is the third person of the Indian Trinity, and is the destroyer, as opposed
to Brahma, who creates, and to Vishnu, who preserves.
According to the Hindoos, who believe in the doctrine of metempsychosis,
the spirit passes from one form to another. To be born, is to appear under
a new shape; to die, is to appear no longer under the same form.
But, as it is impossible to disown destruction, as regards material things,
they admit the existence of a god, whose power was of a double nature, and
who could destroy and produce at the same time.
Siva is drawn with five heads, four hands, and three eyes in his principal
head. He is carried by a bull, and holds in his hands a trident and a dwarf
stag.
When they would paint him menacing and terrible, his sharp teeth start from
his gums; fire breathes from his lips; and human sculls form his diadem.
Serpents are entwining round his waist; the sword and the lance sparkle in
his hands, and the tiger has taken the place of the bull; while his body
assumes the appearance of a white cinder, a terrible symbol of his
implacable rage.