Rudra
is a Rigvedic deity who is equated to Lord Shiva, associated with wind or storm, Vayu and the hunt. One translation of the name is "the roarer". In the Rigveda, Rudra has been praised as the "mightiest of the mighty". Rudra is the personification of 'terror'. Depending up on the periodic situation, Rudra can be meant as the most severe roarer/howler
or the most frightening one. The Shri Rudram hymn from the Krishna Yajurveda and Rudhrashtadhyayi of Shukla Yajurveda or Vajsayeni Samhita is dedicated to Rudra, and is very important in the Saivism sect.
Etymology
The etymology of the theonym Rudra is somewhat uncertain. It is usually derived from the Proto-Indo-European root rud- which means 'to cry, howl'. The name Rudra may thus been translated as 'the roarer'. In the Rigvedic verse rukh draavayathi, iti rudraha, rukh means 'sorrow/misery', draavayathi means 'to drive out/eliminate' and iti means 'that which', implying that Rudra is the eliminator of evil and the usherer of peace. An alternative etymology suggested by Prof. Pischel interprets Rudra as the 'red one', the 'brilliant one', possibly derived from a lost root rud-, 'red' or 'ruddy', or alternatively 'shining'.. Rudra means the howler or great roarer in sanskrit.Stella Kramrisch notes a different etymology connected with the adjectival form raudra, which means 'wild', i.e. of rude nature, and translates the name Rudra as 'the wild one' or 'the fierce god'. Rudra is one of the names of Vishnu in Vishnu Sahasranama. Adi Shankara in his commentary to Vishnu Sahasranama defined the name Rudra as "One who makes all beings cry at the time of cosmic dissolution". Author D. A. Desai in his glossary for the Vishnu Sahasranama says, Lord Vishnu in the form of Rudra is the one who does the total destruction at the time of great dissolution. R. K. Śarmā follows this alternate etymology and translates the name as 'the terrible' in his glossary for the Shiva Sahasranama. Mallory and Adams also mention a comparison with the Old Russian deity Rŭglŭ to reconstruct a Proto-Indo-European wild-god named *Rudlos, although they remind that the issue of the etymology remains problematic: from PIE *reud-, or *reu-.
The commentator Sayana| suggests six possible derivations for rudra. However, another reference states that Sayana suggested ten derivations. The adjective shivam in the sense of 'propitious' or 'kind' is applied to the name Rudra in RV 10.92.9.
Rudra is called 'the archer' and the arrow is an essential attribute of Rudra. This name appears in the Shiva Sahasranama, and R. K. Śarmā notes that it is used as a name of Shiva often in later languages. The word is derived from the Sanskrit root - which means 'to injure' or 'to kill', and Śarmā uses that general sense in his interpretive translation of the name as "One who can kill the forces of darkness". The names and also refer to archery.
In other contexts the word rudra can simply mean 'the number eleven'. The word rudraksha, or 'eye of Rudra', is used as a name for both the berry of the Rudraksha tree, and a name for a string of the prayer beads made from those seeds.
Rigvedic hymns
The earliest mentions of Rudra occur in the Rigveda, where three entire hymns are devoted to him. There are about seventy-five references to Rudra in the Rigveda overall.Epithets of fierceness and fright
In the Rigveda Rudra's role as a frightening god is apparent in references to him as ghora, or simply as asau devam. He is "fierce like a formidable wild beast". Chakravarti sums up the perception of Rudra by saying: "Rudra is thus regarded with a kind of cringing fear, as a deity whose wrath is to be deprecated and whose favor curried."RV 1.114 is an appeal to Rudra for mercy, where he is referred to as "mighty Rudra, the god with braided hair."
In RV 7.46, Rudra is described as armed with a bow and fast-flying arrows. As quoted by R. G. Bhandarkar, the hymn says Rudra discharges "brilliant shafts which run about the heaven and the earth", which may be a reference to lightning.
Rudra was believed to cure diseases, and when people recovered from them or were free of them, that too was attributed to the agency of Rudra. He is asked not to afflict children with disease and to keep villages free of illness. He is said to have healing remedies, as the best physician of physicians, and as possessed of a thousand medicines. So he is described with an alternative name Vaidyanatha, also there is a Lord Shiva Temple by the name Vaidyanatha which is considered one of the twelve most sacred jyotirlinga.
Epithets of supreme rule
A verse from the Rig Veda calls Rudra "The Lord or Sovereign of the Universe" :sthirebhiraṅghaiḥ pururūpa ughro babhruḥ śukrebhiḥ pipiśehiraṇyaiḥ
īśānādasya bhuvanasya bhūrerna vā u yoṣad rudrādasuryam
With firm limbs, multiform, the strong, the tawny adorns himself with bright gold decorations:
The strength of Godhead never departs from Rudra, him who is Sovereign of this world, the mighty.
A verse of Śrī Rudram speaks of Rudra as Lord of the Universe:
Another verse locates Rudra in the heart of the gods, showing that he is the inner Self of all, even the gods.
In a verse popularly known as the Mahamrityunjaya Mantra, both Rig Veda and Yajur Veda recommend worshipping Rudra to attain moksha :
In the Taittiriya Aranyaka of Yajur Veda Rudra is identified as the universal existent and thus as the Purusha of the Vedas:
The Taittiriya Aranyaka of Yajur Veda 1.10.1 identifies Rudra and Brihaspati as Sons of Bhumi and Heaven:
Relation to other deities
Rudra is used both as a name of Shiva and collectively as the name for the Maruts. Maruts are "storm gods", associated with the atmosphere. They are a group of gods, whose number varies from two to sixty, sometimes also rendered as eleven, thirty-three or a hundred and eighty in number.The Rudras are sometimes referred to as "the sons of Rudra", whereas Rudra is referred to as "Father of the Maruts".
Rudra is mentioned along with a litany of other deities in RV 7.40.5. Here is the reference to Rudra, whose name appears as one of many gods who are called upon:
One scholiast interpretation of the Sanskrit word , meaning "ramifications" or "branches", is that all other deities are, as it were branches of Vishnu, but Ralph T. H. Griffith cites Ludwig as saying "This gives no satisfactory interpretation" and cites other views which suggest that the text is corrupt at that point.
Post-Rigvedic hymns
In the various recensions of the Yajurveda is included a litany of stanzas praising Rudra:. This litany is subsequently referred to variously as the Śatarudriyam, the Namakam, or simply the Rudram. This litany was recited during the Agnicayana ritual, and it later became a standard element in Rudra liturgy.A selection of these stanzas, augmented with others, is included in the Paippalāda-Saṃhitā of the Atharvaveda. This selection, with further PS additions at the end, circulated more widely as the Nīlarudram.
The Hindu god Shiva shares several features with the Rudra: the theonym Shiva originated as an epithet of Rudra, the adjective shiva being used euphemistically of Rudra, who also carries the epithet Aghora, Abhayankar. Usage of the epithet came to exceed the original theonym by the post-Vedic period, and the name Rudra has been taken as a synonym for the god Shiva and the two names are used interchangeably.
Sri Rudram
The President of the Ramakrishna Mission, at Chennai, in commentating on the foreword to Swami Amritananda's translation of Sri Rudram and Purushasuktam, stated that "Rudra to whom these prayers are addressed is not a sectarian deity, but the Supreme Being who is omnipresent and manifests Himself in a myriad forms for the sake of the diverse spiritual aspirants." Sri Rudram occurs in the fourth Kanda of the Taittirya Samhita in the Yajur Veda.It is a preeminent Vedic hymn to Lord Shiva as the God of dissolution, chanted daily in Shiva temples throughout India."
The prayer depicts the diverse aspects of the Almighty. The Shri Rudram hymn is unique in that it shows the presence of divinity throughout the entire universe. We cannot confine the qualities of the divine to those that are favorable to us. The Lord is both garden and graveyard, the slayer and the most benevolent one. The Almighty is impartial and ubiquitous.
In it Rudra is described as the most dreaded terroriser.Sri Rudram describes Rudra the vedic deity as the personification of 'terror'. Rudra comes from 'Ru' meaning '"Roar or Howl" ; 'dra' is a superlative meaning 'the most'. So Rudra, depending on the poetic situation, can be meant as 'the most severe roarer/howler' - could be a hurricane or tempest - or 'the most frightening one'.
Rudralenka and Shiva
as we know him today shares many features with Rudra, and Shiva and Rudra are viewed as the same personality in Hindu scriptures. The two names are used synonymously. Rudra, the god of the roaring storm, is usually portrayed in accordance with the element he represents as a fierce, destructive deity.The oldest surviving text of Hinduism is the Rig Veda, which is dated to between 1700 and 1100 BC based on linguistic and philological evidence. A god named Rudra is mentioned in the Rig Veda. The name Rudra is still used as a name for Shiva. In RV 2.33, he is described as the "Father of the Rudras", a group of storm gods.
The hymn 10.92 of the Rigveda states that deity Rudra has two natures, one wild and cruel, another that is kind and tranquil. The Vedic texts do not mention bull or any animal as the transport vehicle of Rudra or other deities. However, post-Vedic texts such as the Mahabharata and the Puranas state the Nandi bull, the Indian zebu, in particular, as the vehicle of Rudra and of Shiva, thereby unmistakably linking them as same.