Pashupati

Pashupati
Lord of the Animals
Lingam image of Pashupati in the Mandsaur temple, India
Affiliation	Shaivism
Region	Indian subcontinent

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Pashupati (

Paśupati or Pashupatinatha, means "Lord of the animals". It was an epithet of Rudra in the Vedic period^[1] and is one of the epithets of Shiva.^[2]

History

The earliest evidence of Pashupati comes from the

Pashupatinath is an avatar of Shiva, one of the Hindu Trinity. He is the male counterpart of Shakti.

The five faces of Pashupatinath represent various incarnations of Shiva;

Sadyojata, Vamdeva, Tatpurusha & Aghora are the four faces, The fifth is Ishana, unknowable even to the seers.[4]

By country

Nepal

Although Nepal is a secular state, its

A Pashupatinath temple is sited on the banks of the Shivana river in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh, India. It is one of the most important shrines of Mandsaur, and Shiva in the form of Pashupatinath is its primary deity. Its main attraction is a unique Shiva Linga displaying eight faces of Shiva. The shrine has four doors, representing the cardinal directions.^[6]

Pashupata Shaivism

Pashupata Shaivism is one of the oldest Shaivite sects that derives its name from Pashupati. The sect upholds Pashupati "as the supreme deity, the lord of all souls, and the cause of all existence".^[7]

See also

• Potnia Theron
• Religion of the Indus Valley Civilization

References

Sources

• Flood, Gavin (1996). An Introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  ISBN 0-521-43878-0
  .
• Flood, Gavin, ed. (2003). The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell.
  ISBN 1-4051-3251-5
  .
• Kramrisch, Stella (1981). The Presence of Śiva. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
  ISBN 0-691-01930-4
  .
• Michaels, Axel (2004). Hinduism: Past and Present. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
  ISBN 0-691-08953-1
  .
• ISBN 978-0-7591-0172-2
  .
• Śarmā, Rāmakaraṇa (1996). Śivasahasranāmāṣṭakam : eight collections of hymns containing one thousand and eight names of Śiva. Delhi: Nag Publishers.
  OCLC 36990863
  . Includes Śivasahasranāmakoṣa, a dictionary of names. This work compares eight versions of the Śivasahasranāmāstotra. The preface and introduction (in English) by Ram Karan Sharma provide an analysis of how the eight versions compare with one another. The text of the eight versions is given in Sanskrit.
• ISBN 978-0-691-01778-5
  .