Bhagavad Gita · Mahabharata Codex

Shiva

शिव · śiva

The great god of dissolution and ascetics; chief of the Rudras

He once wrestled Arjuna in the mountains to see what he was made of.

The Gita names him Shankara, 'the giver of peace', foremost of the eleven Rudras. In the wider epic he tests Arjuna in the Himalaya in the form of a mountain hunter: the two quarrel over a boar and fight until Arjuna recognises him and bows. Shiva then grants him the Pashupata weapon. It is also Shiva's boon to Jayadratha that leads to Abhimanyu's death.