Who is Shiva?

Shaiva

Shaiva traditions hold that Shiva is the one supreme Lord. The Shvetashvatara Upanishad says: “For there is one Rudra only, they do not allow a second, who rules all the worlds by his powers” (3.2). The same verse says that he creates all worlds, protects them, and draws them back at the end of time. Shaivas worship him in the linga. The Virashaivas (Lingayats) wear a small linga, and at their initiation they receive the mantra Om Namah Shivaya in place of the Gayatri.

Sources for this reading

• The Upanishads, Part II, translated by F. Max Müller (The Sacred Books of the East, vol. XV; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1884) (Shvetashvatara Upanishad 3.2, p. 244 (leaf n301); quoted verbatim; checked on the page image)
• R. G. Bhandarkar, Vaiṣṇavism, Śaivism and Minor Religious Systems (Strassburg: Karl J. Trübner, 1913), § 88 (in Shaivism the object of worship is the linga) and § 105 (the Vīraśaiva initiation: “Instead of the Gāyatrī-mantra of the latter, they have the Mantra ‘Om namaś Śivāya’, and have to wear the Liṅga”). Bhandarkar died 1925: public domain. Checked on the page images (title page, leaf n1, “Strassburg … 1913”). (§ 88; § 105, p. 138 (leaf n138))

Smarta

Smarta families worship Shiva as one of five forms in the panchayatana puja, beside Vishnu, the Goddess, Surya and Ganesha. In parts of India the five are kept as five sacred stones on one dish, with the form the worshipper prefers set in the middle. Many Smartas favour Shiva. They follow Shankara's Advaita teaching, in which Shiva, like the other forms, is a manifestation of the one formless Brahman, worshipped through a visible form.

Sources for this reading

• Monier Williams, Religious Thought and Life in India, part 1 (London: John Murray, 1883): Shankara looked on Shiva and Vishnu “as equally manifestations of the one Universal Spirit”, and most Smarta Brahmans, “followers of Śaṅkarāćārya, have a leaning towards the worship of the one personal deity Śiva” (p. 56); the gods, “manifestations of the invisible and formless Brahmă”, are worshipped through visible forms, in many places through five stones (p. 411); the five symbols on one dish, arranged “according to the preference given to any one of the five deities” (p. 412). Monier-Williams died 1899: public domain. Checked on the page images. (p. 56 (leaf n73); pp. 411–412 (leaves n428–n429))
• Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Smarta sect” (Shankara their greatest teacher; Smartas “may give preference to one deity above the others, and Shiva is highly favoured among them today”; the pancayatana puja of Shiva, Vishnu, Shakti, Surya and Ganesha). Read in the Wayback Machine copy (snapshot July 27, 2026). Cited, not copied.

Shakta

Shakta traditions honour Shiva together with the Goddess, his wife, whom they worship as Shakti, “power”. In the Shakta school that R. G. Bhandarkar describes, the Goddess is raised to the highest place: Shiva is her soul, the two form one being, and the world is created from their union.

Sources for this reading

• R. G. Bhandarkar, Vaiṣṇavism, Śaivism and Minor Religious Systems (Strassburg, 1913), §§ 109–110, “The Śāktas or Śakti Worshippers”: Śakti, “power”, conceived as goddesses; the Śāktas “are so called because they are worshippers of Śakti”; “The goddess is thus elevated to the highest position”; Mahābhairava, Śiva, “is the soul of the goddess … Both, therefore, constitute one entity”, and creation follows from their union. Bhandarkar died 1925: public domain. Summarised in our words; checked on the page images. (pp. 144–145 (leaves n144–n145))
• Monier Williams, A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1872), s.v. śiva: his principal wife Durgā, also called Pārvatī and Umā, “is the chief object of worship with the Śāktas and Tāntrikas”. Monier-Williams died 1899: public domain. Checked on the page image. (p. 1007, col. 3 (leaf n1038))

Tulsidas and the Rama tradition

In Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas, Shiva is the great devotee of Rama. He first made the story of Rama and told it to his wife Uma (Parvati), and at their wedding he takes his seat “remembering in his heart his own lord, Ráma”. The Hanuman Chalisa calls Hanuman “Sankar suvan”, son of Shankara. Tulsidas opens the poem by honouring Bhavani and Shankara as “the incarnation of faith and hope, without whom not even the just can see God”.

Sources for this reading

• Hanuman Chalisa, chaupai 6
• Tulsidas, Ramcharitmanas, Bal Kand, in F. S. Growse (tr.), The Rámáyana of Tulsi Dás, Book 1 (Allahabad: North-Western Provinces Government Press, 1877): the invocation (p. 1); the story “first of all composed by Siva and graciously revealed to Umá” (p. 23); the wedding of Siva and Uma, Doha 107–108 (p. 61); Siva begins the tale for Parvati, Doha 119–120 (p. 67). Growse died 1893: public domain. Quoted verbatim; checked on the page images (title page: “Allahabad … 1877”). (p. 1 (leaf n27); p. 23 (leaf n49); p. 61 (leaf n87); p. 67 (leaf n93))

Sources

• Festival guide “Maha Shivaratri” in this library, with the stories of the pillar of light, the poison of the churned ocean and the wedding of Shiva and Parvati, and their texts.
• Monier Williams, A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1872), s.v. śiva: “auspicious”; Rudra, “who occupies a conspicuous position in the Veda”; the Śaivas “constituting him the one Supreme Being”; his symbol the Liṅga, “under which form he is generally worshipped at the present day”; three eyes, a moon's crescent above the central eye, the Ganges on his coiled hair; his severe penance; his sons Gaṇeśa and Kārttikeya; “his residence is Kailāsa”. Monier-Williams died 1899: public domain. Checked on the page images (title page: “At the Clarendon Press … MDCCCLXXII”). (pp. 1007–1008 (leaves n1038–n1039))
• R. G. Bhandarkar, Vaiṣṇavism, Śaivism and Minor Religious Systems (Strassburg, 1913), § 77: the Vedic Rudra, who, appeased, “becomes Śiva, or the benignant”. Bhandarkar died 1925: public domain. Summarised in our words. (§ 77, p. 102)

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