ELECTIVE HISTORY ASSESSMENT TASK 2 Lord Shiva ___ By sadhvika tanneru. INTRODUCTION In the religion “Hinduism” Shiva is an important figure and deity. Hinduism has 3 main gods and all sub gods spawn from their forms. Among these are Brahma, the creator, Vishnu, the preserver and protector, and finally Shiva, the destroyer. Out of these 3 main figures, the holy triumvirate, Shiva is said to be the leader of them and is a benevolent leader according to ancient Hindu transcripts. How do Shiva's characteristics and iconography (third eye, trident, damaru drum) reflect his roles in creation, preservation, and destruction within the Hindu pantheon? SHIVA’S ROLES Although Shiva is said to be the destroyer, he also has more roles on top of this. Not only is …show more content…
Brahma created the universe while Shiva destroyed it. This is because he is making room for more of Brahma's creations, which is why he is known as a recreator as well. Shiva not only has cosmic roles but he is also the god of yogis, self control. SHIVA’S FAMILY: He is also a father and husband. He is often depicted next to his wife, Parvati. Parvati was born in the mountains and stole the hearts of many. She however only won Shiva's love which was nearly impossible to win (as he chose to be a celibate after the death of his first wife Sati) after much effort. When his wife Sati died, he had lost all interest in the world and sat in a cave on top of the tall Mount Kailash. Here all he did was plunge himself into meditation. A while passed and all the other gods started getting anxious because Shiva had given up on the world and the heavens. Taking advantage of this, the demon Taraka caused havoc among the universe knowing Shiva previously gave him a boon of invulnerability. All the other gods panicked knowing that only Shiva could do something about it. They all pleaded and pleaded with him to help, but now, he did not want anything to do with the world. Even if Shiva wanted to do something, he would