families and livestock, but yet who is also a benevolent healer of disease (R.g Veda
2.33, 1.43; 1.114). A famous hymn in the R.g Veda, the hundred names of Rudra
(s ́atarudriya), speaks further of this ambiguous nature, a hymn which is referred
to in the S ́iva Pura ̄n.aand is still recited in S ́iva temples today (Gonda 1979:
75–91).
But it is only with the S ́veta ̄s ́vatara Upanis.ad, composed some time prior to the
Bhagavad Gı ̄ta ̄, that a theism focused upon Rudra-S ́iva begins to emerge in the
literature. This text is important in marking a link between the earlier monistic
Upanis.ads and the later theistic traditions. Here Rudra is elevated from the feral
deity on the edges of society to the status of the supreme being as the cause of
the cosmos, the magician (ma ̄yin) who produces the world through his power
(s ́akti), yet who transcends his creation. He is the Lord who, by his grace
(prasa ̄da), liberates the soul from its journey from body to body due to its actions.
The seeds of S ́aiva theology are here and indeed the terms “guru” and “bhakti”
occur for the first time in the text (S ́veta ̄s ́vatara6.23), although more than likely
this passage is a later interpolation. But certainly the seeds of devotion are
implicit in the text’s theism.
The formation of S ́aiva traditions as we understand them begins to occur
during the period from 200 bcto 100 ad. Apart from the S ́veta ̄s ́vatara, we have
references to a S ́aiva devotee, a S ́iva-bha ̄gavata, in the grammarian Patañjali’s
commentary on the Pa ̄n.ini grammar (Pa ̄n., 5.2.76). He describes him as a figure
clad in animal skins and carrying an iron lance as a symbol of his god, and there
are references to early S ́aiva ascetics in the Maha ̄bha ̄rata(Bhandarkar 1983:
165). There are also suggestions of S ́iva worship on the coins of Greek, S ́aka,
and Parthian kings who ruled north India during this period, bearing a bull,
a later symbol of S ́iva. While little can be inferred from this, it is probable
that adoption of S ́aiva traditions of some form accompanied the general
“Indianization” of the foreign, barbarian (mleccha) rulers (Vallee-Poussin 1936:
239–41).
During the Gupta dynasty (ca. 320–50 ad) the Pura ̄n.as developed along with
Sma ̄rta brahmin forms of worship (on this see Bühnemann 1988). The S ́aiva
Pura ̄n.as, most notably the Lin.gaandS ́iva Pura ̄n.a, contain standard material on
genealogy, caste responsibilities, and cosmology, along with specifically S ́aiva
topics of installing the symbol (lin.ga) of S ́iva in temples, descriptions of the forms
of S ́iva and material on early S ́aiva sects. The follower of the puranic religion,
the Mahes ́vara referred to by S ́an.kara (Brahmasu ̄trabha ̄s.a2.2.37), would at
death, having led a life of devotion and responsible enactment of social duties,
be transported to S ́iva’s heaven (s ́iva-loka) at the top of the world egg (brahma ̄n.d.a)
and so be liberated. This is the S ́aiva equivalent of the Vais.n.ava heaven vaikun.t.ha
where the puranic Vais.n.ava would go at death. Fully orthoprax, the Mahes ́vara
adhered to the Sma ̄rta observance of social duties, the varn.a ̄s ́rama-dharma, per-
formed vedic domestic rites and puranic pu ̄ja ̄, making vegetarian offerings to
orthodox forms of S ́iva and using vedic mantras. He followed the brahmanical
path in an ordered universe in which his place in the cosmos at death was
assured, as had been his social position in life (Sanderson forthcoming).
the s ́aiva traditions 205