Rudra
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Rudra (Sanskrit: रुद्रः) ("Howler") is a Rigvedic God of the storm, the hunt, death, Nature and the Wind. Rudra is thought to be an early form of Shiva, the lord of destruction in Hinduism, and a name of Shiva in the Shiva sahasranama.
Rudra has arrows which cause disease in whomever he hits whether it be a god, human or animal. With Diti he is the father of the Maruts. The famous hymn, Shri Rudram is a Vedic Mantra that is still chanted today.
According to Adi Sankara's commentary on the Vishnu Sahasranama, Rudra means "One who makes all beings cry at the time of cosmic dissolution." Alternatively, Rudra means "One who gives speech." Rudra also means "one who drives away sorrows."
The word Rudraksha is a Tatpurusha compound meaning "The eye of Rudra"
A musical instrument has been named after Rudra Shiva — Rudra Veena.
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[edit] Birth Of Rudra
At the beginning of creation, Lord Brahma became very angry as he could not create the world as he wished. From his eyebrows, a child appeared before him. The boy was in Ardhanari form (half-male,half- female). Brahma requested Rudra to help in creation. Rudra manifested himself into 11 Rudraganas who resembled like him. But Rudra said that he liberated souls and not tie tem in bondages of existence, thus Brahma should himself create the universe and then he vanished.
[edit] The Eleven Rudras
Once, the Devas went to sage Kashyap,their father, after being tormented by the Asuras. They complained to him about the misdeeds of the demons, who also happened to be their step brothers. Sage Kashyap became extremely furious, when he heard about the misdeeds of his sons – the demons. To protect the deities from his sons, he commenced a penance to please lord Shiva.
Lord Shiva became very pleased by his penance and appeared before him. He asked Kashyap to demand anything he wished. Kashyap then requested Lord Shiva to take birth as his son and destroy the demons. Lord Shiva blessed him and granted his wish.
Lord Shiva, later on took birth as eleven Rudras from the womb of Kashyap's wife Surabhi. The name of these eleven rudras were as follows:-
1) Kapali, 2) Pingal, 3) Bheem, 4) Virupaksha, 5) Vilohit, 6) Shastra, 7) Ajapaad, 8) Ahirbudhnya, 9) Shambhu, 10) Chand and 11) Bhav.
These eleven Rudras fought battles with the demons and killed them.
[edit] References
- Vishnu Sahasranama, commentary by Shankaracharya, translated by Swami Tapasyananda:
- Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend (ISBN 0-500-51088-1) by Anna Dhallapiccola
- Book on Rudra
[edit] Further reading
- Rudrastadhyayi (ISBN 1-877795-53-4) by Swami Satyananda Saraswati, Devi Mandir.
[edit] See also
| Hinduism | Hindu mythology | Indian epic poetry |  |
|---|---|
| Female Deities: Saraswati | Lakshmi | Dakshayani | Gayatri | Parvati | Durga | Shakti | Kali | Sita | Devi | Radha | Mahavidya | more... | |
| Male Deities: Brahma | Vishnu | Shiva | Rama | Krishna | Ganesha | Murugan | Hanuman | Indra | Surya | more... | |
| Texts: Vedas | Upanishads | Puranas | Ramayana | Mahabharata | Rigveda | |
