Pantheon: Hindu
Class: God
Level: Top Tier
Alignment: Evil
Lineage: Divine
Linked with: Kali, Brahma, Vishnu
The most violent and dangerous of the Hindu gods, Shiva was known as the Destroyer. He had four arms, four faces and three eyes. The third eye, in the center of his forehead, was lethally destructive. Shiva wore the skin of a tiger and a snake twined around his neck, trophies of the very animals he had defeated when they had been sent against him by jealous Rishis.
Commanded by Indra to inflame the Destroyer with love for the goddess Parvati, Kama fired an arrow at the god, who, shaken from his meditation, lashed out and destroyed Kama.
As Bhairava, Shiva haunts cemeteries and places of cremation, wearing serpents round his head and skulls for a necklace, attended by a host of demons and imps. In general representation, Shiva is shown as standing on one leg, standing upon a tiny figure, a dwarf
which signifies human ignorance. In one of his four hands the god holds a drum, the second offers his blessing, the third contains a tongue of fire, while the fourth hand points downwards to the uplifted foot.
One of the tales relating to Shiva speaks of his allowing the Ganges, which the sage Bhagiratha had induced to fall from heaven, to save the world from drought, to flow over his head, taking the brunt of its awesome force. Another, less complimentary myth speaks of his coming upon a sacrifice to Brahma, to which the gods had omitted to invite him. Enraged, Shiva went on a rampage, injuring many of the gods and Rishis.
Shiva's vehicle is Nandi, a milk-white bull who is the protector of all four-legged creatures.