ORIENTAL SERIES.

296
SIVA.
of Bhumi-ja, Dharara-suta, and Parthivi, all meaning *
daughter
of the earth,'
SIVA. The name /Siva is unknown to the Vedas, "but
Rudra, another name of this deity, and almost equally common,
occurs in the Veda both in the singular and plural, and from
these the great deity Siva, and his manifestations, the Kudras,
have "been developed. In the JWg-veda the word Rudra is used
for Agni, and the Maruts are called his sons. In other passages
he is distinct from Agni, He is lauded as " the lord of songs,
the lord of sacrifices, who heals remedies, is brilliant as the sun,
the best and most bountiful of gods, who grants prosperity and
welfare to horses and sheep, men, women, and cows ; the lord
of nourishment, who drives away diseases, dispenses remedies,
and removes sin ; but, on the other hand he is the wielder of
the thunderbolt, the bearer of bow and arrows, and mounted on
bis chariot is terrible as a wild beast, destructive and fierce."
In the Yajur-veda there is a long prayer called atarudriya which
is addressed to him and appeals to him under a great variety of
epithets. He is " auspicious, not terrible " "
the ;
deliverer, the
" "
first divine physician he is blue-necked and ;
red-coloured,
who has a thousand eyes and bears a thousand quivers ;" and in
another hymn he is called " Tryambaka, the sweet-scented in-
" "
creaser of prosperity
a medicine for kino and ;
horses, a medi-
cine for men, and a (source of) ease to rams and ewes." In the
Atharva-veda he is still the protector of cattle, but his character
is fiercer. He is " dark, black, destroying, terrible." He is the
"
fierce god," who is besought to betake himself
"
elsewhere, and
not to assail mankind with consumption, poison, or celestial fire."
The Brahmams tell that when Eudra was born he wept, and his
father, Prajapati, asked the reason, and on being told that he
wept because he had not received a name, his father gave him
the name of Rudra (from the root rud, f
weep'). They also relate
that at the request of the gods he pierced Prajapati because of his
incestuous intercourse with his daughter, In another place he is
said to have applied to his father eight successive times fora name,
and that he received in succession the names Bhava, Sarva, Pasu-
pati, Ugradeva, Mahandeva, Rudra, Isana, and Asani. In the
Upanishads his character is further developed. He declares to the
inquiring gods, " I alone was before (all things), and I exist and
I shall be. No other transcends ma I am eternal and not