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218 CH APTER SI XTEEN Śiva The Grace and the Terror of God Śiva, you have no mercy. Śiva you have no heart. Why did you bring me to birth—wretch in this world, exile from the other? —Basavanna, quoted in R. K. Ramanujan, Speaking of Śiva Śiva worshippers all over India every day recite hymns to their Great God in many languages. The Sanskrit hymn that follows summarizes a variety of motives that make him dear to his devotees: Praise Viśvanātha, the Lord of the City of Banares, whose locks are the charming ripples of the Ganges, adorned on his left by Gaurī, the beloved of Nārāyaṇa, the destroyer of the god of love. Praise Viśvanātha, the Lord of the City of Banares, beyond speech, the repository of different qualities, whose feet are worshipped by Brahmā, Viṣṇu and the other devas, with his wife to the left. Praise Viśvanātha, the Lord of the City of Banares, the wielder of the trident, adorned by a snake, wearing a tiger skin and matted locks, the Three-eyed one, who keeps in two of his hands the noose and the goad and offers blessing and grace with the two others. Praise Viśvanātha, the Lord of the City of Banares, wearing a crown with the moon, who burnt the Five-Arrowed-One to ashes with the fire emerging from his third eye on the forehead, whose ears are adorned with the shining rings of śeṣa, the king of the snakes. Praise Viśvanātha, the Lord of the City of Banares, the Five-faced-one, the lion destroying the mad elephant of sin, the Garuḍa destroying the vicious ŚI VA 219 demons, the world fire that burns to ashes the jungle of birth, death, and old age. Praise Viśvanātha, the Lord of the City of Banares, who is effulgent, who is with and without qualities, the One without a second, bliss itself, the unconquerable one, the unknowable one, who is dark and bright and the form of the soul. Praise Viśvanātha, the Lord of the City of Banares, after you have given up all desires, all reviling of others and all attachment to sinful conduct, enter into samādhi and meditate on the Lord, seated in the lotus of the heart. Praise Viśvanātha, the Lord of the City of Banares, who is free from all emotion such as attachment and others, who is fond of his devotees, the abode of austerities and bliss, the companion of Girija endowed with his throat stained with the poison. Whoever recites this hymn to Śiva, the Lord of the City of Banares, attains in this life learning, prosperity, immense happiness and eternal fame and after death liberation.1 To Viśvanātha, Śiva, the Lord of the Universe, also the most sacred of all the temples of the most holy city of Vārāṇasī is consecrated; only Hindus are allowed to enter it. SOURCES OF ŚA I V ISM Śiva worship has been traced back to the Sindhu-Sarasvatī civilization, in which it appears to have been an established tradition. Liṅgas have been found there, the main object of Śiva worship to this day, as well as figures on seals interpreted as Śiva Mahāyogi and Śiva Paśupati.2 The historical homeland of Śiva religion in more recent times, however, has been the Tamil country. Both Śiva’s name and his main mythology seem to come from there; the “Red God” was only later given a Sanskrit name, phonetically close to the Tamil one, which is translated as “the graceful one.” Tribal religions of northwest India have contributed other features. The ambivalence of this Great God (see Figure 16.1) shows in the identification of “gracious” Śiva with “fearsome” Rudra, the howler. In the Vedas, Rudra is treated as “an apotropäic god of aversion, to be feared, but not adored.”3 Features of some tribal gods, especially those of the mountains, may have been fused with him as well, as evidenced by the arguably oldest and most popular Śiva myth: Śiva’s uninvited appearance at Prajāpati Dakṣa’s sacrifice. Dakṣa, the father of Pārvatī, Śiva’s consort, established at a hermitage close to the place where the Ganges breaks free from the mountains, had invited all other devas and prepared offerings to them, except for Śiva, whom he disliked...

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