In popular understanding of the mythology, Brahma is called the creator, Vishnu, the preserver and Shiva, the destroyer. When you ask people why Shiva is called the destroyer, they will answer, it is because he is the destroyer of evil. But if Shiva is the destroyer of evil, does it mean Brahma is the creator of evil and does it mean Vishnu is the preserver of evil? Such counter questions make the word, “destroyer”, problematic.
Also, the word evil is not a Hindu word. It belongs to cultures that do not believe in rebirth and karma. Hence, we have to ask ourselves: what is as okay being created by Brahma as it is being preserved by Vishnu and destroyed by Shiva? Perhaps a study of what Shiva actually destroys helps figure this out.
Shiva is associated with the impaling of an asura called Andhaka, or darkness, a demon who could not distinguish in his blindness the difference between mother and wife. He is associated with the destruction of Kama, the god of desire, hence Shiva is called Kamataka. He overpowers Yama, the god of death, which is why Shiva is called Yamantaka. He is associated with the beheading of Brahma, hence Kapalin. He beheads Daksha and overturns Daksha’s yagya, which is a very famous story. He destroys three cities of asuras, the Tripura, hence called Tripurantaka. He’s also associated with the destruction of the poison, Halahal, that emerges from the ocean of milk.
With these stories, we realise Shiva is associated with the destruction of darkness, that manifests with desire, death and time, as well as the destruction of the three worlds, and yagna. But this destruction is compensated by Shiva’s actions associated with regeneration: marrying Shakti, fathering Karthikeya and Ganesha, enabling the descent of the River Ganga from heaven to earth, enabling rebirth. By destroying yagna, Tripura, Kama, Yama and Andhaka, we see that Shiva is at one level associated with destroying the cycle of rebirth. But as the creator of Kartikeya, Ganesha and Ganga, he also enables the cycle of rebirth.
Devdutt Pattanaik is an Indian physician turned leadership consultant, mythologist, author and communicator whose works focus largely on the areas of myth, religion, mythology, and management.
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