Rudra

(“howler”) Fearsome deity who first
appears late in the Vedas, the oldest
Hindu religious texts, later identified
with the god Shiva. Several hymns in the
Rg Veda are dedicated to Rudra, where
he is identified with the storm-god
Indra, and the fire-god Agni. A more
developed picture of Rudra appears in
the Shvetashvatara Upanishad, one of
the later speculative texts known as the
Upanishads. In the third chapter
(adhyaya) of this text, Rudra is identified
as the ruling power in the universe and
the source and origin of the gods themselves. Rudra’s depiction in this upanishad shows considerable ambivalence,
both mentioning the destructive arrows
that he bears and imploring him to
appear in a form that is auspicious
(shivam) and peaceful. This ambivalence
perhaps reflects the religious tension
associated with the figure of Shiva, who
was a deity outside the Vedic sacrificial
cult but was gradually absorbed into
established religion and is now one of
the primary Hindu deities.