Shiva

High atop Mount Kailasha, unclimbable by anyone without sin, Lord Shiva the Destroyer lives as a remote ascetic in his house with his wife Parvati and his sons Ganesha and Karttikeya. The sacred river Ganges flows from his dreadlocks. Shiva is a serene master of yoga, a dancer whose motions end and begin the World. In the Vedic era he was called Rudra, the Roarer, terrifying and unpredictable as the storm. The religion which exalts him as greatest of the Gods is called Shaivism.

We shall know Shiva by his brilliant third eye, which can incinerate a God when focused in anger, and the serpent-king Vasuki coiled around his neck or his son Ganesha’s midriff. His weapon is the trident, his instrument the two-headed drum. His Incarnations are rarely seen, as he prefers to meditate or dance in remote and dangerous locations, such as a mountaintop during a lightning storm or a plague-stricken slum. We salute his avatar Hanuman, lord of monkeys, mightiest follower of Rama, whose mace crushes King Ravana’s rakshasa army.

Shiva’s Scions have much to live up to. Ganesha and Karttikeya are foremost among them, both powerful Devá in their own rights who have performed great deeds and won entire religions’ adoration. However, Shiva is vast and contains multitudes, so a Scion has many of his examples to follow. Some are esoteric and remote, some are amorous and carnal, and some are devoted to unquestioning service. Among his 1,000 names are answers and examples for everyone. Shiva is perfect balance and stability, wild abandon and destruction, self-indulgence and self-denial. But his Scions are not surprised when they meet one another and share very different conceptions of who and what their father really is.