Further reading: Ruth S. Freed and Stanley A. Freed,
The Two Mother Goddess Ceremonies of Delhi State in
the Great and Little Traditions (Albuquerque: University
of New Mexico Press, 1962); Donald S. Lopez Jr., ed.,
Religions of India in Practice (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton
University Press, 1995); Subrata Kumar Mukhopad-
hyay, Cult of Goddess Sitala in Bengal: An Enquiry into
Folk Culture (Calcutta: Firma KLM, 1994).
Shiva
Shiva, “the beneficent one,” is the divinity at the
center of the largest Hindu religious sect. The tra-
dition identifies Shiva with the Vedic god RUDRA,
a fierce divinity who caused diseases of cattle and
men and was propitiated out of fear. Rudra was
known by the epithet shiva (as he was known to
relent).
Shiva as a separate divinity first appears in the
RAMAYANA (c. 600–300 B.C.E.) and MAHABHARATA
(c. 700 B.C.E.–100 C.E.) epics; he is cited in the
SHVETASHVATARA UPANISHAD (c. 300 B.C.E.) as the
highest divinity. Clearly Shiva has ancient roots in
North India. Some see his form in a seal from the
INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION (c. 2600 B.C.E.) showing
a seated figure with a buffalo-horned headdress
and an erect penis.
It is clear that the worship of Shiva is quite
ancient, many centuries more ancient than the
first extant SHIVA LINGAM, which dates to the first
century C.E. The LINGAM is an erect penis; it is the
aniconic form that represents Shiva in the inner
sanctum of virtually all temples dedicated to him.
The lingam is nearly always shown surrounded
by a circular stone rim that represents the YONI,
or sexual organ, of the goddess, indicating his
association with the divine feminine from a very
early time.
In the stories of Shiva he is found first with
his wife, SAT I, who tragically dies, and then with
Sati’s reincarnated form PARVATI. His divine family
includes the amusing elephant-headed god GANE-
SHA, Shiva and Parvati’s elder son, and KARTTIKEYA,
the eternal youth with his peacock vehicle.
The basic Shiva myth depicts him in his youth
as a fierce, ascetic naked wanderer with matted
locks and smeared with ashes from human crema-
tion grounds. He gads about willfully, not observ-
ing any social convention.
This all changes after the gods learn that only
a son of Shiva can defeat the demon that is trying
to usurp their power. They send Parvati to seduce
him and then send the god of love to induce him
to succumb. The uncooperative Shiva simply
burns the god of love to ashes.
Eventually, however, Shiva does take to Par-
vati, and their lovemaking is famous in the lit-
erature. As they make love in a beautiful pleasure
grove, his passion is so strong that everything in
the grove becomes female—including an unfor-
tunate king who happens into the grove. Shiva’s
son was actually born by accident when he spilled
his semen into fire. The fire could not contain the
energy and so gave the seed to the GANGES. She,
with all her coolness, could not contain it either,The major deity Shiva as Nataraja, Lord of the Dance
(HIP/Art Resource, NY)K 406 Shiva