Shiva

**Shiva** (The Auspicious One) is the Hindu god of change, destruction, regeneration, the dance, and time.

Other names for him include **Dakshinamurti** (He Who Faces South, The Great Teacher), **Mahakala** (Great Time, Great Darkness, Eternity), **Batara Guru** (Noble Teacher), **Bhairava** (The Frightening One, He Who Creates and Destroys), **Kalantaka** (Destroyer of Death), and **Rudra** (The Fierce One).

## History

He, alongside two other gods, Brahma and Vishnu, are part of the Trimurti, three powerful beings who control the universe.

He and His family live at Mount Kailash, a mountain in the north.

## Appearance

Shiva is depicted as a man with long hair, wearing simple robes made of a tiger's pelt. He is also shown with the crescent moon and the river Ganges on his hair. His weapon is the trishula, the trident.

He has a third eye that can instantly burn anything it sees when it is opened.

He has blue skin due to drinking poison, preventing the other Gods and asuras from being infected by the poison after churning treasures from an ocean of milk. The poison was stopped by Tara, one of Parvati's forms. Sometimes, He is also seen completely white, representing His purity and compassion.

He is often accompanied by a serpent and the bull Nandi.

## Personality

Shiva is humble and frugal: He rejects wealth and grandiose pleasures, in favour of benevolence and refinement.

He is also compassionate and wise. However, He is angered by injustice and cruelty.

## Relationships

His consort is the goddess Parvati, Who also appears as Kali, Durga, and Uma. They also have several sons: Murugan (or Karttikeya), the god of war and victory; and Ganesha, the god of fortune, blessing, and salvation.

## Aspects

In his wrath, He can be Rudra, or He can be Kala Bhairava, who is more destructive. He is also accompanied by the Ashta Bhairavas, eight great guardians of the directions.

As Dakshinamurti, He represents all wisdom being available to everyone who seeks it.

One depiction of Shiva is Panchanana or Panchalingam, Whose five faces represents five main activities and aspects of Himself: creation (Satyojata), preservation (Vamadeva), destruction (Aghora), concealment (Tatpurusha), and revelation (Ishana). Each of the five aspects is more suitable for one's astrological background, determined by the time of one's own birth.

As Nataraja, the Lord of Dance, Shiva maintains, destroys, and regenerates the universe in His cosmic dance, the tandava. He is also the god of dancers, artists, and inspiration. At Chidambaram, the centre of the Universe, He dances over the defeated body of a demon, as the destroyer of ignorance and the bringer of wisdom and enlightenment.

As Bholenath, Shiva is a humble sage Who protects the innocent and the virtuous. As Pashupati, He protects animals and beasts.

## Worship

*"Oṃ tryámbakaṃ yajāmahe sugandhíṃ puṣṭi-vardhánam*

*urvārukam íva bandhánān mṛtyor mukṣīya mā 'mṛtā́t*"

- a mantra used to worship Shiva:

"*Hail, we worship the Three-Eyed One, the Fragrant Increaser of Prosperity,*

*Like a cucumber freed from its stem, may I be free from death, not deathlessness.*"

Shiva is pleased by all kinds of offerings, even easy and simple ones, for He welcomes all to His presence. One way to worship Him is with the lingam, a pillar with a round top, where people pour milk, holy water, flowers, and leaves to invoke His blessings.

The beel or bilva leaves, which consist of a triple leaf, is a favoured offering to Shiva, as it represents the trident.

But there are certain offerings that He will never accept:

* Meat - it defiles the soul, because meat is gained by killing animals. Likewise, all Hindu deities do not accept meat offerings.
	+ Beef, meat from cattle, is especially very blasphemous, because it was made from killing a symbol of the Divine Mother and Nandi, Shiva's sacred bull.
* Champaka flowers, tulasi (basil), and ketaki (screw pine) flowers - those are flowers that are cursed by Shiva for their association with his enemies. Even though the tulasi is also a sacred plant, it is associated with His enemy, the demon Jalandhara; it is also not allowed to be brought before Kali (as Devi), as the plant itself offends Her. However, some worshippers of Shiva also use the plant to worship Him, as they believe that the lingam grew from the black soil from the roots of the plant.
* Bronze, saffron, turmeric, sindoor - they are associated with riches, which are what Shiva avoids.
* Coconut water - it is for worshippers after they are done praying to the Gods.
* Anything that is dirty or damaged - it is obvious: no god or king would want anything that is unclean.
* Going one complete circle around a lingam - it represents arrogance and defiance against Shiva, by seeking to challenge and take too much of His power. To avoid this, worshippers must turn back if they almost go one circle around the lingam to pray.

Twelve sanctums in India are known as the Maha Jyotirlinga (Great Radiant Pillars), after the original pillar of light that Shiva appeared as to settle a quarrel between the Gods. Among their sites include the sun temple of Somnath, the golden santuary of Kashi Vishvanath at Varanasi, and Kedarnath at the northern mountains of Uttarakhand.

## In the Rabydosverse

Shiva is a popular deity among the peoples of the continent of Esami, from the kingdom of Hmoong Av to the islands of Ajupura. He is also venerated alongside Kali as divine protectors and teachers by the peoples of Porashon.

### Sarmelonid Empire

Emperor Sīlōjennoz of the Sarmelonid Empire also worshipped Lord Shiva, claiming that the endless god spoke to him in his dreams to build his civilisation on justice and wisdom. He is mentioned in contemporary temples as Isuorau (Ishvara), the Great Teacher.

### Pinoguni

In Pinoguni, the Kumaso tribe worships Him as Makogara, from "Mahakala".

### Bujan

In Bujan, the local Ontemazei often refer Him as Mahakala, the Great Darkness or He Beyond Darkness. Alongside Kali Ma, the two Supreme Gods are invoked as protectors.

The national god of Bujan, Svetovid, is interpreted by the Ontemazei as an aspect of Shiva, as Panchanana.

During Wannaenid rule, gangs of demon-worshippers ran rampant all over Bujan, murdering innocent people for their own amusement. They also smeared walls with graffiti praising a demon, "Satan", but the Bujanski covered the name and wrote so the graffiti instead read "Hail Shiva".

Likewise, anything demonic or blasphemous that the Terrans brought to destroy the Bujanski were altered by the locals and purged of their taint, cleansed as holy ground. Only some of the Bujanski rebels knew that the Gods were using them to slowly retake their defiled homeland, cursed by their traitorous ancestors and the collaborationist Salvation Party. Some even believed that Shiva was among those Gods who used them, even against the "death gangs" for turning their murders of Terran civilians into reckless violence and defiling themselves.

When the Terrans also drew swastikas, the Bujanski also mocked their enemies by "correcting" swastikas and making them into shrines to worship their Gods, including Shiva. One day, the swastikas drawn by Terran vandals disappeared, seen as a sign by the Bujanski that the Gods are with them, taking the swastikas away back to Heaven from the filthy hands of their enemies. Every other swastika used by the Terran armies and gangs also vanished, and prisoners who were tied up in the shape of swastikas ended up outside the prisons, fully-healed and free from their ropes. Some of these prisoners joined the rebels, even though they were Terrans, undergoing purification rites to renounce their ties to their tormentors.

In honour of His mysterious blessings, many Bujanski rebels also raised tridents or used tridents in their banners as they fought the Wannaenids and their Terran minions.

### Supreme Deity of Porashon

In Porashon, Hindu temples raise black and white flags alongside saffron banners, representing the two Supreme Deities. White represents Shiva and enlightenment, and black represents Kali and eternity. This tradition is carried over to birthday parties for children who reach the age of thirteen, as it adds to the sombre occasion to mourn the end of childhood and innocence. As the two colours in adolescent birthdays represent the Supreme Deities, they also represent turning away from earthly distractions to pursue wisdom and enlightenment.

When the Zaqovian Empire used a white and black flag for the founding rulers, the Porasonids laughed. They believed that they had indirectly gotten their revenge for the Vozonid massacres of their people, because using these colours would attract the attention of the Gods, and afterwards, Their judgment.

Porasonids refuse to perform the *tandava* dance, except on certain holy occasions, because they believe that because it is Shiva's sacred dance, performing it unnecessary would attract His power and overwhelm the world, resulting in earthquakes or the planet's destruction due to its mortal-ness becoming too unstable to handle such divine power.

August is a holy month to the Porasonids and their descendants, who refer it as Soravan or Shraavan. On Mondays, Porasonids do not eat at daytime to honour their God, and in the country of Porashon, the sale of alcohol is prohibited on August, and all alcohol merchants receive a daily payment to make up for lost sales.

### Adiguru of All Worlds

He is also worshipped by the southern and easterly locals of Adharmaloka, as the bringer of enlightenment and civilisation. In that world, he was also the patron deity of the Bhumian Empire and the northerly Kuruvid nomad tribes who were influenced by Bhumian culture.

## In the Collectionverse

Gupta, one of Ludvig's friends, is a worshipper of Shiva.

## In the Rinnarverse

The Rinnarits worshipped Shiva to honour Cambodia, the source of their culture; alongside Odin, who is popular among the Norse regiments in their army. Various marches are dedicated to the two gods to honour their ancestors.

## Trivia

* Shiva's colour is white.
* According to one legend in Tamil Nadu, Shiva created the Sanskrit and Tamil languages from His cosmic dance.
* In China, Shiva is worshipped by some Buddhists as Da Zi Zai Tian or Dai Zi Zai Tin (大自在天), or Maheshvara. In Japan, the lucky god Daikokuten (大黒天) is considered as an aspect of Him.
* In the lore of the Rabydosverse, Shiva and Kali (also known as Shakti) are sometimes hinted as the "One Above all the Gods", perhaps even as the mysterious Creator of all the creator gods. This reflects the Hindu belief in Brahman, the Supreme Being and Creator of All; in Shaivism, Shiva is considered as Brahman manifested, as Ishvara (meaning "the Lord" or "the Ruler of All").