Rudra-Shiva

Rudra seems to be an early form of Shiva and three hymns are dedicated to him in the Rig-Vedas, as well as 70-odd references. There are various meanings given to his name -

rud - 'to cry', 'to howl' (suggesting a link to the wolf originally, a link that seems to have been lost in the mists of time). 

raudra - 'wild', 'untamed'.

rud - 'red'.

To decipher these roots in order to find the original form of Rudra we need to recognise him as 'The Archer', since he is depicted with a Bow and Arrow, as is the later Shiva. All of the above meanings can also be related to 'Robin Hood', the most famous English Folk-Hero. When we recognise this we can see the parallels, and that Rudra is the same as Woden as -

• The Wild Hunter-God.
• The One-Eyed God (rudrakshsa = 'Eye of Rudra')
• The Archer-God (Woden as Robin Hood).
• The Wild Man of the Woods. 

Another name for Rudra is Ugr which means 'terrible' and this is the same as Ygg ('terrible') a name of Woden. We can also notice that there is a Proto-Germanic Wuotani Ruoperath which would become Woden Hrothbeorth meaning 'Woden Rupert' or 'Woden Robert' both of which give the meaning 'Fame-Bright' related to Fire - Light. 'Rupert' or 'Robert' becomes 'Robin' and thus 'Robin Hood' means 'Fame-bright Hooden' or 'Fame-Bright Woden'. 

The Root *rud meaning 'red' gives us the hidden meaning of 'Fiery Nature' which we see in the figure of Shiva doing the 'Dance of Destruction'; here there are Tongues of Flame around the outside of the dancing Shiva, and as Hamasson once pointed out, this figure, when twirled around would most likely form the Swastika. (For those who do not believe this they should watch videos of the VW wheel being spun at a certain speed, this forming a Thulean Swastika.)

There are actually three distinct runes shown within the figure of the 'Dance of Shiva -

• The Cweorth-Rune formed by two of the arms.
• A reversed Ansuz-Rune formed by one arm and one leg.
• A Kenaz-Rune formed by one leg.

We have two runes (Kenaz - Cweorth) connected to 'Fire', the latter to the 'Fire-Twirl' which is the Fylfot-Swastika. The Ansuz-Rune is the 'Rune of Woden' which again links the two figures. The serpents also link to Woden as I have shown before his relationship with the 'Hooded Serpent' (Cobra). The 'belt' or 'sash' marks this figure out as the God of the Mannerbunde since he is the Great Initiator who wears the Black Garb of the Cultic-Warrior Brotherhoods - Rudras in this case.

The Woodwose (Wudu-wasa) as shown above (as I have said in an earlier post) is a dim remembrance of Woden as the 'Wild Man of the Woods'. Again, the club is the weapon of the God of the Cultic-Brotherhood. This can be seen in the drawing of the Horns of Gallehus where in the third row from the top we see two Wolf-headed warriors, one with a club (Woden) and one with an axe (Thunor). 

The 'Wild Man of the Woods' is also the 'Green Man', and he can be seen in this figure from the Gundestrup Cauldron -

Since we find a figure very similar to this from ancient India this 'Lord of the Animals' or 'Horned God' is one and the same figure separated by thousands of years. This is the Stag-Headed God we know as Herne the Hunter, the name 'Herne' being a corruption of 'Herian' - Woden Herian. 

The same 'Horned God' can be found on the Horns of Gallehus but this time with Goat's Horns - the pose is the same except that the Gundestrup Cauldorn figure is in a 'Yoga Pose', which has actually been found on a 'Buddha' figure in Scandinavia. 

Rudra is said to be - 'Fierce, like a formidable wild beast' (R.V. 2.33:11). Again this can be seen of Woden too, at least in his aspect of the original 'Wild Man' before he was 'tamed' by the Christian Church, or made into the 'Devil'. The root of our word 'fierce' is IE Root *ghwer- which actually refers to a 'wild beast'. From this we get the Latin ferus meaning 'wild'. When we consider the Root *rud- as relating to 'Fiery Nature' we can see how Rudra and Agni were sometimes linked together, Agni being of 'Fiery Nature'. 

It is very often the case with some establishment scholars that Rudra is seen as being a pre-Indo-European God, and yet this seems totally disproven when we compare him to Woden. However, some Germanic scholars have dismissed Woden/Odin/Wotan as a non-Germanic God, one who was 'introduced' into the Germanic Pantheon (a ludicrous suggestion). Looking at the original role of Rudra we can find proof that Woden is a Germanic God of very ancient times, and also one of the most important gods of our time. The role of Rudra appears to be that of a fierce God of the Wild, the God of the Wildwood, the prime God of Wild Nature whose role is to counter and to destroy the forces that seek to overthrow the Natural Order - the Joten. As Rudra opposes the 'demons', so Woden opposes the Joten and the Serpent of Evil. This is why he leads us today in our Eternal War against the Forces of Darkness and Chaos.