Pashupati

Pashupati
Lord of the Animals
Lingam image of Pashupati in the Mandsaur temple, India
Affiliation	Shaivism
Region	Indian subcontinent

Pashupati (Sanskrit: पशुपति, IAST: Paśupati) is a Hindu deity and an incarnation of Shiva as the "Lord of the animals". Pashupati is mainly worshipped in Nepal and India. Pashupati is also the national deity of Nepal.

Etymology

Paśupati or Pashupatinatha, means "Lord of the animals". It was an epithet of Rudra in the Vedic period and is one of the epithets of Shiva.

History

The Pashupati seal, surrounded by animals; circa 2350-2000 BCE. It is preserved in National Museum, New Delhi

The earliest evidence of Pashupati comes from the Indus Valley civilization (3300 BCE to 1300 BCE), where the Pashupati seal has been said to represent a proto-Shiva figure.

The Deity

Pashupatinath is an avatar of Shiva, one of the Hindu Trinity. He is the male counterpart of Shakti.

The five faces of Pashupatinath represent various incarnations of Shiva; Sadyojata (also known as Varuna), Vamdeva (also known as Uma Maheswara), Tatpurusha, Aghor and Ishana. They face West, North, East, South and Zenith respectively, representing Hinduism's five primary elements namely earth, water, air, light and ether.

The Puranas describe these faces of Shiva as:

Sadyojata, Vamdeva, Tatpurusha & Aghora are the four faces, The fifth is Ishana, unknowable even to the seers.

By country

Nepal

Main article: Hinduism in Nepal

Pashupatinath Temple, Nepal

Although Nepal is a secular state, its population is predominantly Hindu. Pashupatinath is revered as a national deity. The Pashupatinath Temple, located at the bank of the river Bagmati, is considered one of the most sacred places in Nepal. In mythology it is said that Pashupatinath started living in Nepal in the form of a deer because he was enchanted by the beauty of Kathmandu Valley.

India

A Pashupatinath temple is sited on the banks of the Shivana river in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh, India. It is one of the most important shrines of Mandsaur, and Shiva in the form of Pashupatinath is its primary deity. Its main attraction is a unique Shiva Linga displaying eight faces of Shiva. The shrine has four doors, representing the cardinal directions.

Pashupata Shaivism

Pashupata Shaivism is one of the oldest Shaivite sects that derives its name from Pashupati. The sect upholds Pashupati "as the supreme deity, the lord of all souls, and the cause of all existence".

See also

• Potnia Theron
• Religion of the Indus Valley Civilization

Sources

• Flood, Gavin (1996). An Introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-43878-0.
• Flood, Gavin, ed. (2003). The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell. ISBN 1-4051-3251-5.
• Kramrisch, Stella (1981). The Presence of Śiva. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01930-4.
• Michaels, Axel (2004). Hinduism: Past and Present. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-08953-1.
• Possehl, Gregory (2003). The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective. AltaMira Press. ISBN 978-0-7591-0172-2.
• Śarmā, Rāmakaraṇa (1996). Śivasahasranāmāṣṭakam : eight collections of hymns containing one thousand and eight names of Śiva. Delhi: Nag Publishers. ISBN 9788170813507. OCLC 36990863. Includes Śivasahasranāmakoṣa, a dictionary of names. 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 978-0-691-01778-5.