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Published: October 26th 2010
Shiva sitting
This is a classic Shiva pose - sitting in a meditative tranceOK before anyone panics - this is NOT a blog about my sudden conversion to Hinduism. If you know me (or have read my profile on Facebook) you would realize that I describe myself as an “Existentialist Buddhist Agnostic” (!) and I will stick to that for now thanks very much!
What I am writing about here is how enamored I am with the ‘idea’ of Shiva mythology and iconography in Hinduism. And please - I am an ignorant ‘ferrangi’ (foreigner), so I am not pretending to have it all exactly correct and NOR am I wanting to insult Hindus by talking about ‘mythology’ in a sense of Shiva being fictitious or ‘not real’. That word is simply about the wealth of stories and sacred writings and beliefs that surround the Hindu God Shiva.
There is a side line here too - back in 1981 when I was spending some time in Varanasi (on the river Ganges), I was invited by some Brahmins I had met on the ghats to go for a traditional Indian picnic - this is usually men going to some quiet temple place, and cooking really nice food over a 3 to 4 hour period
108 mini lingams and nandis
This is the amazing array of small Shiva Lingams and Nandis surrounding the very old Shiva Temple on the ghats at Pushkar Lake, Rajasthan (amidst making chai, having naps, washing in the Ganges, maybe smoking some substances…) - then consuming said food (on banana leaves sitting around the temple. We traveled on push bikes (me on the back rack of one) to a temple about 3 kilometres up river from Varanasi itself. As we prepared the meal, they got tired of trying to remember my foreign name so they (dare I say ‘christened’ - or how about this: ) ‘shiva’d’ me with the name ‘Mahadev’ which is a name of Shiva meaning ‘great god’. So it’s stuck ever since and gives me one more ‘affinity’ with Shiva.
Without boring anyone with too much detail (you will find it all on Wikepedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiva ), Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and the destroyer or transformer of the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine.
Of course - back in the day (about 30 years ago) when I first came to India - Shiva was THE Hindu God of choice for backpackers and travelers who tended to like to smoke the odd chillum (well the even ones too as I remember!) together with every ‘baba’ Sadhu they came across
Mannikiran
This Shiva is above a hot spring in Parbati Valley. Kullu, Himachal Pradesh - the valley in which Shiva met up with his consort Parvati. (and we did come across many). Shiva is THE god of smoking ganga (marijuana) and charis (the rolled resin one gets from rubbing oil-rich heads of the flowering marijuana plant). There was (and is) a ritual attached to smoking - one would (and does) first hold the chillum (a chillum is a traditional Indian smoking pipe - usually made of clay) to one’s head and shout “Shombu” or “Bolinath” or something similar to indicate the worship of Lord Shiva - the giver of all things (including this substance!). This was (and is) the ‘done’ thing!
Shiva also of course sports matted hair (dreadlocks) as do his followers the Nagar Babas and other Sadhus (holy Shiva worshippers who trek around india wearing nothing but a loin cloth - oh, sorry, the Nagar Babas don’t even wear that much!!!). So this also attracted a lot of backpackers in the era of Bob Marley!
But as one paid attention - there began to unfold the richness of Shiva mythology. His ‘persona’ is so powerful but contained by gentleness as well. My lasting impression of Elephanta Caves near Mumbai is a large carved stone statue of Shiva which shows him (?) half
Om Kareshwar
This temple is on an island in the Narmada river in Madhya Pradesh and is one of the 12 Jyoti Lingam temples (the most important Shiva temples across India) male and half female. There are two important words to go with this - SHAKTI (creative beauty, power and intelligence) and SHANTI (peacefulness and calm). Then there is the idea of light and darkness merged - which is pervasive throughout Hindu mythology in a way that seems to me to be more ‘real’ than the Christian dichotomy of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ where never the two should meet. (Forget it people - I am not going to enter into an argument about all this OK? - just ‘simplistic’ comments here). Shiva’s ambivalence is portrayed in him being both the ‘destroyer’ and the ‘benefactor’ - the ‘ascetic’ and the ‘householder’ (he did after all get it on with Parvati and have two sons).
Let me give you one take on Shiva worship in India (and I get some of this from something I read by Dr Devutt Pattanaik - an expert on Hindu mythology). If you have been to India - you will know that the place is covered with Shiva
Lingams - a smooth rounded upended stone which is said by some to be a phallic symbol over which Hindus pour milk and ghee (clarified butter) and dahi (curd) and
Nagar Baba
Perhaps an unflattering view of a Nagar Baba at the 2010 Kumb Mella camp in Haridwar. These guys cover their bodies with holy ash (basmi) from the fire (duni) and nothing else! water (specially if it’s from the a holy lake or river). So the deal is this: Shiva is deemed SO powerful that if he is allowed to become sexually excited he might unintentionally do some real damage to the world. So it’s in everyone’s interest to keep him cool and calm! So pouring liquids on the ‘lingam’ (the phallus) does this! (All boys know the power of cool liquid on one’s over-stimulated sex drive right?) Similarly it’s better that Shiva therefore stay in his Himalayan caves etc. meditating and keeping himself calm and collected! (That the
lingam is actually a phallic symbol is a matter of dispute among learned Hindus and researchers of Hinduism. Another take, not to do with sexuality as such, as to why cool liquids are poured over the
lingam is that it is to keep him out of going into deep trance/meditation and so ensure he can take care of the worldy order). Shiva when sitting is usually depicted on a tiger skin - and this also represents his conquest over lust.
My very favourite representation of Shiva is the ‘Nataraj Shiva’ (meaning “Shiva - Lord of the Dance”). This image shows Shiva casually and
Nataraja Shiva
Shiva in his glory casually dismissing the demon whilst being Lord of the Universe - Lord of the Dance. Nice masterfully dancing with a peaceful tranquil face - and at the same time quite non-chalantly and incidentally (and with very little effort with his toe) crushing a demon devil. Powerful! And the dance he is doing is akin to a dance of creation and power.
There are 12 really important Shiva Temples in India (some of their locations are in dispute by the way - several claims to a few). I have only visited two of them (called ‘Jyotirlina temples) so I have a lot of travel yet to do in India! These are the main one (perhaps - disputed?) in Varanasi on the river Ganges - and the one at Om Kareshwa on a small ancient (and beautiful) island on the very clean Narmada river in the middle of Madhya Pradesh (basically the middle of India one might say).
In Pushkar - a fav place for me - there is a beautiful small temple on one of the ghats of the lake - and around the central housing in the courtyard are 108 (an auspicious number in Hinduism) small Shiva lingams with Nandis (Shiva’s steed the bull). They are ancient and all are slightly different - very
Mahadev with his Trishul
The Trishul (trident) is Shiva's weapon and this one was firmly planted at the top of Rohtang Pass (on my motorbike odyssey from Delhi to Leh and back through Spiti in September 2010). So.... Mahadev takes up his Trishul!! beautiful place. I am also reminded too of a hidden underground chamber in Varanasi at the side of and below one of the temples at the main ghat - I was shown down the steps in 2009 by a German guy who lived in the town studying yoga. He explained how it had only recently been excavated and not many people knew about it. It had filled up with mud over the years when the Ganges had peaked during unseasonal huge monsoons. There were some very ancient and very beautiful series of small Shiva lingams and Nandis. Two weeks ago I was back in Varanasi and we have just had another unseasonal huge monsoon! So the chamber is again full of mud! I feel privileged to have seen those lingams and wonder how many years it might be before anyone bothers to excavate them once again!
Bolinath!
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Rajendra
non-member comment
Book on Shiva
Hi Paul Great piece of information. If you are interested I suggest you read a modern day novel depicting the life of Shiva-The book is titled - MELUHA - by AMISH