Rudra

Rudra (

The etymology of the theonym Rudra is uncertain.^[11] It is usually derived from the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) root rud- (related to English rude), which means 'to cry, howl'.^[11][12] The name Rudra may thus be translated as 'the roarer'.^[5] An alternative etymology suggested by Prof. Pischel interprets Rudra as the 'red one', the 'brilliant one', possibly derived from a lost root rud-, 'red'^[7] or 'ruddy', or alternatively, according to Grassman, 'shining'.^[11]

Stella Kramrisch notes a different etymology connected with the adjectival form raudra, which means 'wild', i.e., of rude (untamed) nature, and translates the name Rudra as 'the wild one' or 'the fierce god'.^[13] R. K. Śarmā follows this alternative etymology and translates the name as 'the terrible' in his glossary for the Shiva Sahasranama.^[14] Mallory and Adams also mention a comparison with the Old Russian deity Rŭglŭ to reconstruct a Proto-Indo-European wild-god named *Rudlos, though they remind that the issue of the etymology remains problematic: from PIE *reud- ('rend, tear apart'; cf. Latin rullus, 'rustic'), or *reu- ('howl').^[15]

The commentator

Rudra is called 'the archer' (Sanskrit: Śarva)[19] and the arrow is an essential attribute of Rudra.^[20] This name appears in the Shiva Sahasranama, and R. K. Śarmā notes that it is used as a name of Shiva often in later languages.^[21] The word is derived from the Sanskrit root śarv- which means 'to injure' or 'to kill',^[19] and Śarmā uses that general sense in his interpretive translation of the name Śarva as 'One who can kill the forces of darkness'.^[21] The names Dhanvin ('bowman')^[22] and Bāṇahasta ('archer', literally 'Armed with a hand-full of arrows')^[22][23] also refer to archery.

In other contexts the word rudra can simply mean 'the number eleven'.

Rudra is one of the names of Vishnu in Vishnu Sahasranama.^[25] Adi Shankara in his commentary to Vishnu Sahasranama defined the name Rudra as 'One who makes all beings cry at the time of cosmic dissolution'.^[26] Author D. A. Desai in his glossary for the Vishnu Sahasranama says Vishnu in the form of Rudra is the one who does the total destruction at the time of great dissolution.^[27] This is only the context known where Vishnu is revered as Rudra.

Rigvedic hymns

The earliest known mentions of the Vedic deity Rudra, occur in the Rigveda, where three entire hymns are devoted to him (RV 1.114, 2.33, and 7.46). Two further hymns are devoted to Rudra jointly with Soma (RV 1.43 and 6.74).^[28][29] There are about seventy-five references to Rudra in the Rigveda overall.^[30]

Form of Rudra

In the Rigveda (RV) are verses which speak about the form of Rudra. Some of them are:

Sanskrit	Transliteration	Translation	Source
त्र्यम्बकं यजामहे	tryambakaṃ yajāmahe	We worship the three eyed one	RV 7.59.12
कपर्दिने	kapardine	Who has matted hair	RV 1.114.1
हिरण्यम् इव रोचते	hiraṇyam iva rocate	Who shines like gold	RV 1.43.5
शुक्र इव सूर्यो	śukra iva sūryo	Who shines like [the] Sun	RV 1.43.5
स्थीरेभिरंगै	sthīrebhiraṃgai	Who is with firm limbs	RV 2.33.9
पुरुरुप	pururupa	Who has multiforms	RV 2.33.9
यजतं विश्वरुपम्	yajataṃ viśvarupam	Who is of the form of the universe	RV 2.33.10
येभिः शिवः	yebhiḥ śivaḥ	Who is auspicious	RV 10.92.9

Epithets of fierceness and fright

In the Rigveda, Rudra's role as a frightening god is apparent in references to him as ghora ('extremely terrifying'), or simply as asau devam ('that god').^[31] He is 'fierce like a terrific wild beast' (RV 2.33.11).^[32] Chakravarti sums up the perception of Rudra by saying: 'Rudra is thus regarded with a kind of cringing fear, as a deity whose wrath is to be deprecated and whose favor curried'.^[33]

RV 1.114 is an appeal to Rudra for mercy, where he is referred to as 'mighty Rudra, the god with braided hair'.^[34]

In RV 7.46, Rudra is described as armed with a bow and fast-flying arrows, although many other weapons are known to exist. As quoted by R. G. Bhandarkar, the hymn declare that Rudra discharges 'brilliant shafts which run about the heaven and the earth' (RV 7.46.3), which may be a reference to lightning.^[35]

Rudra was believed to cure diseases, and when people recovered from them or were free of them, that too was attributed to the agency of Rudra.^[35] He is asked not to afflict children with disease (RV 7.46.2) and to keep villages free of illness (RV 1.114.1). He is said to have healing remedies (RV 1.43.4), as the best physician of physicians (RV 2.33.4), and as possessed of a thousand medicines (RV 7.46.3). So he is described with an alternative name, Vaidyanatha (Lord of Remedies).

Epithets of supreme rule

A verse from the Rig Veda (RV 2.33.9) calls Rudra 'The Lord or Sovereign of the Universe' (īśānādasya bhuvanasya):

A verse of Śrī Rudram (= Yajurveda 16.18) speaks of Rudra as Lord of the Universe:

जगताम् पतये नमः ।

jagatăm pataye namaha ।

Homage to the Lord of the Universe.

Another verse (Yajurveda 16.46) locates Rudra in the heart of the gods, showing that he is the inner Self of all, even the gods:^[37]

देवानां हृदयभ्यो नमो ।

devănăm hridayebhyo namo

Salutations to him who is in heart of the gods.

In a verse popularly known as the Mahamrityunjaya Mantra, both Rig Veda (7.59.12) and Yajur Veda (3.60) recommend worshipping Rudra to attain moksha (liberation):

त्र्यम्बकं यजामहे सुगंधिं पुष्टिवर्धनम् उर्वारूकमिव बन्धनान् मृत्योर्मुक्षीय मा अमृतात।

tryambakaṃ yajāmahe sugandhiṃ puṣṭivardhanam
urvārukamiva bandhanān mṛtyormukṣīya mā'mṛtāt

We worship Tryambaka, sweet augmenter of prosperity. As from its stem a cucumber, may I be freed from the bonds of death, not reft of immortality.

In the Taittiriya Aranyaka of

Rudra is used both as a name of Shiva and collectively ('the Rudras') as the name for the Maruts.^[40] Maruts are 'storm gods' associated with the atmosphere.^[41] They are a group of gods whose number varies from two to sixty, sometimes also rendered as eleven, thirty-three^[42] or a hundred and eighty in number (i. e., three times sixty. See RV 8.96.8.).

The Rudras are sometimes referred to as 'the sons of Rudra'^[43] while Rudra is referred to as 'Father of the Maruts' (RV 2.33.1).^[44]

Rudra is mentioned along with a litany of other deities in RV 7.40.5. Here is the reference to Rudra, whose name appears as one of many gods who are called upon:

This Varuṇa, the leader of the rite, and the royal Mitra and Aryaman, uphold my acts, and the divine unopposed Aditi, earnestly invoked: may they convey us safe beyond evil. I propitiate with oblations the ramifications (vayāḥ) of that divine attainable Viṣṇu, the showerer of benefits. Rudra, bestow upon us the magnificence of his nature. The Aśvins have come down to our dwelling abounding with (sacrificial) food.^[45]

One scholiast's^{[clarification needed]} interpretation of the Sanskrit word vayāḥ, meaning 'ramifications' or 'branches', is that all other deities are, as it were, branches of Vishnu,^[46] but, Ralph T. H. Griffith cites Ludwig as saying, 'This [...] gives no satisfactory interpretation' and cites other views which suggest that the text is corrupt at that point.^[47]

Non-Rigvedic hymns

In the various recensions of the

A selection of similar stanzas is included in the Paippalāda-Saṃhitā of the Atharvaveda (PS 14.3–4). This selection, with further PS additions at the end, circulated more widely as the Nīlarudra (or Nīlarudra Upaniṣad).^[9][48] Lubin suggests that in the Nīlarudra, lightning is envisioned both as Rudra's arrows and as the deity himself:

1. I saw you descending from the sky, down to earth; I saw Rudra shooting [his arrows], blue-necked, crested.

2. From the sky the mighty one has descended; he has taken his stand upon the earth. O people, look at him: the blue-necked, the red one. ...

10. They have seen you descending, blue-necked, red: both the herdsmen have seen you, and the women fetching water [have seen] you, and all beings [have seen] you: Homage to you who are seen! ..."^[48]

The Hindu god

Shri Rudram

The president of the Ramakrishna Mission, at Chennai, in commentating on the foreword to Swami Amritananda's translation of Sri Rudram and Purushasuktam, states, 'Rudra to whom these prayers are addressed is not a sectarian deity, but the Supreme Being who is omnipresent and manifests Himself in myriad forms for the sake of the diverse spiritual aspirants'. Shri Rudram occurs in the fourth Kanda of the Taittiriya Samhita in the Yajurveda. It is a preeminent Vedic hymn to Shiva as the God of dissolution and it is chanted daily in Shiva temples throughout India.^[49]

The prayer depicts the diverse aspects of the Almighty. The Shri Rudram hymn is unique in that it shows the presence of divinity throughout the entire universe. We cannot confine the qualities of the divine to those that are favourable to us. The Lord is both garden and graveyard, the slayer and the most benevolent one. The Almighty is impartial and ubiquitous.^[50]

In the hymn, Rudra is described as the most dreaded terroriser (frightening). Shri Rudram describes Rudra the Vedic deity as the personification of 'terror'. The name Rudra comes from ru, meaning 'Roar or howl' (the words dreaded or fearsome could only be used as adjectives to Rudra and not as Rudra because Rudra is the personification of terror) and dra, which is a superlative meaning 'the most'. So Rudra, depending on the poetic situation, can mean 'the most severe roarer/howler' or a hurricane or tempest or 'the most frightening one'.^[51][52]

Rudra and Shiva

Shiva as known today shares many features with Rudra,^[53] and Shiva and Rudra are viewed as the same personality in Hindu scriptures. The two names are used synonymously. Rudra, the god of the roaring storm, is usually portrayed in accordance with the element he represents as a fierce, destructive deity.^[31]

The oldest surviving text of Hinduism is the Rig Veda, which is dated to between 1700 and 1100 BC based on linguistic and philological evidence.^[54] A god named Rudra is mentioned in the Rig Veda. The name Rudra is still used as a name for Shiva. In RV 2.33, he is described as the 'Father of the Rudras', a group of storm gods.^[55]

Hymn 10.92 of the Rigveda states that the deity Rudra has two natures, one wild and cruel (rudra), and another that is kind and tranquil (shiva).

The Buddha Vajrasattva, who in a previous life was Tharpa Nakpo's master Thupka Zhonu, receives the mission to destroy Rudra, for which he is accompanied by Vajrapani, himself a reborn Pramadeva or Denphak, Nakpo's servant and fellow disciple. They both assume the wrathful forms Hayagriva and Vajravarahi, who challenge Rudra with nine dances and battle him. Hayagriva turns diminutive and enters Rudra's anus, after which he becomes gigantic and destroys his body from inside out, submitting the demon and converting him to true dharma.^[58][59]

In another version, Hayagriva impersonates Rudra and impregnates Krodishvari. As a result, he is reborn as the resultant child, Vajrarakshasha. He takes over Rudra's realm and defeats him by plunging a three-pointed khaṭvāṅga into his chest. He then devours Rudra, purifies him in his stomach and excretes him as a protector of dharma, who hands over his army of demons to Vajrarakshasha as attendants.^[60][61] Other versions replace Hayagriva with Ucchusma, an emanation that Vajrapani draws from his own anus.^[62]

In Sikhism

The 10th Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, describes the incarnation of Rudra in a composition titled 'Rudra Avtar' in his book the Dasam Granth.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Rigvedic deities
• Rudra (spider), a genus of spiders named after the deity
• Rudra Sampradaya
• Vayu, Hindu wind god
• Fūjin, Shinto Kami of winds
• Aeolus (Odyssey)

Notes