lord shiva. The Hindus consider feeding a bull is a sacred act and harming them is a sin. As Siva leads a life of an ascetic who practices severe penance many of the Saivites in order to please their Lord do undergo severe penances by inflicting severe bodily pain. In one such instance during a festival held in his honour people are made to swing on bamboo poles with iron hooks forced into their bodies and to keep the pain on the lowest ebb a drug made from hemp is freely indulged in. There are several legends to explain the Linga Yoni worship. The padma Purana tells us that once Bhrigu the sage went to see Siva at his abode but was prevented by his doorkeeper who said that the Lord was with busy his wife. After waiting for quite a long time he became exhausted and said since you have disregarded me for being with your wife henceforth you shall be worshipped in the form of Linga and Yoni.
