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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nBrahma tried again and again, but nothing he made would grow. The world stayed empty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brahma became upset. Then he became angry. Tears came into his eyes. He was the creator, but he could not create.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then he remembered what Shiva had promised him. Shiva had said he would come again, from inside Brahma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So Brahma sat quietly and prayed to Shiva.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Suddenly, a light came out from between Brahma’s eyebrows. A small boy appeared in front of him. His body was blue and red. Because of this, the old books call him Nilalohita, which means “blue and red”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The boy was crying loudly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brahma asked him, “Why are you crying, child?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The boy said, “Because I do not have a name. Please give me one.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brahma said, “You came crying, so your name will be Rudra. It means the one who cries.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the boy kept crying. So Brahma gave him another name, and then another. In the end, the boy had eight names:<\/p>\n\n\n\n After getting all eight names, the boy stopped crying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brahma understood that this was not an ordinary child. This was Shiva himself. He had kept his promise and come out of Brahma, from Brahma’s anger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is why the famous Vedic prayer to Rudra, the Sri Rudram, starts by bowing to his anger:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u0928\u092e\u0938\u094d\u0924\u0947 \u0930\u0941\u0926\u094d\u0930 \u092e\u0928\u094d\u092f\u0935 \u0909\u0924\u094b \u0924 \u0907\u0937\u0935\u0947 \u0928\u092e\u0903 \u0964 namaste rudra manyava uto ta i\u1e63ave nama\u1e25 | namaste astu dhanvane b\u0101hubhy\u0101m uta te nama\u1e25 ||<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n “I bow to your anger, O Rudra, and to your arrow. I bow to your bow, and to your two arms.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Brahma joined his hands and said, “Mahadeva, please help me create the world.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rudra agreed. He closed his eyes, and new beings started to appear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But all of them looked just like Rudra. They had matted hair, three eyes and blue throats. They carried tridents. And none of them would ever grow old or die. Soon there were thousands of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brahma became worried. “Please stop,” he said. “These beings will never die. My world needs beings who are born, who grow up, and who die one day. Please make beings like that.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rudra said, “That is not my work. I do not create beings who grow old and die. You can make them. I will stay away from creation.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then Rudra stood completely still and went into deep meditation. Because of this, he is also called Sthanu, which means “the one who stands still”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From the very start of the world, this shows us who Shiva is. He does not build things. He stays beyond birth and death, calm and peaceful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brahma bowed to him and went back to work. He made the sky, the earth, the oceans and the first living beings. These beings were born, and they died, just as Brahma wanted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But there was still a problem. His beings could not have children on their own. Brahma had to make every single one himself. The world was growing very slowly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So once again, Brahma prayed to Shiva.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This time, Shiva came in a new form. Half of his body was a man, and the other half was a woman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next in Shiva Tales:<\/strong> Ardhanarishvara, the Lord who is half woman.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Your turn: Did you know Rudra got his first name because he was crying? Which of his eight names do you like most? Tell us in the comments.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sources for this story: Shiva Purana, Rudra Samhita (Srishti Khanda) and Shatarudra Samhita; Vishnu Purana, Book 1; Linga Purana, Purva Bhaga; Sri Rudram (Taittiriya Samhita 4.5.1). Different Puranas tell this story in slightly different ways. Some say Rudra came from Brahma’s forehead, some say from his anger, and the Vishnu Purana says the crying boy appeared on Brahma’s lap. This version follows the Shaiva books, like the first story.<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Brahma could not create the world alone. So Shiva kept his promise and came out of Brahma as Rudra, a crying boy who was given eight names.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":158,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-shiva-tales"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myshivalay.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myshivalay.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myshivalay.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myshivalay.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myshivalay.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/myshivalay.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":177,"href":"https:\/\/myshivalay.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92\/revisions\/177"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myshivalay.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myshivalay.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myshivalay.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myshivalay.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/myshivalay.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/bramha-think-about-shiva-1024x573.webp\")
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\u0928\u092e\u0938\u094d\u0924\u0947 \u0905\u0938\u094d\u0924\u0941 \u0927\u0928\u094d\u0935\u0928\u0947 \u092c\u093e\u0939\u0941\u092d\u094d\u092f\u093e\u092e\u0941\u0924 \u0924\u0947 \u0928\u092e\u0903 \u0965<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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