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Who are Shiva, Rudra and Shankar? Are all these three mythological entities one and the same? Shiva doesn’t have a family, but Shankar does have a family. Shankar has a wife called Goddess Parvati, Shankar has two sons (Ganesha and Kartikeya). Some scriptures also claimed Shankar also had daughters (one of them is Goddess Mansa Devi). So there are many characters involved with Shanker, but you would never find any character involved with Shiva. If you read through the mythology, Rudra was born for purpose. He incarnated to do a fierce job that no other God wanted to perform. While Shiva’s birth is mysterious, all the Purnas provide different stories of his appearance. Many times, I have seen many people use these three names as synonyms. These three names are not synonyms in Indian mythology.
Shiva
Let us start with Shiva. The word Shiva means ’The Auspicious One’. God Shiva, also known as Mahadeva ‘The Great God’, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. God Shiva, as Mahākāla, is said to be the controller of time itself and has the responsibility of carrying out the process of destruction at the end of creation. In Sanskrit language, Kāla means time, and Mahākāla means all three times, past, present and future. All the three kālas are within him. It is always advisable for the astrologers to worship Mahākāla form of Lord Shiva. This helps them in their predictions.
The birth of Shiva is mystery. Many believe God Shiva is Sayambhu – which means He incarnated through his own will and intent. So it said that where there is Shakti (Goddess or energy in modern day physics) and her intentions, there manifests Shiva in the desired form. In simple words, if you have the energy to manifest a desire then you will manifest it. Shiva is the process of manifestation and Shakti is the concept. By concept I mean Shakti the method of manifestation. Shiva and Shakti are more than a person, God or Goddess. Shiva and Shakti are the principles on which this cosmos functions. There are stories of Goddess Sati and Goddess Paravati, who manifest Shiva as their husband in there with true determination and intention. These stories are symbolic of the law of attraction, which is popular in today’s world. So, in the Shaivite tradition, Shiva is described as an enabler of the law of attraction, as Shiva is the Supreme Lord who creates, protects and transforms the universe. Goddess, or Devi, is described as power (Shakti). When power meets true intent (Shiva), then the true manifestation happens.
Lord Rudra
You will find Rudra is prominently mentioned and praised as the “mightiest of the mighty.” According to Vedas, Rudra brings big and tough transformation, which eradicates problems from their roots. Often Rudra has two prominent associations. He is associated as God of storms, and he is also associated as a hunter. Hence he is referred to as ‘the severest roarer/howler’ (could be a hurricane or tempest) and ‘the most frightening one’ (could be a fierce hunter). In the Rigveda, Rudra is seen as a frightening god, as he is referred to as ghora (“extremely furious”) or simply asau devam “this god”. Rudra is seen with a kind of trembling terror, as a deity whose wrath should be feared and whose favor should be gained, although his means of favor are not so easy.
Rudra was born from the collective rage of the Gods, when Prajapati desired for his daughter Usha in a lustful way. Vishvadevas created Rudra to execute Prajapati (Brahma), a sin that was never committed before. Never a father had lusted a daughter before, and never a God had executed another God for this lustful actions. Once Rudra performed the act for which he originated, he had no other purpose or job. In such a situation, he turns away from the worldliness and spends time alone in the wild. Spending time in the wild, he developed the wisdom in medicine. He is acclaimed as the first divine physician.
One can find detailed characterization of Rudra in the Rig Veda. However, the accounts of the Puranic birth of Rudra are varied. In the Puranic texts, Rudra becomes a murti (image) of Shankar retaining his Vedic iconography, such as the Jata, blue neck (Nilakantha), animal skin, and the snake.
Shankar
Legends say Rudra, the fierce one, transforms himself to the form Shankar (the most beautiful one) on the request of Goddess Parvati. On the left you see Shankar with his consort Parvati and their two sons. Shankar is always shown to have a subtle body/deity. You may call him an angel with a distinct human form, with a strong inclination towards Shiva (Tatva element). His form is supposed to be the most beautiful physical form in the Universe, with all the good qualities a man can possess. He is attributed as best husband material. Often women in India pray to Shankar to have a husband like him.
Symbolism associated with Shankar
Shankar lives on Earth (in Kailash, in the Himalayan region), along with his consort Goddes Parvati (the daughter of the king of mountains). Shankar holds many living, and non-living things that symbolize many things. Shankar is always depicted having long, matted hair – symbolic of his ascetic days as Rudra. He has a serpent coiled around his neck, representing Shankar’s supremacy over fear. Shiva holds a trident, which represents his control over all three worlds or control over the three tattvas. He usually wears animal skin, which reminds him of his penance for killing Bhrama.
Myths ascribe the appearance of the crescent-shaped moon on his matted hair or jata. By doing so, Shankar provided healing to the moon God from a curse (Moon had received a curse from his father-in-law Daksha. Daksha is also the father-in-law to Shankar). Moon also represents your mind. This represents worshiping Shankar can help one control his or her mind to overcome fear, and bring balance to life.
The damru in the hand of Shankar signifies the non-dual nature of the world, and also controls time and space, reminding of parallels with Mahākāla. He also carries the holy Ganga on his head, he can help cleanse one’s past. He has a blue throat due to the poison he drank to save the world. This represents one can overcome suppression through healing of the throat chakra. But the thing that stands out the most is his third eye – significator of eternal enlightenment and profound knowledge. Shankar is the destroyer – not of the universe, but of all the sins and impurities of the human soul.
The text, as we know, as Shiva Purana, is not the story of Shiva. It is the story of Shankar. Shiva is the ultimate truth. Shiva is the Holy Fire, from which all of us have evolved. Shiv is the ultimate cosmic energy. That’s the reason why we could never call Shiva a character. Shiva is beyond a character. He is beyond a human, beyond a God. All the gods have emerged out of Shiva. All the goddesses (Shakti and Energy) have emerged out of Shiva. So Shiva is the truth of the entire world, entire Cosmos, and everything here has been because of Shiva.