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Rudra: The Idea of Shiva "Shiva is one deity who straddles in a mythico-embodied form, many of the key signifiers of Indian culture-dance, music, phallicism, yoga, asceticism, Vedanta and the rich tradition of heterodoxy and acculturation," writes Nilima Chigopekar, in her well-researched attempt to decode the god-concept Shiva. To carry out her proclaimed intention of unravelling the truly mysterious Shiva, she traces his evolution from a marginal deity in Vedic times to an icon in the post-Vedic eras. History of Shiva is related to larger social-historical realities. In the process, she depicts the interplay between the iconic Shiva and Hinduism. The book may be termed as his mythical biography, by the way, sensitises the readers, to the issues of caste, gender, creation of a god and politics of divinities in Indian society. It would be just as well to know the import of these words: Rudra, Shiva, Ardhnarishwara, Linga, Mahayogi, Pashupati, Vaidyanath, Mahadeva, Bhirva to name a few, around which the book revolves. All these words describe a complex and multifaceted Shiva. The book looks into the process of assimilation that Shiva has gone. Clad in animal skin, with snakes slithering on his chest and with matted hair and a trident, one of the widely worshipped deity, Shiva abounds in paradoxes. He is the Rudra, the destroyer, who has protected the realms of gods and humans. He is Mahayogi, yet a householder and a father of two sons. His anger is terrifying, yet he is the most placable god. "Spanning the esoteric, the psychological, the mundane, the artistic, from the most obvious to the most profoundly symbolic, that is Shiva," the writer explores. Hence placing the Shiva myths in their historical context, she employs the discoveries of philosophy, psychoanalysis, feminism and post-colonial studies to get their meanings across. The book is a paradigm of diligent scholarship coupled with passionate curiosity on the part of the author to track Shiva, an enigma. The word Rudra has been traced to Vedic times. For his proximity to low tribal people and heretical beliefs, Shiva was feared as a Rudra, an annihilator, and categorised as a low caste deity. The writer’s research suggests a different interpretation of why Rudra stuck terror into the heart of Vedic people. She says, that it "could well have been echoing the current social cultural conditions as with the population rapidly exploding, people were seething in new territories and in constant dread of assault from the jungle tribes." She tracks how the Rudra of Vedic India metamorphosed into Shiva of Purana and epics. Shiva’s metamorphosis proves the connection of caste with religion, as it marks "a transition in the trajectory of Hinduism from a period of religion based on Vedic and upper class supremacy to period when it became necessary to recognise the phallic deity and other deified heroes worshipped by people outside the Aryan communities," she comments. In the introduction, she takes a critical overview of different sources and interpretations that have worked together to change Shiva from a deity to concept. She shows how the god-concept Shiva reflects and reconciles classical tussles within Hinduism. She lays down inventiveness, multiplicity, dynamism, contrariness and "non-linearity" as the main tenets of Hinduism Synthesising of heterogeneous gods is key to Hinduism. The writer has treated elaborately Shiva’s fusion with other Hindu gods, seeing it from different perspectives. She finds that the Ardhnarishwara image (fusion, of Shiva and his consort Shakti/Parvati) and the Harihara image (fusion of Vishnu/Hari and Shiva/Hara) fundamentally manifest "a creative union of active and passive principles of creation." However, at a deeper level, they signify a gender hierarchy, as a matter of fact, in Harihara image, the role of Parvati is replaced by the god Vishnu. Commenting on two major Hindu gods Vishu and Shiva, the writer emphasises that Vishnu, Veda based, in sync with the Brahamincal social system, reflects hierarchal/patriarchal ideology, whereas Shiva is a blend of Vedic and anti-Vedic elements, low and high castes, the voice of others and voice of power. Shiva is studied both as a god and as a concept from the perspectives of his most intimate mythological companions—Vishnu, Sate, Daksha, Parvati and Ganesha. There is a useful bibliography at the end of the book.
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