The Worship of Shiva Part 2

Therefore Shiva Linga is possibly contemporary to Vedic rituals, or even earlier than that. It is likely that the worship of Shiva which needs minimum of paraphernalia, was developed to suit the needs of the poor who could not perform costly Vedic rituals as performed by Kshatriya princes and therefore needed a low cost alternative. This is the reason why Shiva worship is so easy. it just needs some local flowers, some water etc as offering in contrast with Vedic sacrifices. In place of altars we have the lingams and the Yoni on which the Lingam is placed - depicting the eternal reunion between Shiva, the Brahman and the shakti, its power. This was possibly prevalent even among the so called non Vedic tribes like Kiratas, Chandalas, Nishadas and Yavanas. We have read in Mahabharata several examples of how Shiva or Mahadeva was the prefered God of all the so called non Aryan tribes including Rakshasas. This is because He was easy to worship, did not need any elaborate rituals and could be pacified easily. So we see that even the followers of Mahadeva seem to be unconventional, unorthodox. Mahadeva is found among the locations which would be shunned by Vedic folks - like the crematoriums. He would be presented in a dress that again is an anathema to the cultured people, viz. ashes, with trident, with snake and wearing a tiger's skin and sporting matted locks. All these point to his popularity among the masses, among the unconventional, the unorthodox ones. In fact this often led to a conflict between the Vedic ritual adherents and the followers of Shiva as is narrated in the famous story of Daksha Yagna. Daksha, the epitome of Vedic Brahmanical puritanism, denies the portion of the sacrifice to Shiva. Most brahmins present including Bhrigu and the gods like Pushan, Bhaga etc. approved of it. Only few like Dadhichi protested and left the yagna. Being unable to withstand the insult hurled at her husband, Sati, the daughter of Daksha immolates herself. And grief stricken Mahadeva wrecks havoc on the Yagna, only to be pacified later by Vishnu and other prominent God Heads. From then onwards it became a custom to offer a portion of the sacrifices to Shiva. This is a story that depicts how Hinduism broadened its ambit to include non Vedic customs within the overall fold of worship apart from Vedic rituals to include a whole mass of humanity who practiced such disciplines. The reason is purely spiritual. Whichever path an aspirant follows in worshiping the great cosmic spirit, the Iswara, if he or she does it sincerely or with utmost devotion he or she is sure to succeed and make progress. So alongside Vedic rituals there was a definite need of the Puranas which prescribed different modes of worship and different personal gods who are basically different forms of the same supreme being. That Shiva worship was prevalent in Mahenjodaro and Harappa is a proven fact. Shiva Lingams were discovered in Mahenjodaro which were atleast 5000 years old, thus dating back to the Vedic civilization, and the images of Pashupati on its seals. It is to be noted that there are many Vedic altars that were discovered among the ruins of Mahenjodaro. Therefore it is fair to assume that all forms of worship and rituals coexisted from a very long time, which leads one to belief that these different forms of worship were developed to suit the needs and temperaments of different sets of people. So Shiva worship was not a later phenomenon as some scholars would like to believe, but was prevalent alongside the Vedas. Therefore Tantra or the worship of Shakti is also as old as the Vedas as in Rig Veda we find hymns to the Goddess. So this again affirms Lord Krishna's statement in Bhagavat Gita - "Ye yatha mam prapadyante tans tathaiva bhajamyaham" - "whosoever worships Me through whichever path, I reach out to him in the same way."