Gender: Masculine
Usage: Hinduism, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Nepali
Other Scripts: शिव(Sanskrit, Nepali) శివ(Telugu) சிவா(Tamil) ಶಿವ(Kannada) ശിവ(Malayalam)
Pronounced: SHEE-və(English)
Derived from Sanskrit
शिव (śiva) meaning
"benign, kind, auspicious". Shiva is the Hindu god of destruction and restoration, the husband of the mother goddess
Parvati. Though he does not appear in the
Vedas, Shiva nevertheless incorporates elements of Vedic deities such as the storm god
Rudra. He is often depicted with four arms and a third eye, and has both fierce and gentle aspects.
In Shaivism, a Hindu denomination, he is regarded as the supreme god. The other major sect, Vaishnavism, views Vishnu and his avatars as supreme.