Rudra- Hindu GodDeity"The Howler"
Also known as: Bhava, Śarva, Ugra, and रुद्र
Titles & Epithets
Domains
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Description
The Howler. A Vedic storm god addressed with dread, whose arrows bring plague and death yet who holds a thousand healing remedies. The Rigvedic hymns beg him to aim elsewhere, to turn his physician's hand toward the worshipper rather than his wrath.
Mythology & Lore
The Howler
The Rigvedic hymns do not celebrate Rudra. They beg him to aim elsewhere. Rigveda 1.114 beseeches him to point his arrows away from the worshipper's family and cattle. Rigveda 2.33 calls him jalasa-bheshaja, the supreme physician, who holds a thousand healing remedies. He brings disease with one hand and cures with the other.
He dwells in mountains, roams with wild animals, and stands apart from the ordered society of the other gods. The Atharva Veda addresses him as Pashupati, lord of animals, a deity of the wild margins rather than the cultivated center. When the gods needed someone fierce enough to punish Prajapati for pursuing his own daughter Ushas, they gathered their most terrible aspects into a single being. Rudra shot the creator with an arrow.
The Storm Band
Rudra is the father of the Maruts, fierce storm gods who ride in armored chariots through thunderclouds. The Rigveda describes them as young warriors who accompany Indra into battle, splitting mountains with their lightning and shaking the earth. Their mother is Prishni, the spotted cow: the rain cloud.
Relationships
- Family
- Maruts· Child⚠ Disputed
- Has aspect
- Associated with