Shiva from Gudimallam 1st c. polished sandstone
The third member of the Supreme Triad is Shiva or Mahadeva, the Greatest God. This god is the most complex.
Shiva is the God of Destruction also
Shiva is the god of fertility and the symbol of Shiva is the lingam or phallic symbol.
The characteristic features of Shiva are the vertical third eye, and the three horizontal stripes upon his forehead.
Shiva is full of contradictions. Although Shiva is the destroyer he is also the the god of mystical stillness and the god of the dance. He does the dance of destruction so that the world can be recreated.
He is the acknowledgment that everything that comes to birth comes ultimately to death and from death comes new life.
He is cruel and yet tender, wrathful and merciful, unpredictable and yet ever the same.
