Shiva is known in the Vedas as Rudra—the destroyer of evil-doers; the god of storms and destruction who is fear-inducing but benevolent. Rudra is a god who destroys everything that has become old and is no longer needed. Destruction is essential for creation. Shiva has both benevolent and frightening aspects. In this respect, he is similar to another god, Agni (Fire), who both sustains and destroys life. He is mentioned in the Yajurveda as Mahadeva—the great god. Shiva has a third eye on his forehead, which normally looks inwards. When it is turned outwards, it can issue a flame of fire to burn the enemy. Greek ambassador Megasthenes, who resided in India between BC 311 and 302, wrote that Dionysus must be the same as Shiva.
Shiva lives on the Himalayan mountain of Kailasa, which is in modern-day Tibet. His vehicle is a Nandi bull. He is most commonly shown wearing tiger skin, though sometimes he wears elephant skin. It is said that a demon assumed the form of an elephant and terrorised Brahmins who were worshipping Shiva-linga. Shiva emerged from the linga, slew the demon and wore his skin. The king of serpents, Vasuki, is coiled around Shiva’s neck. This shows the fearless and kind nature of Shiva. The moon on Shiva’s head represents spiritual wisdom. It is said that the moon was cast into the ocean by the gods as a punishment. During the Samudra Manthan (churning of the ocean), the moon came up and was restored to a position of respect by Shiva by placing him on his forehead.
Shiva has several names like Girisha (lord of the hills) because he dwells in the mountains; Chandrashekhara (moon-crested) because he wears the moon on his forehead; Bhuteshwara (lord of the goblins) because he has goblins as his followers. Another form of Shiva is that of Nataraja (the lord of dance) in which he dances on the body of a slain asura. He smears his body with ash so he is also known as Vibhuti-nath (lord of ash).
Shiva has a blue throat because he drank the poison that came out of the churning of the oceans. This poison was so strong that it destroyed everything it came in contact with. Shiva retained the poison in his throat so it turned blue. Due to this, he is also called Neelkantha (the blue-throated one). Shiva’s weapon of choice is the three-eyed trident. He also has a spear called Pashupata named after one of Shiva’s names, Pashupati (the lord of animals). He destroys the world with this spear at the end of a cycle of yugas, so that the universe can be created anew.