Siva is said to have a thousand names; in addition to those already mentioned the following are most common:--

Maheswara, "The great god."

Ishwar, "The glorious."

Chandrashekara, "He who wears a half-moon on his forehead."

Bhuteswara, "Lord of Bhuts, or goblins."

Mritunjaya, "He who conquers death."

Sri Kanta, "He whose neck is beautiful."

Smarahara, "The destroyer of Smara or Kamdeva."

Gangadhara, "He who holds Ganga (the Ganges) in his hair."

Sthanu, "The everlasting."

Girisha, "The lord of the hills."

Digambara, "He who is clothed with space (naked)."

Bhagavat, "The lord."

Isana, "The ruler."

Mahakala, "The great time."

Tryambaka, "The three-eyed."

PANCHANANA.

This is a form of Siva in which he is represented, as his name teaches, with five faces; the appearance of his body and the ascetic's dress being the same as in his ordinary forms. It is under this name that prayers for recovery from sickness are addressed to him as the physician or healer. In places where there is no temple, and no image of this deity, worship is offered to him before a shapeless stone, painted red, placed under a

tree. This is a very common form of worship in the villages of Bengal. Some shrines of Panchanana have acquired considerable celebrity, to which women resort to obtain the gift of children as well as other blessings. In times of sickness offerings are made to this deity

Click to enlarge
PANCHANANA.

without scruple, though the sufferer is not ordinarily a worshipper of Siva. In cases of epilepsy it is the common belief that the victim is possessed by Panchanana, and offerings are made to induce him to depart; recovery is. believed to be the result of the god's departure.

Footnotes

^263:* Muir, O. S. T., iv. 404.

^265:* Muir, O. S. T., iv. 404.

^265:+ Ibid., iv. 299 ff.

^265:++ Part i. chap. vii.

^266:* Muir, O. S. T., iv. 322.

^266:+ Ibid., p. 326.

^266:++ Ibid., iv. 341.

^267:* Muir, O. S. T., iv. 378 ff.

^269:* The Prajapatis, seven, ten, or twenty-one in number, according to various authorities, are the fathers of the human race.

^270:* Muir, O. S. T., iv. 382.

^270:+ It is in imitation of the wifely devotion of Uma, that widows were burned alive with the dead body of their husbands. Hence they were called Satis--faithful ones.

^271:* "Indian Wisdom," p. 325.

^271:+ "Hindu Mythology," p. 293.

^272:* Ward, ii. 179.

^274:* Kennedy, "Hindu Mythology," p. 296.

^275:* Muir, O. S. T., iv. 223.

^275:+ Ward, ii. 190.

^275:++ Ibid.

^277:* Muir, iv. 269.