What is Shiva the god of?

Shiva holds one of the most notable roles in Hinduism as the god of destruction.

Also known as Shiv and 108 names, Shiva is deemed one of the three most important gods in the Hindu mythology alongside Brahma (the creator) and Vishnu (the preserver).

A sect of Shaivism maintains that all the other Hindu gods and goddesses are derived from Shiva, the Supreme Being.

This branch of Hinduism evolved in south India in the 1st millennium CE and is to this day one of the largest in Hinduism.

Lord Shiva has been depicted in different ways over the centuries and millennia.

Shiva is usually depicted in white, grey, or blue, from the ashes of corpses that are smeared on his body, with a blue neck, from holding poison in his throat that emerged at the “churning of the cosmic ocean”, which threatened to destroy the world.

His coiled and matted hair is adorned with a crescent moon and the River Ganges. He wears skulls and a snake around his neck. Sometimes he is depicted with a leopard pelt as a loincloth and garment.

According to one myth, the Milky Way galaxy flows through his hair and becomes the River Ganges, which the Hindus hold in high regard.

Shiva’s transport in the world, his “vahana” or vehicle, is the bull “Nandi”. This could very well be one of the major reasons why Hindus refrain from eating beef and worship cows.

His choice of weapon is the trident or Trishul, with which he destroys the evils of the world and restores order.

Shiva is represented in numerous forms — sometimes in zen mode with his consort Parvati and son Skanda, sometimes as a cosmic dancer, a naked ascetic, a beggar, a yogi, a Dalit (formerly untouchable), and as the androgynous union of Shiva and his consort in one body, half-male and half-female.

He is known as a great ascetic, the master of fertility, a benevolent herdsman, and the merciless slaughterer of the “beasts”. He is both a master of poison and medicine.

Hence, many people worship him for many things. For example, for fertility, there is a phallic symbol on a dish, where milk is poured.

Although earlier mythological figures can explain some attributions of Shiva’s traits or characteristics, they primarily arose from a tendency in Hinduism to see complementary qualities in a single ambiguous figure.