Rudra

Template:Short description {{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} Template:Distinguish Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Indian English Template:Infobox deity Template:Hinduism

Rudra (/ɾud̪ɾə/; Template:Langx) is a Rigvedic deity associated with Shiva, the wind or storms,Template:Sfnp Vayu,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> medicine, and the hunt.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> One translation of the name is 'the roarer'.Template:SfnpTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp In the Rigveda, Rudra is praised as the "mightiest of the mighty".<ref name="Kotob">Template:Cite book</ref> Rudra means "who eradicates problems from their roots"Template:Citation needed. Depending upon the period, the name Rudra can be interpreted as 'the most severe roarer/howler' or 'the most frightening one'. This name appears in the Shiva Sahasranama, and R. K. Sharma notes that it is often used as a name of Shiva in later languages. The "Shri Rudram" hymn from the Yajurveda is dedicated to Rudra and is important in the Shaivite sect.<ref name="Kramrisch1993_7174">For an overview of the Śatarudriya see: Template:Harvp.</ref><ref>For a full translation of the complete hymn see Template:Harvp.</ref> In the Prathama Anuvaka of Namakam (Taittiriya Samhita 4.5), Rudra is revered as Sadasiva (meaning 'mighty Shiva') and Mahadeva. Sadashiva is the Supreme Being, Paramashiva, in the Siddhanta sect of Shaivism.

Etymology

The etymology of the theonym Rudra is uncertain.<ref name=Chakravarti1994_4>Template:Harvp.</ref> It is usually derived from the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) root rud- (related to English rude), which means 'to cry, howl'.Template:RTemplate:Sfnp The name Rudra may thus be translated as 'the roarer'.Template:Sfnp An alternative etymology interprets Rudra as the 'red one', the 'brilliant one', possibly derived from a lost root rud-, 'red'Template:Sfnp or 'ruddy', or alternatively, according to Grassman, 'shining'.Template:R

Stella Kramrisch notes a different etymology connected with the adjectival form raudra, which means 'wild', i.e., of rude (untamed) nature, and translates the name Rudra as 'the wild one' or 'the fierce god'.<ref>Template:Harvp cites "rudra" in M. Mayrhofer, Concise Etymological Sanskrit Dictionary.</ref> R. K. Śarmā follows this alternative etymology and translates the name as 'the terrible' in his glossary for the Shiva Sahasranama.Template:Sfnp Mallory and Adams also mention a comparison with the Old Russian deity Rŭglŭ to reconstruct a Proto-Indo-European wild-god named *Rudlos, though they remind that the issue of the etymology remains problematic: from PIE *reud- ('rend, tear apart'; cf. Latin rullus, 'rustic'), or *reu- ('howl').<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The commentator [[Sayana|Template:IAST]] suggests six possible derivations for rudra.Template:Sfnp However, another reference states that Sayana suggested ten derivations.<ref>Sri Rudram and Purushasuktam, by Swami Amiritananda, pp. 9-10, Sri Ramakrishna Math.</ref> The adjective śiva (shiva) in the sense of 'propitious' or 'kind' is first applied to the Rudra in RV 10.92.9.<ref>Template:Harvp. For the text of RV 10.92.9, see Template:Harvp.</ref>

Rudra is called 'the archer' (Sanskrit: Template:IAST)Template:Sfnp and the arrow is an essential attribute of Rudra.<ref>For archer and arrow associations, see Template:Harvp; for the arrow as an "essential attribute" of Rudra, see Template:Harvp.</ref> This name appears in the Shiva Sahasranama, and R. K. Śarmā notes that it is used as a name of Shiva often in later languages.Template:Sfnp The word is derived from the Sanskrit root Template:IAST- which means 'to injure' or 'to kill',Template:Sfnp and Śarmā uses that general sense in his interpretive translation of the name Template:IAST as 'One who can kill the forces of darkness'.Template:Sfnp The names Template:IAST ('bowman')Template:Sfnp and Template:IAST ('archer', literally 'Armed with a hand-full of arrows')Template:Sfnp<ref>For translation of Template:IAST as “Armed with arrows in his hands”, see: Template:Harvp.</ref> also refer to archery.

In other contexts the word rudra can simply mean 'the number eleven'.Template:Sfnp The word rudraksha (Sanskrit: Template:IAST = rudra and Template:IAST 'eye' or tear), or 'eye or tears of Rudra', is used as a name for both the berry of the rudraksha tree and a name for a string of the prayer beads made from those seeds.Template:Sfnp

Rudra is one of the names of Vishnu in Vishnu Sahasranama.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Adi Shankara in his commentary to Vishnu Sahasranama defined the name Rudra as 'One who makes all beings cry at the time of cosmic dissolution'.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Author D. A. Desai in his glossary for the Vishnu Sahasranama says Vishnu in the form of Rudra is the one who does the total destruction at the time of great dissolution.<ref name="D. A. Desai 1998 58">Template:Cite book</ref> This is only the context known where Vishnu is revered as Rudra.

Rigvedic hymns

The earliest known mentions of the Vedic deity Rudra, occur in the Rigveda, where three entire hymns are devoted to him (RV 1.114, 2.33, and 7.46). Two further hymns are devoted to Rudra jointly with Soma (RV 1.43 and 6.74).<ref>For the three Rigvedic hymns devoted to Rudra, see Template:Harvp.</ref><ref>For discussion of four Rigvedic hymns (1.43, 1.114, 2.33, and 7.46) see: Template:Harvp.</ref> There are about seventy-five references to Rudra in the Rigveda overall.<ref>E.g., Rudra is also included in a litany given in RV 7.40.5.</ref>

Form of Rudra

In the Rigveda (RV) are verses which speak about the form of Rudra. Some of them are:

Template:Small	Template:Small	Template:Small	Template:Small
त्र्यम्बकं यजामहे	tryambakaṃ yajāmahe	We worship the three-eyed one	RV 7.59.12
कपर्दिने	kapardine	Who has matted hair	RV 1.114.1
हिरण्यम् इव रोचते	hiraṇyam iva rocate	Who shines like gold	RV 1.43.5
शुक्र इव सूर्यो	śukra iva sūryo	Who shines like [the] Sun	RV 1.43.5
स्थीरेभिरंगै	sthīrebhiraṃgai	Who is with firm limbs	RV 2.33.9
पुरुरुप	pururupa	Who has multiforms	RV 2.33.9
यजतं विश्वरुपम्	yajataṃ viśvarupam	Who is of the form of the universe	RV 2.33.10
येभिः शिवः	yebhiḥ śivaḥ	Who is auspicious	RV 10.92.9

Epithets of fierceness and fright

In the Rigveda, Rudra's role as a frightening god is apparent in references to him as ghora ('extremely terrifying'), or simply as asau devam ('that god').Template:Sfnp He is 'fierce like a terrific wild beast' (RV 2.33.11).Template:Sfnp Chakravarti sums up the perception of Rudra by saying: 'Rudra is thus regarded with a kind of cringing fear, as a deity whose wrath is to be deprecated and whose favor curried'.Template:Sfnp

RV 1.114 is an appeal to Rudra for mercy, where he is referred to as 'mighty Rudra, the god with braided hair'.Template:Sfnp

In RV 7.46, Rudra is described as armed with a bow and fast-flying arrows, although many other weapons are known to exist. As quoted by R. G. Bhandarkar, the hymn declare that Rudra discharges 'brilliant shafts which run about the heaven and the earth' (RV 7.46.3), which may be a reference to lightning.<ref name=Bhandarkar1995_146>Template:Harvp.</ref>

Rudra was believed to cure diseases, and when people recovered from them or were free of them, that too was attributed to the agency of Rudra.Template:R He is asked not to afflict children with disease (RV 7.46.2) and to keep villages free of illness (RV 1.114.1). He is said to have healing remedies (RV 1.43.4), as the best physician of physicians (RV 2.33.4), and as possessed of a thousand medicines (RV 7.46.3). So he is described with an alternative name, Vaidyanatha (Lord of Remedies).

Epithets of supreme rule

A verse from the Rig Veda (RV 2.33.9) calls Rudra 'The Lord or Sovereign of the Universe' (īśānādasya bhuvanasya): <poem style="margin-left:2em; float:left;"> sthirebhiraṅghaiḥ pururūpa ughro babhruḥ śukrebhiḥ pipiśehiraṇyaiḥ īśānādasya bhuvanasya bhūrerna vā u yoṣad rudrādasuryam (RV 2.33.9) </poem>

<poem style="margin-left:2em; float:left;"> With firm limbs, multiform, the strong, the tawny adorns himself with bright gold decorations: The strength of Godhead never departs from Rudra, him who is Sovereign of this world, the mighty.<ref>The Hymns of the Rig Veda, trans. Ralph T. H. Griffith (1896).</ref> </poem>

A verse of Śrī Rudram (= Yajurveda 16.18) speaks of Rudra as Lord of the Universe:

जगताम् पतये नमः ।

jagatam pataye namaḥ ।
Homage to the Lord of the Universe.{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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Another verse (Yajurveda 16.46) locates Rudra in the heart of the gods, showing that he is the inner Self of all, even the gods:<ref>"The Texts of the White Yajurveda", tr. Ralph T.H. Griffith, [1899]</ref>

देवानां हृदयभ्यो नमो ।

devānāṃ hṛdayabhyo namo
Salutations to him who is in heart of the gods.{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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In a verse popularly known as the Mahamrityunjaya Mantra, both Rig Veda (7.59.12) and Yajur Veda (3.60) recommend worshipping Rudra to attain moksha (liberation):

त्र्यम्बकं यजामहे सुगंधिं पुष्टिवर्धनम् उर्वारूकमिव बन्धनान् मृत्योर्मुक्षीय मा अमृतात।

Template:IAST
Template:IAST

We worship Tryambaka, sweet augmenter of prosperity. As from its stem a cucumber, may I be freed from the bonds of death, not reft of immortality.{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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In the Taittiriya Aranyaka of Yajur Veda (10.24.1),<ref name=sanskritweb_net01>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Rudra is identified as the universal existent ('all this') and thus as the Purusha (Supreme Person or inner Self) of the Vedas:

Template:IAST
Template:IAST
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All this verily is Rudra. To Rudra who is such we offer our salutation. We salute again and again that Being, Rudra, who alone is the Purusha and the Soul of creatures. The material universe, the created beings, and whatever there is manifoldly and profusely created, in the past and in the present, in the form of the world—all that is indeed this Rudra. Salutations be to Rudra who is such. {{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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The Taittiriya Aranyaka of Yajur Veda 1.10.1Template:R identifies Rudra and Brihaspati as Sons and companions of Bhumi (Earth) and Heaven:<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead link</ref>

Sanskrit Romanized (IAST)	Roman (Harvard-Kyoto) translation	English translation
sahasravṛdiyaṃ bhūmiḥ	yam bhUmi: sahasravrt	This world is desired as a place of abode by thousands of Jeevaraasis
paraṃ vyŏmaḥ sahasravṛt	param vyOma: sahasravrt	The upper world is similarly desired by the thousands of Devas.
aśvinā bhujyū nāsatyā	bhujyU na asatyA viSvasya jagata: patI aSvinA	The earth and the heaven (Svarga lOkam) are like the twin gods, Asvini Devas, who banish diseases and bless us with bhOgams; Asvini Devas are the protectors of the universe and their sankalpam (volition) never fails.
viśvasya jagataspatī
jāyā bhūmiḥ patirvyoma	bhUmi: jAyA vyOma pati: taa mithunam aturyathu:	BhU lOkam is the wife and the Heaven is the husband; they are united like a couple.
mithunantā aturyathuḥ
putro bṛhaspatī rudraḥ	putra: brhaspatI rudra:	We have to consider Brhaspati and Rudran (aging here) as their sons
saramā iti strīpumam	saramA iti	The raised platform for the Yaagam, Yaaga meDai (Yajn~a Vedi) should be considered as a lady.
	iti strI pumam	Thus we are instructed about the male-female aspects of the Earth and the Heaven.
[Now comes the prayer to the abhimAna devatais for BhUmi and the upper world.]
śukraṃ vāmanyadyajataṃ vāmanyat	vAm anyat Sukram vAm anyat yajatam	Among your forms, one is the day with white hue, the other is the night with dark hue.
viṣurūpe ahanī dyauriva sthaḥ	vishurUpe ahanI dyau iva stha:	Both of You stay steady as the Sooryan in the sky with equal, unique and alternating forms.

Relation to other deities

Rudra is used both as a name of Shiva and collectively ('the Rudras') as the name for the Maruts.<ref>For the terms "Maruts" and "Rudras" as equivalent, see Template:Harvp.</ref> Maruts are 'storm gods' associated with the atmosphere.Template:Sfnp They are a group of gods whose number varies from two to sixty, sometimes also rendered as eleven, thirty-threeTemplate:Sfnp or a hundred and eighty in number (i. e., three times sixty. See RV 8.96.8.).

The Rudras are sometimes referred to as 'the sons of Rudra'Template:Sfnp while Rudra is referred to as 'Father of the Maruts' (RV 2.33.1).<ref>Template:Harvp. For Shiva as the head or father of the group see Template:Harvp. For Rudra as the head of a host of "storm spirits, the Maruts" see: Template:Harvp.</ref>

Rudra is mentioned along with a litany of other deities in RV 7.40.5. Here is the reference to Rudra, whose name appears as one of many gods who are called upon:

One scholiast'sTemplate:Clarify interpretation of the Sanskrit word Template:IAST, meaning 'ramifications' or 'branches', is that all other deities are, as it were, branches of Vishnu,<ref>For the scholiast interpretation of Template:IAST as "ramifications" or "branches" see Template:Harvp.</ref> but, Ralph T. H. Griffith cites Ludwig as saying, 'This [...] gives no satisfactory interpretation' and cites other views which suggest that the text is corrupt at that point.<ref>The citation continues as follows: "This, Ludwig remarks, gives no satisfactory interpretation; but I am unable to offer anything better at present. Grassman alters Template:IAST into Template:IAST: 'we with our offering approach the banquet of this swift-moving God, the bounteous Template:IAST; i. e. come to offer him sacrificial food.'" in: Template:Harvp.</ref>

Non-Rigvedic hymns

In the various recensions of the Yajurveda is included a litany of stanzas praising Rudra: Maitrāyaṇī-Saṃhitā 2.9.2, Kāṭhaka-Saṃhitā 17.11, Taittirīya-Saṃhitā 4.5.1 and Vājasaneyi-Saṃhitā 16.1–14. This litany is subsequently referred to variously as the Śatarudriyam and the Namakam (because many of the verses commence with the word namaḥ, meaning 'homage'), or simply the Rudram. This litany was recited during the Agnicayana ritual ('the piling of Agni'), and it later became a standard element in Rudra liturgy.

A selection of similar stanzas is included in the Paippalāda-Saṃhitā of the Atharvaveda (PS 14.3–4). This selection, with further PS additions at the end, circulated more widely as the Nīlarudra (or Nīlarudra Upaniṣad).Template:RTemplate:Sfnp Lubin suggests that in the Nīlarudra, lightning is envisioned both as Rudra's arrows and as the deity himself:

The Hindu god Shiva shares several features with Rudra. The theonym Śiva ('kind') originated as a euphemistic epithet for Rudra, who is similarly invoked as Aghora ('not frightful') and Abhayaṅkara ('providing safety').Template:Sfnp Although Rudra remains the primary designation of the god, e.g., in the Pāśupata ascetic tradition, lay devotees preferred to address him as Śiva, Maheśvara ('Great Lord'), or Mahādeva ('Great God'), as in the Śivadharma literature, the Sanskrit epics, and the Purāṇas. Those epithets come to be the primary names of the deity.

Shri Rudram

The president of the Ramakrishna Mission, at Chennai, in commentating on the foreword to Swami Amritananda's translation of Sri Rudram and Purushasuktam, states, 'Rudra to whom these prayers are addressed is not a sectarian deity, but the Supreme Being who is omnipresent and manifests Himself in myriad forms for the sake of the diverse spiritual aspirants'. Shri Rudram occurs in the fourth Kanda of the Taittiriya Samhita in the Yajurveda. It is a preeminent Vedic hymn to Shiva as the God of dissolution and it is chanted daily in Shiva temples throughout India.<ref>Archived at GhostarchiveTemplate:Cbignore and the Wayback MachineTemplate:Cbignore: {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Cbignore</ref>

The prayer depicts the diverse aspects of the Almighty. The Shri Rudram hymn is unique in that it shows the presence of divinity throughout the entire universe. We cannot confine the qualities of the divine to those that are favourable to us. The Lord is both garden and graveyard, the slayer and the most benevolent one. The Almighty is impartial and ubiquitous.<ref>Archived at GhostarchiveTemplate:Cbignore and the Wayback MachineTemplate:Cbignore: {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Cbignore</ref>

In the hymn, Rudra is described as the most dreaded terroriser (frightening). Shri Rudram describes Rudra the Vedic deity as the personification of 'terror'. The name Rudra comes from ru, meaning 'Roar or howl' (the words dreaded or fearsome could only be used as adjectives to Rudra and not as Rudra because Rudra is the personification of terror) and dra, which is a superlative meaning 'the most'. So Rudra, depending on the poetic situation, can mean 'the most severe roarer/howler' or a hurricane or tempest or 'the most frightening one'.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Rudra and Shiva

File:ThreeHeadedShivaGandhara2ndCentury.jpg

Three-headed Shiva, Gandhara, 2nd century AD

Shiva as known today shares many features with Rudra,Template:Sfnp and Shiva and Rudra are viewed as the same personality in Hindu scriptures. The two names are used synonymously. Rudra, the god of the roaring storm, is usually portrayed in accordance with the element he represents as a fierce, destructive deity.Template:Sfnp

The oldest surviving text of Hinduism is the Rig Veda, which is dated to between 1700 and 1100 BC based on linguistic and philological evidence.<ref>For dating based on "cumulative evidence" see Template:Harvp</ref> A god named Rudra is mentioned in the Rig Veda. The name Rudra is still used as a name for Shiva. In RV 2.33, he is described as the 'Father of the Rudras', a group of storm gods.Template:Sfnp

Hymn 10.92 of the Rigveda states that the deity Rudra has two natures, one wild and cruel (rudra), and another that is kind and tranquil (shiva).Template:Sfnp The Vedic texts mention a horse as the vehicle (vahana) of Rudra, the "Hero on horseback" that "should be indulgent" to the singer (RV. 2.33.1). Whereas post-Vedic texts such as the Mahabharata and the Puranas mention Nandi the bull and the zebu as the vehicles of Rudra and of Shiva, thereby unmistakably linking them as the same.Template:Sfnp

In Buddhism

In Tibetan Buddhism, according to the Padma Thang Yig, Rudra are devas (beings who live in heaven) at Maheśvara heaven. Or formerly a human monk of noble origin named Koukuntri and then Tharpa Nakpo, who misunderstands dharma and engages in a life of vice and is condemned to Naraka. After 20.000 impure lives, he is eventually reborn as a demon in Sri Lanka by a prostitute who sleeps with three kinds of supernatural creatures, giving him three heads. His birth brings about plague and famine, so he is banished to a charnel ground, but he survives by devouring his mother's corpse and returns in order to conquer the world. Becoming the lover of the rakshasa queen Krodhishvari, he battles the gods, who are terrified of his extraordinary power and call the Buddhas and boddhisattvas for help.

The Buddha Vajrasattva, who in a previous life was Tharpa Nakpo's master Thupka Zhonu, receives the mission to destroy Rudra, for which he is accompanied by Vajrapani, himself a reborn Pramadeva or Denphak, Nakpo's servant and fellow disciple. They both assume the wrathful forms Hayagriva and Vajravarahi, who challenge Rudra with nine dances and battle him. Hayagriva turns diminutive and enters Rudra's anus, after which he becomes gigantic and destroys his body from inside out, submitting the demon and converting him to true dharma.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In another version, Hayagriva impersonates Rudra and impregnates Krodishvari. As a result, he is reborn as the resultant child, Vajrarakshasa. He takes over Rudra's realm and defeats him by plunging a three-pointed khaṭvāṅga into his chest. He then devours Rudra, purifies him in his stomach and excretes him as a protector of dharma, who hands over his army of demons to Vajrarakshasha as attendants.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Other versions replace Hayagriva with Ucchusma, an emanation that Vajrapani draws from his own anus.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In Sikhism

The 10th Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, describes the incarnation of Rudra in a composition titled 'Rudra Avtar' in his book the Dasam Granth.Template:Citation needed

See also

• Rigvedic deities
• Rudra (spider), a genus of spiders named after the deity
• Rudra Sampradaya
• Vayu, Hindu wind god
• Fūjin, Shinto Kami of winds
• Aeolus (Odyssey)

References

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book This revised edition updates H. H. Wilson's translation by replacing obsolete English forms with more modern equivalents, giving the English translation along with the original Sanskrit text in Devanagari script, along with a critical apparatus. {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• Template:Cite book
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• Template:Cite book (Second Revised Edition; Reprint, Delhi, 2002).
• Template:Cite book The version provided by Chidbhavananda is from chapter 17 of the Anuśāsana Parva of the Mahābharata.
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• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book Includes Śivasahasranāmakoṣa, a dictionary of names. This work compares eight versions of the Śivasahasranāmāstotra. The preface and introduction (in English) by Ram Karan Sharma provide an analysis of how the eight versions compare with one another. The text of the eight versions is given in Sanskrit.
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