Shiva is not a Vedic god !
Vishnu and Rudra are known even to the Rig Veda but as deities of no special eminence. It is only after the Vedic age that they became, each for his own worshippers.
Vishnu and Rudra are known even to the Rig Veda but as deities of no special eminence. It is only after the Vedic age that they became, each for his own worshippers.
Although many Vaishnavas or Shaivites here won't like to hear it, the truth is that Shiva is not mentioned in the Vedas as a god, but as a word meaning auspicious, but the deity for destruction - Rudra is mentioned. Many Vaishnava and Shaivite sects don't really teach the Vedas, but teach the Puranas, Itihasa and Agamas.
The 'main' God of the Vedas is actually Indra, who became a minor god later in Vaishnavite and Shaivite traditions. Some believe that not only Rudra but Indra also was combined into the Shiva of later Hinduism, as auspiciousness (shiva) is a quality of Indra.
“His rise to a major position in the pantheon was facilitated by his identification with a host of Vedic deities,including Purusha, Rudra, Agni, Indra, Prajāpati, Vāyu, and others”
The difficulty arises when tries to identify Shiva with Iswara is the fact that Iswara means Personal God.This term Isvara appears for the first time in Patanjali’sYoga Sutra, where the meaning is Personal God.
It is in origin, The term ‘Shiva’ a nominalized adjective meaning “capable, able, being in control”, like īśa “owning, possessing” derived from a root īś- “to own, possess; rule over”, ultimately cognate with English own (Germanic *aigana-, PIE *aik-). The theological meaning “the Supreme Being” first arises in the Manu Smriti, while īśa is used as a name of Rudra somewhat earlier, in the Shvetashvatara Upanishad(c. 300 BCE), considered the first evidence of the development of that deity, the later Shiva, into a supreme, cosmological god.
According to Purans Shiva is different from Rudra, Rudra being an Amsa, Manifestation of a part of Shiva. Shiva has been given the following Prime Attributes in terms of functionality,
- Visweswara,
- Mahadeva,
- Triyambaka,
- Thripuraanthaka,
- (Thrikaakgni) Kaala,
- (Kallakgni) Rudra,
- Neelakanta,
- Mrthuyunjaya,
- Sarveswara,
- Sadashiva,
Rudra is one among and Chief of 11 Rudras, Ekadasa Rudras,
The Ramayana tells they are eleven of the 33 children of the sage Kashyapa and his wife Aditi, along with the 12 Adityas, 8 Vasus and 2Ashvins, constituting the Thirty-three gods.
The Vamana Purana describes the Rudras as the sons of Kashyapa and Aditi.
While usually the Rudras are described to eleven, in one instance in the Mahabharata; they are said to be eleven thousand and surrounding Shiva.
The eleven groups of hundred are named: Ajaikapad, Ahi Budhnya, Pinakin, Rta, Pitrrupa, Tryamabaka, Maheshvara, Vrsakapi, Sambhu, Havana and Ishvara..
When Shiva is not mentioned in Vedas, and was not a Vedic god. How can his temple be Vedic ?
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