Siva is the last deity of the Trinity. He is responsible for the dissolution of the universe. He is the embodiment of Tamas, the centrifugal inertia, the tendency towards dispersion and annihilation.
Literally, Siva is one in whom the Universe sleeps after destruction and before the next cycle of creation. All that is born, must die. All that is produced, must disintegrate and be destroyed. This is an inviolable law. The principle that brings about this disintegration, the power behind this destruction, is Siva.
Siva is much more than that. Disintegration of the universe ends in the ultimate thinning out, into a boundless void. This boundless void, the substratum of all existence, from which springs out again and again this apparently limitless universe, is Siva. So though Siva is described as responsible for destruction, he is equally responsible for creation and existence. In this sense, Brahma and Vishnu are also Siva. It is perhaps this identity that is revealed by some of the stories in the puranas. If one story makes Siva speak from the womb of the infinite pillar of fire to Brahma and Vishnu that they are his own aspects, other stories make Siva as being born from the brows of an angry Visnu or from Brahma who was intensely desiring to beget a son.
Though Siva is often called Rudra, especially in his terrific aspect, whether the two are identical or not has been a subject of discussion and even controversy. Many scholars are included to think that the Rudra of the Vedas and the Siva of the puranas and Agamas are two different deities fused into one at a later date as cultural integration of the two races accepting them progressed. According to these scholars Siva the pacific deity is a non Aryan god, more ancient than the Vedic Rudra. Though the Aryan conquerors despised and derided the Saivas and their Siva (apparently because of some of their mysterious rituals and practices) as the two races has to live together, rapprochement and consequent cultural reconciliation became inevitable.
Whatever may be the truth of these statements they are irrelevant to our study here, since we are more interested in discovering the significance of the symbology concerned, to enrich our lives.
Siva is worshipped both in the anthropomorphic aspect and in the Linga, the latter being the rule whereas the former is an exception. The most common of his pictures and images shows him as a very handsome youth white as camphor. His limbs besmeared with ashes are strong and smooth. He has three eyes – the third eye being on the forehead between the eyebrows – and four arms, two of the arms holding the Trisula (trident) and Damaru (drum) while the other two are in the Abhaya (protection giving) and Varada (boon giving) Mudras (poses). He has a crown of long matted hair from which flows the river Ganga. He also wears the crescent moon as a diadem. A tiger skin and an elephant skin adorn his body as his garments. There are serpents all over his body forming the necklace, the girdle, the Yajnopavita (sacred thread) as also arm bracelets. There is also a garland of skulls round his blue neck.
Man being what he is, cannot help super imposing his own states on his gods too. Therefore it is but natural for him to conceive of Siva as a man with family. Parvati is his consort. Ganesa and Kumara (also known as Skanda or Subrahmanya) are his sons. Then there is the large retinue forming a veritable zoo as it were. Nandi his vehicle bull, Bhrngi the Rsi with three legs and three arms, the mouse of Ganesa, the peacock of Kumara as also a host of ghosts, goblins and imps constantly capering round him – form his large retinue. Though he has his headquarters in the icy mountains, the Himalayas, he is fond of roaming the earth, especially the burial grounds and cremation sites. All this is in perfect consonance with his nature as the Lord of destruction and dissolution.
Before embarking upon the explanation of all this which is obviously symbolical, it is better to summarise first the various stories about Siva recounted in our mythological literature.
1. Once Parvati, in a playful mood, closed his two eyes, and lo. The entire world was plunged in darkness. To save the worlds from this predicament, Siva willed a third eye in between his eyebrows, sending forth light, fire and heat. Later on, he opened this third eye – normally kept closed out of infinite mercy for humanity – to burn up Kamadeva, the lord of lust.
2. When the celestial river Ganga, which was descending from the heaven to this earth, fell ferociously on Sivas head out of pride, he just got her locked up there. Only after much prayer and supplication by Bhagiratha (who was responsible for bringing the celestial river down to this earth) and due apologies by Ganga, did he allow her to stream out.
3. When the Ksirasamudra, the ocean of milk, was being churned, one of the objects to rise was the cool crescent moon. Siva seized it and made It his diadem. When the deadly poison Halahala also rose and started destroying the worlds with its leaping tongues of fire, Siva gathered it on to his palm and drank it, thus saying the worlds, Parvati, getting alarmed about the safety of her spouse, pressed his throat so that the poison could not go down into the stomach. It thus remained in his throat, lending its blue colour permanently to it.
4. Being angered by Siva whose extraordinary beauty had attracted their wives, the Rsis of Darukavana tried to kill him through sorcerous rituals. Out of the sacrificial fire rose a tiger, a deer and a red hot iron. Siva killed the tiger and wore its skin, caught hold of the deer with his left hand ( which has remained there ever since) and made the iron one of his weapons.
5. Other stories relate to his destroying the sacrifice of Daksa, his cutting off, of one of the five heads of Brahma for having spoken disrespectfully, his destroying the three cities built by the demon Tripurasura, his killing the elephant demon Gajasura and wearing his hide, his having granted to Arjuna as a boon the weapon Pasupatastra, his having become Ardhanarisvara to dispel the ignorance of his devotee Bhrngi, his appearing as a pillar of fire to teach a lesson to Brahma and Vishnu, his vanquishing Yama, the god of death, to save his votary Markandeya, and so on.
An attempt can now be made to unravel this mysterious symbology of the Siva Picture. Siva is snow white in colour, which matches wonderfully with that of his abode, the Himalayas. White stands for light that dispels darkness, knowledge that dispels ignorance. He is the very personification of cosmic consciousness. It may appear strange that Siva who represents Tamas (the force of darkness and destruction) is pictured as white, where as Vishnu who represents Sattva (the force of light and enlightenment) is pictured as dark. There is nothing strange in this since the opposing Gunas are inseparable, hence Siva is white outside and dark inside whereas Vishnu is the reverse of it.
The three eyes of Siva represent the sun, the moon and the fire, the three sources of light, life and heat. The third eye can also indicate the eye of knowledge and wisdom and hence his omniscience. If the sun and the moon form his two eyes as it were, then the whole sky including the powerful wind blowing in it, forms his hair. That is why he is called Vyomakesa (one who has the sky or space as his hair). Tiger is a ferocious animal that mercilessly devours its hapless victims. Desire, which consumes human beings, without ever being satiated, can be compared to a tiger. That Siva has killed the tiger and wears its skin as his apparel shows his complete mastery over desire. The elephant being a powerful animal, wearing its skin implies that Siva has completely subjugated all animal impulses. The garland of skulls (Mundamala) that he wears and the ashes of the funeral pyre with which he has besmeared his body indicate that he is the Lord of destruction. The garland of skulls also represent the revolution of ages and successive appearance and disappearance of the human races. Siva is the lord of Yoga and Yogis. He is often shown as sitting in deep meditation immersed in the enjoyment of the bliss of his own self. The water of the river Ganga represents this. Or it can represent Jnana, Knowledge. Since Ganga is highly adored as a great purifying agent, it goes without saying that he whom it adorns, is the very personification of purifying or redeeming power.
The crescent moon stands for time, since measurement of time as days or months depends upon the waxing and waning of the moon. By wearing it as a diadem, Siva is showing us that even the all powerful time is only an ornament for him. And then, the snakes. The venomous cobras which symbolize death for us adorn his frame in all possible manner embellishing it further. He alone, to whom symbol of death is a decoration, can gulp down the deadly poison Halahala to save the worlds. All this points to one thing; he is Mrtyunjaya, the conqueror or death. Coiled serpents may also represent cycles of time in the macrocosm and the basic energy – akin to sexual energy – of living beings in the microcosm. So, Siva is the master of time and energy.
Iconographically Siva may have two, three, four, eight, ten or even thirty two hands. Some of the various objects shown in these hands are Trisula (trident), Chakra (discus), Parasu (battle axe), Damaru (drum), Aksamala (rosary), Mrga (deer), Pasa (noose), Danda (staff), Pinaka or Ajagava (bow), Khatvanga (magic wand), Pasupata (spear), Padma (lotus), Kapala (skull cup), Darpana (mirror), Khadga (sword) and so on. It is rather difficult to find a meaning for everyone of these items. However an attempt will be made to explain some of them. The Trisula (trident) being an important weapon of offence and defence, indicates that Siva is the supreme ruler. Philosophically it can stand for the three Gunas or the three processes of creation, preservation and dissolution. Hence Siva the wielder of the trident is the master of the Gunas and from him proceed the cosmic processes.
It is said that while dancing the Tandavanrtya Siva sounded his Damaru (small drum) fourteen times, thereby producing sounds like a-i-un, r-lr-k and so on, which are not known as the Mahesvarasutras, the fourteen basic formulae containing all the alphabets arranged in the most ingenious manner, facilitating innumerable grammatical processes. Hence the Damaru represents the alphabets, grammer (the science of language) or language itself. In other words it stands for all words – spoken or written or otherwise expressed – and hence for the entire gamut of all arts and sciences, sacred and secular. It also represents sound as such, the logos, from which entire creation has proceeded. By holding it in his hand, Siva is demonstrating the fact that the entire creation, including its various arts and sciences, has proceeded out of his will, his play.
If the Aksamala (rosary) shows that he is the master of spiritual sciences, the khatvanga (magic wand with a skull fixed at one end) shows that he is an adept in occult sciences too. The Kapala (skull cup) with which he drinks blood, is another symbol that points to his all destroying power. The Darpana (mirror) indicates that the entire creation is just a reflection of his cosmic form. The icon of Siva is never worshipped as the Mulamurti (original, installed in the sanctum sanctorum), but only as an Utsavamurti (the icon used during festivals for taking out in a procession).
Article courtsey : Sri Ramakrishna Math Mylapore, Chennai.
