RUDRA

The Greatest Archer

BIRTH OF RUDRA

You will remember that Shiva had granted Brahma the boon that he would be born as Brahma‘s son. To ensure that this indeed happened Brahma began to perform very difficult tapasya (meditation). But despite all this meditation, nothing happened. This failure greatly angered Brahma and he started to cry. As soon as these teardrops fell on the ground, poisonous snakes were born from the tears. This saddened Brahma even more, since unclean creatures had been born as a result of his tapasya. Brahama was so miserable that he fell down unconscious and died. As soon as Brahma died, A being emerged from Brahma‘s body. He started to cry as soon as he emerged. The word 'rud' means to cry and this being came to be known as the Rudra. The Rudra revived Brahma. Brahma realized that Shiva had been born as his son in the form of Rudra.

 " He wailed for seven times and as a result seven more children were manifested from his cries. Brahma named these seven children as Bhava, Sharva, Ishan, Pashupati, Bheem, Ugra and Mahadeva "

Bhava, Ishan, Pashupati are believed to be different names of Shiva but they are really different aspects of Shiv. Reading the vedas makes you clear about it. Please continue reading...

―Where will I live?‖ asked Rudra. Brahma told him that in his eight different forms, he would live in the sun, the earth, the water, the fire, the air, the sky, the bodies of brahmanas and the moon.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VEDAS
1.1.43 Mantra 43 – Rudra (Author: Kanva Ghaura)

1 WHAT shall we sing to Rudra, strong, most bounteous, excellently wise,

That shall be dearest to his heart?

2 That Aditi may grant the grace of Rudra to our folk, our kine,

Our cattle and our progeny;

3 That Mitra and that Varuna, that Rudra may remember us,

Yea, all the Gods with one accord.

4 To Rudra Lord of sacrifice, of hymns and balmy medicines,

We pray for joy and health and strength.

5 He shines in splendour like the Sun, refulgent as bright gold is he,

The good, the best among the Gods.

6 May he grant health into our steeds, wellbeing to our rams and ewes,

To men, to women, and to kine.

7 O Soma, set thou upon us the glory of a hundred men,

The great renown of mighty chiefs.

8 Let not malignities, nor those who trouble Soma, hinder us.

Indu, give us a share of strength.

9 Soma! head, central point, love these; Soma! know these as serving thee,

Children of thee Immortal, at the highest place of holy law.

Lord Rudra is invoked as the Lord of sacrifice, medicines and is the best among the Gods. He is compared the radiant sun as bright as Gold.

  “Young Rudras, demon-slayers, never growing old, they have waxed, even as mountains, irresistible.

They make all beings tremble with their mighty strength, even the very strongest, both of earth and heaven.

4 With glittering ornaments they deck them forth for show; for beauty on their breasts they bind their chains of gold.”

Rudras are a race of Devas born out of Maha Rudra.

THE ORIGIN OF ELEVEN RUDRAS

Once, the deities went to sage Kashyapa after being tormented by the demons. They complained to him about the misdeeds of the demons, who also happened to be their step brothers. Sage Kashyapa 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 Rudra.

Lord Rudra became very pleased by his penance and appeared before him. He asked Kashyapa to demand anything he wished. Kashyapa then requested Lord Rudra to take birth as his son and destroy the demons. Lord Shiva blessed him and said - 'So be it'.

Lord Rudra, later on took birth as eleven Rudras from the womb of his wife Surabhi. The name of these eleven rudras were as follows:-

1) Kapali, 2) Pingal, 3) Bheem, 4) Virupaksha, 5) Vilohit, 6) Shastra, 7) Ajapad, 8)Ahirbudhnya, 9) Shambhu, 10) Chand and 11) Bhav.

These eleven Rudras fought battles with the demons and killed them. The deities were relieved after the death of the demons. They worshipped these eleven rudras to express their gratitude and indebtedness.

 Grown to their perfect strength greatness have they attained; the Rudras have established their abode in heaven

There is another story which tells that the Rudras were born directly from Rudra himself during the beginning of creation when Rudra taught Brahma about creating immortals. Rudra , then asked Brahma dev to create mortals.

1.1.114Mantra 114 – Rudra

1. To the strong Rudra bring we these our songs of praise, to him the Lord of Heros with the braided hair,

That it be well with all our cattle and our men, that in this village all he healthy and well-fed.

3 By worship of the Gods may we, O Bounteous One, O Rudra, gain thy grace, Ruler of valiant men.

 Lord Rudra is the Bounteous One and Ruler of Valiant men...ie , brave, fearless, courageous men.

5 Him with the braided hair we call with reverence down, the wild-boar of the sky, the red, the dazzling shape.

May he, his hand filled full of sovran medicines, grant us protection, shelter, and a home secure.

Grant us, Immortal One, the food which mortals eat: be gracious unto me, my seed, my progeny.

7 O Rudra, harm not either great or small of us, harm not the growing boy, harm not the full-grown man.

Slay not a sire among us, slay no mother here, and to our own dear bodies, Rudra, do not harm.

8 Harm us not, Rudra, in our seed and progeny, harm us not in the living, nor in cows or steeds,

Rudra is seen as the most feared God, who is a giver of medicines as well as the giver of illness. He was the God who was in great contact mortals. He was also the protector of cattle, agriculture, fertility and all major business of humans.He is also called the "Immortal ONE".

Rudra art thou, the Asura of mighty heaven: thou art the Maruts' host, thou art the Lord of food

Lord Rudra is the Asura , Asura is a name used to address all Gods before there was a split between Deva – asuras at a particular period of time. He is also the Lord of Food.

1.2.33 Mantra 33 – Rudra

1. FATHER of Maruts, let thy bliss approach us: exclude us not from looking on the sunlight.

Gracious to our fleet courser be the Hero may we transplant us, Rudra, in our children.

2 O God! You have blessed us with so many medicinal plants. With the help of the cures you have provided, may I sustain myself well, so that I could keep busy in productive work for a life span of one hundred years.

Not only may I keep sickness out of my body, I should also remove sinful thoughts from my mind, and in particular ill-will against any fellow man.

3 Chief of all born art thou in glory, Rudra, armed with the thunder, mightiest of the mighty.

8 To him the strong, great, tawny, fair-complexioned, I utter forth a mighty hymn of praises.

10 Worthy, thou carriest thy bow and arrows, worthy, thy manyhued and honoured necklace.

Worthy, thou cuttest here each fiend to pieces: a mightier than thou there is not, Rudra.

11 Praise him the chariot-borne, the young, the famous, fierce, slaying like a dread beast of the forest.

From the above hymns we see that Lord Rudra can even remove sinful thoughts from one’s mind proving that he is Omnipotent. The life source of all beings with soul. He is also armed with thunder , bow and arrows. He is described as the one with fair complexion.( Sundar Roop).

 Rudra by day, Rudra at night we honour with these our songs, the Universe's Father

1.7.46 Mantra 46 – Rudra

1. To Rudra bring these songs, whose bow is firm and strong, the self-dependent God with swiftly-flying shafts,

The Wise, the Conqueror whom none may overcome, armed with sharp-pointed weapons: may he hear our call.

Come willingly to our doors that gladly welcome thee, and heal all sickness, Rudra., in our families.

Give us trimmed grass and fame among the living. Preserve us evermore, ye Gods, with blessings.

Lord Rudra can never be conquered , he holds the mightiest of the mighty weapons. He is the healer of diseases. He is also the PRESERVER

With humble adoration show this day your song of praise to mighty Rudra, Ruler of the brave:

  The Rudra in the fire, in the waters, in the plants, the Rudra that hath entered all beings, to that Rudra

BHAVA

Reverence we offer, O Bhava, to thy roaring, to thy breath, and to thy injurious qualities; reverence to thee, O Rudra, thousand-eyed, immortal!

May we not conflict with Rudra, the archer with the dark crest, the thousand-eyed, powerful one, the slayer of Ardhaka!

The Horse Sacrifice

A Çitta with the sinew, Bhava with the liver, Rudra with the taniman, Paçupati with the thick heart, Agni with the heart, Rudra with the blood, Çarva with the kidneys, Mahadeva with the intestinal flesh, him that slayest most quickly with the entrails.

Bhava and Rudra, united and concordant, both strong (ugrau), ye advance to deeds of heroism: reverence be to both of them, in whatever direction (they are) from here!

28. O king Bhava, be merciful to thy worshipper, for thou art the lord of living beasts! He who believes the gods exist, to his quadruped and biped be merciful!

29. Slay neither our great nor our small; neither those of us that are riding, nor those that shall ride; neither our father, nor our mother. Cause no injury, O Rudra, to our own persons!

30. To Rudra's howling dogs, who swallow their food without blessing, who have wide jaws, I have made this obeisance.

Bhava and Rudra are seen as two characters in the Vedas but in later puranas we see Rudra, Bhava , Pashupati as different names of Lord Shiva.

May Bhava and Sarva cast the lightning, the divine missile, upon him that performs evil, fashions a spell, and does wrong!

Sarva means complete and is also seen as another word for “archer” and he is a form of Rudra. 

Its said that there are hundreds and thousands of Rudras

Some were born along with Maharudra, incarnation of Shiv as Brahma's son and later another set was born as Kashyapas sons.

From Puranas we see that there were many Rudras , who were material representations of the cosmic Purusha, Shiv.

tadantare mahādevaḥ śaśāṅkāṅkitaśekharaḥ
prasādābhimukho rudraḥ prādurāsīnmaheśvaraḥ [Kurm. Pu. - 2.1.31]

Meaning
Then Rudra, the great lord Mahadeva, whose head is endowed with the moon, appeared with a smiling face.

-It is said that Rudra even had a smiling face when he destroyed Tripura, the indestructible cities.

rudrāṇāṁ śaṅkaraś cāsmi [BG - 10.23]
- Of all the Rudras, I am Shankara

So it means Shankara is a Rudra. Hence, although Shiva and Shankara both imply the same deity, Shiva means his formless pure bright light form (meditated upon by Yogis) and Shankara means his commonly known Kailasa dwelling ascetic form (worshiped by devotees).

EIGHT IDOLS OF SHIVA

After describing about the five chief incarnations of lord Shiva, Suta explained about the eight famous idols of lord Shiva- Sharva, Bhava, Rudra, Ugra, Bhima, Pashupati, Ishan and Mahadeva. These eight idols of Shiva symbolizes the eight natural elements which help in the process of creation, nurturement and annihilation. These eight natural elements are Land, water, fire, air, sky, supreme soul (Kshetragya), Sun and the moon. Being established in these eight idols, Shiva controls the whole world.

THE FIVE LESS KNOWN INCARNATIONS

1) SADHOJAT:-Lord Shiva took his first incarnation from the physique incarnation from the physique of Lord Brahma, who was engrossed in his deep state of meditation, during the nineteenth Kalpa named Shweta Lohit. Lord Brahma gave him the name Sadhojat and eulogized him. Later on, from the physique of Sadhojat four of his disciple manifested, whose names were Sunand, Nandan, Vishwanandan and Upanandan. All the four disciples were of fair complexion. Lord Shiva blessed Brahma and empowered him to do creation.

2) NAMDEVA:- During the twentieth Kalpa named 'Rakta' the complexion of lord Brahma turned red, while he was engrossed in his meditative state. From his body manifested an entity who also was of red complexion. Lord Brahma named him Namadeva considering him to be the incarnation of lord Shiva and eulogized him. Later on four sons were born to Namadeva, whose names were Viraj, Viwah, Vishok and Vishwabhawan. All of them were of red complexion just like their father Namadeva.

Namdeva Shiva along with his virtuous progenies blessed lord Brahma with the power of creation.

3) TAT PURUSHA:- The twenty-first Kalpa on the earth was known as 'Peetavasa'. It was named so because of the apparel of lord Brahma which were of yellow colours. Lord Brahma's prayer resulted into the manifestation of an effulgent entity. Considering this entity as Lord Shiva, Lord Brahma started chanting the mantras of Shiva Gayatri. After the chantings of the mantras, numerous entities manifested who had put on apparels of yellow colour on their body. This way the third incarnation of Shiva popularly known as Tat Purusha manifested.

4) GHORESH:- After the Peetavasa Kalpa came the Shiva Kalpa. A black complexioned manifested while Lord Brahma was engrossed in his deep meditative state. Lord Brahma considering this entity as Aghor Shiva started eulogizing him. Lord Brahma's eulogization resulted into the manifestation of four more entities who had the same black complexion as that of 'Aghor Shiva'. Their names were Krishna, Krishnashikha, Krishnamukha and Krishnakanthdhari. Ghor Shiva along with those four entities blessed lord Brahma with the power of creation.

5) ISHAN- During the Kalpa named Vishwaroop, manifestations of Saraswati and Ishan Shiva took place. Lord Brahma eulogized Ishan Shiva after which four divine entities named Jati, Mundi, Shikhandi and Ardhamundi manifested from Ishan Shiva. All of them blessed lord Brahma with the power of creation.

RUDRA OF KAILASH

Rudra leaves his fierce form and turn into a Yogi and manifested as the first teacher and taught Brahmajana facing south, thus he was called Dakshinamoorthy. 

When Rudra - the Ansha of the Almighty Brahman, heard about the tremendous penance, Kubera was doing he started to play his 'damaru' (drum), the sound of which reached all the three worlds. Rudra then reached the place where Kubera was doing penance."

"Hearing the sound of his damaru, all the deities including Brahma, Vishnu and Sadashia appeared before him."

"When Kubera saw lord Rudra before himself, he offered his seat to him and worshipped him.  Rudra was so pleased with Kubera that he decided to stay near him. He called Vishwakarma and ordered him to conduct his abode at Kailash mountain, so that he could live in could live in the vicinity of his great devotee Kubera. Kubera constructed a beautiful city as per his instruction. An auspicious moment was chosen and Rudra went to live at Kailash mountain. He was coronated by the deities.