Shiva · शिव

He sits on a snow-covered mountain with ash on his body, yet he is the gentlest of husbands and the most generous of gods. From the fierce Rudra of the Vedas to the dancing Nataraja of Chidambaram, how did Shiva become Mahadeva — the great god?

Shiva wears a serpent as a necklace and the crescent moon in his hair. The Ganga flows from his matted locks. He lives on Kailash, not in a palace; he smears himself with the ash of cremation grounds; and yet he is called Bholenath — the innocent lord, the easiest god to please. A leaf of bilva and a pot of water, offered with a full heart, are enough.

Śiva means "auspicious", "kind", "benevolent". In the Vedas the fierce storm-god is Rudra, "the roarer" or "the one who makes weep" — and the worshippers who feared him called him Shiva, the kind one, asking for his gentleness. Over centuries the gentle name became the god himself. He is also Mahādeva (great god), Śaṅkara (giver of joy), Nīlakaṇṭha (blue-throated), Paśupati (lord of all beings) and Naṭarāja (king of dancers).

When the gods and asuras churned the ocean of milk for amrita, the first thing to rise was not nectar but halahala — a poison so terrible that it began to burn all three worlds. The gods ran in every direction. Only one did not run. Shiva cupped the poison in his palm and drank it…

• Nilakantha — and why his throat is blue
• The different accounts of his origin
• Rudra in the Vedas
• His symbols
• Festivals
• What Shiva teaches

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• Rigveda — 2.33, 7.59.12
• Sri Rudram — Taittiriya Samhita 4.5
• Shvetashvatara Upanishad
• Shiva Purana
• Linga Purana — Lingodbhava
• Bhagavata Purana — Samudra manthan, Canto 8