[Hindu] In ancient Vedic myth, Rudra ("howler") is the malignant god of storm and wind, and is also considered to have been the god of death. He is the personification of the uncultured nature. Rudra fires arrows of sickness at gods, men and animals. He is the father of the Maruts, who are occasionally called Rudras. His appearance and nature changes largely with the emerging of Hinduism. Rudra became a beneficent and beautiful god, the lord of the animals and the patron of hunters. His name changed into Shiva, and is since then one of the most prominent deities of Hinduism.
Rudra(s) (Sanskrit) [from the verbal root
rud to weep] A class of monads or dhyani-chohans belonging to the upper worlds of nature, whether of our solar system or planetary chain; virtually identical to the higher manasaputras or kumaras who refuse to create, i.e., imbody themselves in the then unprepared human vehicles. Certain individuals from among the highest of the class, however, were among the very first to obey karmic law, and they incarnated in chosen human vehicles of the third root-race during this present fourth round. The rudras are therefore equivalent to the solar lhas or pitris as contrasted with the lower four classes of monads, the lunar pitris.
The rudras are highly intellectual and spiritual entities, having through previous evolutionary periods attained self-consciousness by individually passing through the equivalent of the human kingdom. The rudras represent an aggregate of entities in the primary formation of worlds, as well as the intellectually informing principles of man. They are mythologically said to be at war with the shadowy entities and powers of the lower spheres, and hence are sometimes spoken of as the destroyers of outward forms. The
Vishnu-Purana states that "at the end of a thousand periods of four ages, which complete a day of Brahma, the earth is almost exhausted.The eternal Avyaya (Vishnu) assumes then the character of Rudra (the destroyer, Siva) and re-unites all his creatures to himself.
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