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Rudra (Devanagari: रुद्र) is a Rigvedic God, associated with wind or storm,^[1] and the hunt. The name has been translated as "The Roarer",^[2][3] or "The Howler".^[4]

The theonym Shiva originates as an epithet of Rudra, the adjective shiva "kind" being used euphemistically of the god who in the Rigveda also carries the epithet ghora "terrible".^[5] Usage of the epithet came to exceed the original theonym and by the post-Vedic period (in the Sanskrit Epics), and the name Rudra has been taken as a synonym for the god Shiva and the two names are used interchangeably.

Etymology[link]

The etymology of the theonym Rudra is somewhat uncertain.^[6] It is usually derived from the root rud- which means "to cry, howl."^[7][8] According to this etymology, the name Rudra has been translated as "the Roarer".^[9] An alternate etymology suggested by Prof. Pischel derives Rudra ("the Red, the Brilliant") from a lost root rud-, "to be red"^[3] or "to be ruddy",^[10] or according to Grassman, "to shine".^[11] Stella Kramrisch notes a different etymology connected with the adjectival form raudra, which means wild, of rudra nature, and translates the name Rudra as "the Wild One" or "the Fierce God".^[12] R. K. Sharma follows this alternate etymology and translates the name as "Terrible" in his glossary for the Shiva Sahasranama.^[13]

The commentator Sāyaṇa suggests six possible derivations for rudra.^[14] However, another reference states that Sayana suggested ten derivations.^[15]

The adjective shivam in the sense of "propitious" or "kind" is applied to the name Rudra in RV 10.92.9.^[16][17] According to Gavin Flood, Shiva used as a name or title (Sanskrit śiva, "the kindly/auspicious one") occurs only in the late Vedic Katha Aranyaka^[18] Axel Michaels says Rudra was called Shiva for the first time in the Śvetāśvatara Upanishad.^[19]

Rudra is called "The Archer" (Sanskrit: Śarva)^[20] and the arrow is an essential attribute of Rudra.^[21] This name appears in the Shiva Sahasranama, and R. K. Sharma notes that it is used as a name of Shiva often in later languages.^[22] The word is derived from the Sanskrit root śarv- which means "to injure" or "to kill"^[23] and Sharma uses that general sense in his interpretive translation of the name Śarva as "One who can kill the forces of darkness".^[22] The names Dhanvin ("Bowman")^[24] and Bāṇahasta ("Archer", literally "Armed with arrows in his hands")^[24][25] also refer to archery.

In other contexts the word rudra can simply mean "the number eleven".^[26]

The word "rudraksha" (Sanskrit: rudrākşa = rudra + akşa "eye"), or "eye of Rudra", is used as a name both for the berry of the Rudraksha tree, and a name for a string of the prayer beads made from those seeds.^[27]

Rigvedic hymns[link]

The earliest mentions of Rudra occur in the Rigveda, where three entire hymns are devoted to him.^[28][29] There are about seventy-five references to Rudra in the Rigveda overall.^[30][31]

Epithets as fierce or frightening[link]

In the Rigveda Rudra's role as a frightening god is apparent in references to him as ghora ("terrible"), or simply as asau devam ("that god").^[32] He is "fierce like a formidable wild beast" (RV 2.33.11).^[33] 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.^[34]

RV 1.114 is an appeal to Rudra for mercy, where he is referred to as "mighty Rudra, the god with braided hair."^[35]

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" (RV 7.46.3), which may be a reference to the destructive power of lightning.^[36]

Rudra was believed to cause disease, and when people recovered from them or were free of them, that too was attributed to the agency of Rudra.^[37] He is asked not to afflict children with disease (RV 7.46.2) and to keep villages free of illness (RV 1.114.1). He is said to have healing remedies (RV 1.43.4), as the best physician of physicians (RV 2.33.4), and as possessed of a thousand medicines (RV 7.46.3). This is described in Shiva's alternative name Vaidyanatha (Lord of Remedies).

Epithets of supreme rule[link]

The verse RV 6.49.10 calls Rudra as " The Father of the Universe" (bhuvanasya pitaraṃ)

bhuvanasya pitaraṃ ghīrbhirābhī rudraṃ divā vardhayā rudramaktau
bṛhantaṃ ṛṣvamajaraṃ suṣumnaṃ ṛdhagh ghuvema kavineṣitāsaḥ (RV 6 :49:10 ) ^[38] Translation:

Rudra by day, Rudra at night we honour with these our songs, the Universe's Father.

Him great and lofty, blissful, undecaying let us call specially as the Sage impels us ( RV 6.49.10)^[39]

The verse RV 2.33.9 calls Rudra as "The Lord or Sovereign of the Universe" (īśānādasya bhuvanasya)

sthirebhiraṅghaiḥ pururūpa ughro babhruḥ śukrebhiḥ pipiśehiraṇyaiḥ
īśānādasya bhuvanasya bhūrerna vā u yoṣad rudrādasuryam ( Rig veda 2:33:9 )^[40] Translation:

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.^[41]

Relation to other deities[link]

Rudra is used both as a name of Shiva and collectively ("the Rudras") as the name for the Maruts.^[42] Gavin Flood characterizes the Maruts as "storm gods", associated with the atmosphere.^[43] They are a group of gods, supposed to be either eleven, thirty-three or a hundred and eighty^[44] in number. The number of Maruts varies from two to sixty (three times sixty in RV 8.96.8.).^{[citation needed]}

The Rudras are sometimes referred to as "the sons of Rudra".^[45] Rudra is referred to as "Father of the Maruts" in RV 2.33.1.^[46][47][48]

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:

This Varuṇa, the leader of the rite, and the royal Mitra and Aryaman, uphold my acts, and the divine unopposed Aditi, earnestly invoked: may they convey us safe beyond evil. I propitiate with oblations the ramifications (vayāḥ) of that divine attainable Viṣṇu, the showerer of benefits. Rudra, bestow upon us the magnificence of his nature. The Aśvins have come down to our dwelling abounding with (sacrificial) food.^[49]

One scholiast^{[clarification needed]} interpretation of the Sanskrit word vayāḥ, meaning "ramifications" or "branches", is that all other deities are, as it were branches of Vishnu,^[50] 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.^[51]

Post-Rigvedic hymns[link]

In the various recensions of the Yajurveda is included a litany of stanzas praising Rudra: (Maitrāyaṇī-Saṃhitā 2.9.2, Kāṭhaka-Saṃhitā 17.11, Taittirīya-Saṃhitā 4.5.1, and Vājasaneyi-Saṃhitā 16.1–14). This litany is subsequently referred to variously as the Śatarudriyam, the Namakam (because many of the verses commence with the word namaḥ [`homage`]), or simply the Rudram. This litany was recited during the agnicayana ritual ("the piling of Agni"), 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 (PS 14.3—4). This selection, with further PS additions at the end, circulated more widely as the Nīlarudram (or Nīlarudra Upaniṣad).^[52][53]

In Sikhism[link]

The 10th Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh describes the incarnation of Lord Shiva in his book the Dasam Granth, the canto is titled Rudra Avatar

See also[link]

• Rudras
• Rudra Sampradaya

External links[link]

• [5]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Apte, Vaman Shivram (1965). The Practical Sanskrit Dictionary. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. ISBN 81-208-0567-4.  (fourth revised & enlarged edition).
• Arya, Ravi Prakash; Joshi, K. L. (2001). Ṛgveda Saṃhitā: Sanskrit Text, English Translation, Notes & Index of Verses. Parimal Sanskrit Series No. 45. Delhi: Parimal Publications. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/81-7110-138-7|81-7110-138-7]].  Second revised edition. Set of four volumes (2003 reprint). This revised edition updates H. H. Wilson's translation by replacing obsolete English forms with more modern equivalents, giving the English translation along with the original Sanskrit text in Devanagari script, along with a critical apparatus.
• Basham, A. L.; Zysk, Kenneth (Editor) (1989). The Origins and Development of Classical Hinduism. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-507349-5. 
• Bhandarkar, Ramakrishna Gopal (1913). Vaisnavism, Śaivism, and Minor Religious Systems. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services. ISBN 81-206-0122-X.  Third AES reprint edition, 1995.
• Chakravarti, Mahadev (1994). The Concept of Rudra-Śiva Through The Ages. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 81-208-0053-2.  (Second Revised Edition; Reprint, Delhi, 2002).
• Chidbhavananda, Swami (1997). Siva Sahasranama Stotram: With Navavali, Introduction, and English Rendering.. Sri Ramakrishna Tapovanam. ISBN 81-208-0567-4.  (Third edition). The version provided by Chidbhavananda is from chapter 17 of the Anuśāsana Parva of the Mahābharata.
• Flood, Gavin (1996). An Introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-43878-0. 
• Flood, Gavin (Editor) (2003). The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.. ISBN 1-4051-3251-5. 
• Griffith, Ralph T. H. (1973). the Hymns of the Ṛgveda. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 81-208-0046-X.  New Revised Edition
• Kramrisch, Stella (1981). The Presence of Śiva. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01930-4. 
• Lubin, Timothy (2007). “The Nīlarudropaniṣad and the Paippalādasaṃhitā: A Critical Edition and Translation of the Upaniṣad and Nārāyaṇa's Dīpikā,” in: The Atharvaveda and its Paippalāda Śākhā: Historical and Philological Papers on a Vedic Tradition, ed. A. Griffiths and A. Schmiedchen, pp. 81–139. (Indologica Halensis 11). Aachen: Shaker Verlag. ISBN 978-3-8322-6255-6
• Macdonell, Arthur Anthony (1996). A Practical Sanskrit Dictionary. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers. ISBN 81-215-0715-4. 
• Majumdar, R. C. (general editor) (1951). The History and Culture of the Indian People: (Volume 1) The Vedic Age. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd.. 
• Michaels, Axel (2004). Hinduism: Past and Present. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-08953-1. 
• Sharma, Ram Karan (1996). Śivasahasranāmāṣṭakam: Eight Collections of Hymns Containing One Thousand and Eight Names of Śiva. With Introduction and Śivasahasranāmākoṣa (A Dictionary of Names).. Delhi: Nag Publishers. ISBN 81-7081-350-6.  This work compares eight versions of the Śivasahasranāmāstotra. The Preface and Introduction (in English) by Ram Karan Sharma provide an analysis of how the eight versions compare with one another. The text of the eight versions is given in Sanskrit.
• Zimmer, Heinrich (1972). Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01778-6. 

v t e Hindu deities and texts Gods Deva Ganesha Brahma Vishnu Shiva Rama Krishna Murugan Hanuman Indra Surya more Goddesses Adi parashakti Devi Saraswati Lakshmi Sati Parvati Durga Shakti Kali Sita Radha Mahavidya Navadurga Matrikas more Texts Vedas Upanishads Puranas Ramayana Mahabharata Bhagavad Gita more Hinduism Hindu mythology

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Shri Raghaveshwara Bharathi ( Kannada: ಶ್ರೀ ರಾಘವೇಶ್ವರ ಭಾರತಿ ) or officially, Shree Shree Jagadguru Sri Shankaracharya Srimad Raghaveshwara Bharathi Swamiji is the present pontiff (Guru) of Ramachandrapura Mutt. He is the 36th pontiff in the unbroken lineage of the mutt. His holiness took sannyasa from Late Shri Raghavendra Bharati, the previous pontiff, in April 1994. Since his ascent in April 1999, the pontiff is working for spirutual progress. Swamiji's intellectual and spiritual strength, moral vision, love and compassion have made him popular.

Birth and childhood[link]

Shree Swamiji in his supposed prior life was known by the name Hareesha Sharma [1]. He was born in the village called Chaduravalli, Sagara Taluk, Shimoga District in Karnataka. He had the formal education until high school. He had his vedic education in Gokarna and Varnasi and at the age of 18 years he took sannyasa from His Holiness Brahmaikya Shree Shree Raghavendra Bharati Swamiji and further continued the vedic education in Mysore.

Sannyasa and after[link]

After the Samadhi (death) of Sri Raghavendra Bharathi Sri Raghaveshwara Bharathi was crowned in as the seer at his young age of 23 years. Since then he is known for pious nature yet alert and active, good in talk, humble and diplomatic, highly appealing with heartful love. He has become a popular and beloved Jagadguru.

Religious thought and activity[link]

Primarily, he started with stressing the need to protect Vedic culture, and its activities along with other social activities. Following, he started many educational institutions. Many temples, mathas including Ramashrama in Chadarahalli-Bangalore, Ramakrishna Kalika Matha in Ambagiri Sirsi, Sri Rama Temple in Chokadi-Bellare-Sullia merged with his matha impressed by his work and ability.

He established the Bharathiya Nethra Chikitshalya in Mujangavu, Kumbla taluk, Kasaragod dist, to cater the need of rural eye patients, criss crossing the boundaries of religion in social service. Some of the plans instituted by him in the Mutts as Musti Bikshe Yojana wherein in each devotee house keeps a fist full of rice daily as biksha to mutt, and collectivelly later feeds the needy and hunger, as oldage orftens, anathashrama, at time of natural calamity, etc. He had good momentum and was able to bring in a good relationship among different mathas or sanyasis, as result of which in most of event organised by the matha, a good number of different religious leaders, sanyasis, peetadipathis, joined in. In recent Vishwa Go-Sammelan, on 22 April 2007, more than 300 religious leaders had participated which showed Swamiji's impact.

The urgent call for the protection and preservation of Indian Cow Breed ( Bos Indicos ) has been his primary activity in the very recent years. Of total 70 breeds recognised in India, only around 35 breeds exist today, and all of them can be found in matha. He started the Kamaduga yogana, to concentrate on the work. Projects are on to start 108 goshalas, of which few are already started in Karnataka, Maharastra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu. In fact, this work is highly noted, as so far no institutions in India, govt. or NGO's, had started the work, and the matha is the only institution to have all the breed collection. Work is being done to preserve the same for future. Some rare breeds as Amrithmahal, Vechur, which count less than 100 in numbers, are protected here. Inspired by this, the Karanataka State Government. has started working in the row. He has been working stressing the need to promote products other than milk products, as Go-ark, medicines from cow, Doopa, etc.

External links[link]

• Official Website of Sri Sri Raghaveshwara Bharati
• Official website of Shreei Ramachandrapura Math
• Gou Sammelana (2007)
• Gokarna Temple, under Sri Matha's administration

Asad Ali Khan
Asad Ali Khan performs in 2009
Background information
Born	1937 Alwar, Indian Empire
Died	14 June 2011 (aged 74) New Delhi, India
Genres	Hindustani classical music
Instruments	rudra veena

Asad Ali Khan (Hindi: असद अली खान) (1937 – 14 June 2011) was an Indian musician who played the plucked string instrument rudra veena. Khan performed in the style dhrupad and was described as the best living rudra veena player in India by The Hindu. He was awarded the Indian civilian honor Padma Bhushan in 2008.

Life and career[link]

Khan was born 1937 in Alwar in the seventh generation of rudra veena players in his family.^[1][2] His ancestors were royal musicians in the courts of Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, and Jaipur, Rajasthan in the 18th century.^[3][4] His great-grandfather Rajab Ali Khan was head of the court musicians in Jaipur and owned a village land holding.^[4][5] His grandfather Musharraf Khan (died 1909) was court musician in Alwar, and performed in London in 1886.^[4][6] Khan's father Sadiq Ali Khan worked as a musician for the Alwar court and for the Nawab of Rampur for 35 years.^[6][7] Khan grew up in a musical surrounding and was taught the Beenkar gharana (stylistic school of rudra veena playing) of Jaipur and vocals for fifteen years.^[2][4][6]

Khan was one of a few active musicians who played the rudra veena and the last surviving master of one of the four schools of dhrupad, the Khandar school.^[3][4][8] He performed in many countries, including Australia, the United States, Afghanistan, and Italy and several other European countries, and conducted music courses in the United States.^[8][9] Khan worked at All India Radio, taught the sitar in the Faculty of Music and Fine Arts at the University of Delhi for 17 years, and continued to train students privately after his retirement.^[7][8][10] Students of Khan who perform include his son Zaki Haidar and Bikramjeet Das of Kolkata.^[11][12] Khan criticized the lack of willingness among Indians to study the rudra veena and has more foreign than Indian students.^[9] He was involved in preserving the playing of the instrument, which he believed to be created by the deity Shiva, and performed for SPIC MACAY, promoting Indian classical music to young Indians.^[2][4][8] Khan was a Shi'a Muslim.^[13]

Khan received several national awards, including the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1977 and the civilian honor Padma Bhushan in 2008, which was awarded by Indian President Pratibha Patil.^[3][14][15] He was described as the best living rudra veena player in India by The Hindu and lived in Delhi.^[6][16]

Death[link]

Khan died on 14 June 2011 in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi. Khan never married and is survived by his nephew and adopted son Zaki Haidar.^[11]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Asad Ali Khan at Allmusic

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Udit Narayan Jha, popularly known as Udit Narayan is a playback singer in commercial, Maithili language, Hindi, Kannada, Nepali, Urdu, Bhojpuri, Garhwali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Oriya, Assamese, Maithili and Bengali language cinema. Narayan has sung in 32 different languages.^[1] He has won three National Film Awards and five Filmfare Awards. In 2009, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India.

Career[link]

Udit Narayan Jha was born on 1 December 1955 in a village called Bhardaha in the Saptari district, Nepal.^[2] His father was Hare Krishna Jha and his mother was Bhuwaneshwari Devi.

Narayan studied at P.B. School, Rajbiraj, where he passed his S.L.C.(class 10) and later obtained his intermediate from Ratna Rajya Laxmi Campus, mostly known as RR campus Kathmandu.

Udit Narayan began his career in Nepal singing for Radio Nepal as a staff artiste for Maithili and Nepali folk songs. He sang many popular nepali folk, modern songs in Radio Nepal. His first filmy playback singing was for Nepali film Sindur.It was a comedy song for famous nepali comedians (Late) GopalRaj Mainali (Chankhe) and Basundhara Bhushal (Nakkali). It was a duet song with Sushmaa Shrestha now known as Poornima in Hindi film Industry. After eight years in that role, Indian Embassy offered him the chance to study classical music at a prestigious school in Bombay, Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan on a music scholarship. He moved to Bombay in 1978.

He got his first break in 1980, when noted music director (composer) Rajesh Roshan asked him to playback for the Hindi film Unees Bees, and was given the opportunity to sing with the veteran Mohammed Rafi. He later provided playback for a number of films, the most notable being Sannata (1981), Bade Dil Wala (1983) and Tan-Badan (1986). The actual success story of his career began in 1988 when Anand-Milind gave him the oppportunity to sing all the songs for the successful Bollywood movie Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, earning him a Filmfare Award.^[3] The film also brought actor Aamir Khan, actress Juhi Chawla and playback singer Alka Yagnik to stardom. After the success of Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, he became one of the leading playback singers in the Indian film industry.

He has worked with musicians like Rahul Dev Burman, Rajesh Roshan, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Kalyanji-Anandji, Bappi Lahiri, A. R. Rahman, Anand-Milind, Nadeem-Shravan, Jatin Lalit, Anu Malik, Jagjit Singh, Uttam Singh, Raam Laxman, Ilayaraja, Bhupen Hazarika, Shiv-Hari, Ravindra Jain, Madan Mohan, Vishal Bhardwaj, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Himesh Reshammiya, Viju Shah, Vidyasagar, M. M. Keeravani, Ismail Darbar, Anand Raj Anand, Aadesh Shrivastava, Arun Paudwal, Pritam Chakraborty, Sajid-Wajid, Dilip Sen-Sameer Sen, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Sohail Sen, Nikhil Vinay, Sandesh Shandilya, Ram Sampath, Rahul Sharma, Daboo Malik, Sukhwinder Singh, Roop Kumar Rathod, Adnan Sami, Sanjeev Darshan, Vishal-Shekhar, Ajay-Atul, and directors like Yash Chopra, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Ashutosh Gowariker and Karan Johar. Some of those films include Lagaan, Darr, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Dil To Pagal Hai, Mohabbatein, Devdas, Kal Ho Naa Ho, Swades and Veer Zaara. He has also sung hit songs for actors like Aamir Khan, Sunny Deol, Akshay Kumar, Shahid Kapoor, Mithun Chakraborty, Sunil Shetty, Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor, Govinda, Sanjay Dutt, Sunny Deol, Saif Ali Khan, Bobby Deol, Hrithik Roshan and Ajay Devgan. Udit's capability as a playback singer knows no bounds, as he has been magnanimously acclaimed in every kind of melody - soulful, romantic, fast-paced and recently, even pop. Udit has an extremely versatile tone which appears to flawlessly suit every Indian hero on screen. And today, innumerable awards and accolades later, Udit Narayan possesses one of the largest arrays of hit songs in the industry.