Thursday 9 June 2016

Summon: Shiva

Shiva: The scantly clad Ice-Maiden.

Appearances:  FFIII, FFIV, FFV, FFVI, FFVII, FFVIII, FFIX, FFX, FFXI, FFXIII, FFIV

Ammano concept art of Shiva

Shiva, along with Bahamut and Ifrit has the most appearances throughout the Final Fantasy games. She even appears in FFXII where she lends her name to an air ship. I wonder if her popularity has something to do with her preference to limited clothing...Shiva is typically blue skinned and haired reflecting her ice-elemental status. Her signature attack is 'Diamond Dust', referring to how ice can sparkle like diamonds.

Shiva, along with Brahma and Vishnu, is one of the main deities in Hinduism. He, like many Hindu deities, has multiple aspects. Shiva is at times a protector, a leader of evil spirits or a house keeper with his wife Parvati.

One of the attribute that Shiva can have is Nīlakaṇtha or 'blue throat'. The blue throat was caused when Parvati strangled Shiva after he drank the Halahala poison. Parvati did this to prevent the poison spreading to the world which was said to lie in Shiva's stomach. The Halahala came about because the Asura, demons, and the Devas, gods, fought in the primordial ocean to obtain the Amrita, the nectar of immortality.

There is a form of Shiva known as Ardhanārīśvara who is depicted as half man, half woman. The name roughly means 'the lord who is half woman'  according to Ellen Golberg. This form is a a fusion of Shiva and his wife Parvati. Some tales say that this union of the two created the universe. In another tale Parvati requests Shiva to let her reside within him, which the god obliges thus forming Ardhanarishvara. There are many, many additional forms of Shiva. Check out here for a introduction into Shaivism.

So what relationship does the Hindu Shiva have to ice? Well there is Amarnath Temple located in the Northan India state of Jammu and Kashmir. The temple is a sacred cave high up in the Himalayas which features a permanent ice pillar. The cave is inaccessible for most of the year due to snow but is open to pilgrims for 45 days a year during festival time. The ice pillar is worshipped as a Lingam of Shiva. A Lingam is an abstract, normally pillar like, object used to represent Shiva. It comes from the god's lopped off penis.

Shiva's Ardhanarisvara form



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