Rudra, Śiva, Ophiuchus (Updated Feb 17, 2014)

Update: I cleaned up some of the arguments, dropped some of the weaker materials, and added a link to the Mount Kailāśa comparison! (Feb 17, 2014)

For a while now, I have suspected that the original eleven Rudras mentioned in the Vedic Saṁhitās were originally associated with and, to some extent, even derived from, different constellations.  Indeed, these eleven are mentioned as among the original 33 god pantheon, all of whom I strongly suspect to populate the sky as seen from the Northern hemisphere. 

These three and thirty divinities, related as a single group, are mentioned at least as early as the Śatapatha Brāhamaṇa, a text that I'm presently analyzing in order to draw out whatever calendrical data is embedded in the text. I have already discerned that at least one of the calendrical components of this text dates to circa 2800 BCE, given that it uses the term, muhūrta, that taken together with the most plausible cosmological significations of the traditional names of the 30 muhūrtas. This would make the eleven Rudras very old figures indeed (but that is a discussion for another time).

While I have some tentative opinions on the matter, I hesitate to postulate here the identities of all eleven Rudras with specific constellations as yet. Yet there is a "coupled" constellation which already shows great promise, and indeed may well be the "primary" Rudra, given what we can already say about it: Ophiuchus-Serpens.

Below, then, I present a number of points which are suggestive of this association:

a) the form is reflective of Śiva sitting in meditation:

The inner core of the constellation is shaped like a slightly irregular trapezoid, i.e., a capstone, or else a hexagon. This central form places  Śiva's śikhara (the "peak" of his head) in close proximity to the "eye" of Hercules (whom I have elsewhere identified with Viṣṇu-Kṛṣṇa). The image above shows the right "shoulder" elevated, so that the trapezoidal figure is somewhat irregular. Yet, circa 2800 BCE, the trapezoidal form was much more regular/symmetrical.

b) Ophiuchus is in contact with Serpens, while the image of shiva is always draped in serpents:

Note that the above image shows the serpent head carved into the sculpture as on the same side as the "head" of the constellation, Serpens.

c) Opheuchus is associated with the power to raise the dead, while Śiva is the source of mṛtyu-sañjīvani: 

Sañjīvani is described in Valmīki's Rāmāyaṇa, and elsewhere, as an herb that can raise the dead. Hanuman, Rāma's faithful servant, is commanded to fetch a whole mountain containing the herb from the Himālayas. Hanuman fulfills this commandment by bringing the whole mountain through the air, all the way to South India. This constellation is very probably that mountain (my reasons for suggesting this involve a few dozen points which I won't go into here; suffice it to say that the identification is highly plausible). 

In other narratives, usually involving the resurrection of demons (asuras), Śiva teaches Śukrācarya the secret art of raising the dead in a complex purāṇic narrative. A part of this narrative involves Śukra actually passing through the body of Śiva, which itself is suggestive of a constellar involvement, given Śukra's identification with the planet, Venus. 

In Greek iconography, Ophiuchus is signaled as a Pillar or a Staff, often encircled by one or two serpents. In some ancient works, this image has been associated with an ancient healer, named Ascelepius; a similar symbol is also associated with Hermes, messenger of the gods, for reasons which are not yet apparent.

Ascelepius is often coupled together with his daughter, Hygeia (cognate with the term, hygiene).

Here we have superimposed an ancient bas relief over the constellation. There is a remarkable degree of symmetry between the stone-cut image and the constellation. The red lines show just how closely one can draw the image from the visible stars in that region. The artist who carved this stone was clearly careful to replicate the dimensions of Ophiuchus/Hygeia as closely as possible. Yet he seems not to have cared so much for the constellation Serpens. 

d) Rasalhague, a blue star at the "head" of Ophiuchus resonates with Śiva's fame as holding poison in his throat:
The color and location of the star provide a provocative lead for considering the origins of Śiva's nomenclature as nīla-kaṇṭha, the "Blue-necked" one. Note again in the picture immediately above that Rasalhague is in the position of Ophiuchus' throat, just as another major star is in the throat of Hygeia. Rasalhague is not alone in its semiotic role, however. The hala-hala poison generated during the churning of the milk ocean is said to be the material cause of Śiva's fame as the blue-throated one. If we can continue then along the same line of cosmological imagery for our causal explanation, then it would make sense to suppose that this halahala is none other than the dark dust clouds which obscure portions of the Milky Way galaxy in the region of Ophiuchus. 

e) Ophiuchus is sometimes represented as a female: 
Umā, or Parvatī, is described as the daughter of the king of the mountains in Kālīdāsa's famous Kumara-Sambhavam. This imagery resonates again with the double role of Ophiuchus as both human and mountain. It plays the role of mountain in at least two, and possibly three different narratives. for one, it is the "herbal" mountain fetched by Hanumān; for another, it is the mountain used to churn the ocean for ambrosia; further, it may well be one of those "flying mountains" whose wings were cloven by Indra's thunderbolt (but that is a matter for another blog). The double-gendered character of the constellation carries associations with ardha-naranari, the half-male, half-female image of Śiva-Śakti. 

Note also that there are two animals, a cow to the right, and a lion to the left. This carries into associations with Ophiuchus and the Bull, Nandi, as well as Virgo/Leo (Who sometimes signifies Durga!); it seems that the associations are rather unfixed, so that the female is incorporated in a distinctive manner in the Greek image from that used in the Hindu version. Which brings us to our next point:

f) Ophiuchus is often depicted in Uranography as staring to his left, casting his gaze on Virgo: 
This imagery correlates strongly with the Mohini-Mūrti myth, itself interwoven with the Ocean-churning episode in the Purāṇas. In the Vaiṣṇava myths, Śiva is said to have become bewildered by the beautiful form of Viṣṇu, become female. For reasons that will be discussed in my future blog on the Churning of the Milk Ocean, I have taken Mohini-Mūrti to be Virgo.  

g) The constellation is also similar in shape to Mount Kailāśa:

Note that the mountain is usually viewed from this face in particular, in the midst of this valley. The image reminds one of both Ophiuchus and of Serpens, so that one might be led to believe Mt. Kailāśa were the terrestrial incarnation of the Constellation. For more on that, take a look here.

h) Ophiuchus is depicted with a cow on his shoulder in older Uranographic depictions: 
The bull/cow has fallen out of popular depiction in contemporary images, but he/she did evidently exist once upon a time (cf., above illustration). In one puranic myth, Rudra is said to have been born from the coitus of Brahmā and Kāma-denu, the wish-fulfilling cow. Kāma-dhenu may well be the cow who sits on the shoulder of Opheuchus in these older Uranographies. It is also significant then, that she is said to have been born from the ocean of milk during the churning, given that the bovine constellation sits directly over the Milky Way galaxy.

While it is not perfectly clear which stars originally belonged to the "cow" constellation, we suspect it to be a play on the Taurus constellation, so that the prominent stars in that region produce an image something like this:

The stars forming this pattern are in the region of Ophiuchus' right shoulder (if he is depicted as facing us). 

i) Ophiuchus intersects with the Milky Way Galaxy: 
The narrative of Śiva capturing the celestial Gaṅgā in his dreadlocks resonates strongly with the image of the galaxy swirling amidst the dark clouds of dust. 

j) Opheuchus resembles an erect penis: 

I will let the reader contemplate that as suits them, but basically, this is just intended to draw a parallel between the popular use of a liṅgam as the aniconic form of Śiva. This is not the only place we see such abstract correlations, as I will go into in my future blog on Jagannatha, Subhadrā, and Baladeva. 

k) if the image is regarded upside down, we get another Icon of Śiva as Natha-rāja:

I have identified Hercules as Trivikrama, elsewhere. This resonates with the famous icon of Natha-rāja, dancing on a dwarf, reflecting symbolic tensions between Vaiṣṇavas and Śaivas. 

Admittedly, this is less compelling than other elements we have related. 

Of course, while we want the evidence to be as strong as possible, not all evidence should be taken as equally impressive. And still, there is merit to this association. We see that, using the prominent stars in the region of Ophiluchus, we are able to construct a series of allignments, which reflect the general geometries in the sculpture. This can be regarded as somewhat speculative, and so shouldn't be taken alone. One additional element that does recommend the matter as evidence: The star belonging to the eye of the dwarf (Vāmana) is in the same locus as the eye of Hercules, for whom I have extensive evidence in association with Trivikrama, the avatāra of Viṣṇu who ascends to the highest position in the universe on his third step. Moreover, many of the lines do match well with the shapes of the dance. We also note that the hand holding a flame contains a very prominent star. In general, the lines form strong parallels with the organic geometry of the icon without having to introduce many of the dimmer stars. Indeed, this image may be a commentary on Vaiṣṇavism, suggesting theological tensions between Śaivas and Vaiṣṇavas that came to be expressed in their respective aesthetics. The image of the dwarf is treated here as 'false ego', perhaps informing us of some remembered hubris on the part of ancient Vaiṣṇavas.   

l) Śiva's Drum (ḍamaru) and Trident (triśūla) resemble two local Constellations:

The ḍamaru resembles the "torso" of Hercules in its shape, While Ophiuchus, drawn with different lines, does indeed resemble a triśūla. 

Note that one can make these shapes using only prominent stars. 

m) We are actually not the first to publish this sort of comparison: 

The more I dig into these issues of representation, the more I find evidence that these sorts of comparisons are variously covered in previous Indological scholarship. I came across the following in the Wikipedia article on Askelepius (Asklépios), who is something like an avatāra of Ophiuchus. At least if we are to judge from the title alone, it is evident that Rudra has already been compared to Asklepios:

"H. Grégoire (with R. Goossens and M. Mathieu) in Asklépios, Apollon Smintheus et Rudra 1949 (Mém. Acad. Roy. de Belgique. Cl. d. lettres. 2. sér. 45), explains the name as 'the mole-hero', connecting σκάλοψ, ἀσπάλαξ 'mole' and refers to the resemblance of the Tholos in Epidauros and the building of a mole. (Thus Puhvel, Comp. Mythol. 1987, 135.) But the variants of Asklepios and those of the word for 'mole' do not agree." 

n) The Harrapan "Paśupati" seal: 

This image is one of the oldest icons to be associated with Śiva. It was discovered in the Indus Valley, and has been associated with the Harrapan civilization, widely considered to be pre-Aryan. Beyond the basic associations of form, we not also that there is, again, a cow to the right, a feline to the left. Is this not a depiction of the very same constellation? 

Other Stellar Associations

We mention here briefly just a couple more of the most provocative identifications between Rudras and ancient constellations. The constellation, Boötes, bears variegated associations, but one of these appears to be an ancient Rudra, evident from the fact that, in the Arabic system, there is a star, ρ Boö, known also as "the Howler" (Al-'awwa/Al hava). The Sanskrit term, Rudra, means approximately the same.

I have considered only a few of the hypothetical Rudras, consisting only of those which have the strongest evidence I have yet to come across. Truly, much of the other speculative materials I am working with are not as yet publication worthy. The other Rudras are in general not so clearly designated. But at least we can admit that we have a few other research leads, though we don't wish to let the cat out of the bag before we have compiled stronger evidence. At the moment, we will also keep in mind other possibilities.

Another matter that might be worth exploring: the 49 Maruts might correlate to a windy season that coincides with the appearance of one or more specific constellations. 

Additionally, the Rudras are in some places regarded as sons of Āditi and Kaśyapa. As such, we might also look at the locations of these two in order to better fix the locus of Rudras.  And let us not fail to consider that it could turn out that a different interpretation of the 11 takes these to be 11 stars which constitute one single constellation. 

Reflections

The imagery we have been considering here is part of a wider attempt to map out the sky in terms of Vedic and Puranic deities. This is only a partial attempt, but is it already suggestive of how a number of iconic symbols may have come into being. The associations developed by way of astrotheological hermeneutics are an important component of the history of thinking about the ontology of the heavenly divinities venerated in Hinduism today. These deities survive by way of an astrological sensibility that persists in South Asian culture, one that locates the constellations by way of narrative relationships based upon each one's proximity, or angle of incidence with respect to other constellations. The concealing or divorcing of these iconic representations from their celestial sources does concretize the images in a way that creates a new, terrestrial platform for discussion, so that theological contemplations are no longer formed by way of a direct connection to the stars; yet this also interrupts the historical character of their formation, leading to an pratimā without a pramā, a mirror reflection whose origins is lost in the shadows. Here, history is threatened by concealment, by the illusive discourse which imposes a fate dictated to each individual by the stars. Nothing is certain—not identity, not history, nor fate. This illusive character shows us how Time remains enigmatic within the Hindu context. Its form, like the form of the universe, is imaginative, tentative, elliptical. The few poets and hermeneuts that were able to penetrate into these obscure connections did manage to evolve the collective understanding of these cosmic divinities, and today, one hardly sees anymore a fundamental reliance upon the constellar sources, which have taken on a concrete, terrestrial "life" in the mūrtis, the arca-vigrahās. But does not the divorcing of Earth and Sky also signal a divorcing of man from the historical? Is deity worship today a kind of amnesia?