Editing Shiva (section)

==== Rudra ====
[[File:ThreeHeadedShivaGandhara2ndCentury.jpg|upright|thumb|200px|Three-headed Shiva, Gandhara, 2nd century AD]]

Shiva as we know him today shares many features with the Vedic god [[Rudra]],{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=316}} and both Shiva and Rudra are viewed as the same personality in [[Hindu texts|Hindu scriptures]]. The two names are used synonymously. Rudra, a [[Rigvedic deity]] with fearsome powers, was the god of the roaring [[storm]]. He is usually portrayed in accordance with the element he represents as a fierce, destructive deity.{{sfn|Flood|2003|p=73}} In RV 2.33, he is described as the "Father of the [[Rudras]]", a group of storm gods.<ref>Doniger, pp. 221–223.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Rudra {{!}} Hinduism, Shiva, Vedas {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rudra |access-date=8 June 2024 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

Flood notes that Rudra is an ambiguous god, peripheral in the Vedic pantheon, possibly indicating non-Vedic origins.{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=152}} Nevertheless, both Rudra and Shiva are akin to [[Odin|Wodan]], the Germanic God of rage ("wütte") and the [[wild hunt]].{{sfnm|Zimmer|2000|p=186}}{{sfn|Storl|2004}}{{page needed|date=April 2022}}{{sfn|Winstedt|2020}}{{page needed|date=April 2022}}

According to Sadasivan, during the development of the [[Hindu synthesis]] attributes of the Buddha were transferred by Brahmins to Shiva, who was also linked with [[Rudra]].{{Sfn|Sadasivan|2000|p=148}} The Rigveda has 3 out of 1,028 hymns dedicated to Rudra, and he finds occasional mention in other hymns of the same text.{{Sfn|Chakravarti|1986|pp=1–2}} Hymn 10.92 of the Rigveda states that deity Rudra has two natures, one wild and cruel (Rudra), another that is kind and tranquil (Shiva).{{sfn|Kramrisch|1994a|p=7}}

The term Shiva also appears simply as an epithet, that means "kind, auspicious", one of the adjectives used to describe many different Vedic deities. While fierce ruthless natural phenomenon and storm-related Rudra is feared in the hymns of the Rigveda, the beneficial rains he brings are welcomed as Shiva aspect of him.{{Sfn|Chakravarti|1986|pp=2–3}} This healing, nurturing, life-enabling aspect emerges in the Vedas as Rudra-Shiva, and in post-Vedic literature ultimately as Shiva who combines the destructive and constructive powers, the terrific and the gentle, as the ultimate recycler and rejuvenator of all existence.{{Sfn|Chakravarti|1986|pp=1–9}}

The Vedic texts do not mention bull or any animal as the transport vehicle (''vahana'') of Rudra or other deities. However, post-Vedic texts such as the Mahabharata and the Puranas state the Nandi bull, the Indian [[zebu]], in particular, as the vehicle of Rudra and of Shiva, thereby unmistakably linking them as same.{{sfn|Kramrisch|1994a|pp=14–15}}