due to this inspiration.
Neither in outward form nor in character do Vishnu and Siva show much more
resemblance to Apollo and Mithra than to the Vedic gods. Their exuberant,
fantastic shapes, their many heads and arms, are a symbol of their complex
and multiple attributes. They are not restricted by the limits of
personality but are great polymorphic forces, not to be indicated by the
limits of one human shape.[337]

2

Though alike in their grandeur and multiplicity, Vishnu and Siva are
not otherwise similar. In their completely developed forms they
represent two ways of looking at the world. The main ideas of the
Vaishnavas are human and emotional. The deity saves and loves: he
asks for a worship of love. He appears in human incarnations and is
known as well or better by these incarnations than in his original
form. But in Sivaism the main current of thought is scientific and
philosophic rather than emotional.[338] This statement may seem
strange if one thinks of the wild rites and legends connected with
Siva and his spouse. Nevertheless the fundamental conception of
Sivaism, the cosmic force which changes and in changing both destroys
and reproduces, is strictly scientific and contrasts with the human,
pathetic, loving sentiments of Vishnuism. And scandalous as the
worship of the generative principle may become, the potency of this
impulse in the world scheme cannot be denied. Agreeably to his
character of a force rather than an emotion Siva does not become
incarnate[339] as a popular hero and saviour like Rama or Krishna,
but he assumes various supernatural forms for special purposes. Both
worships, despite their differences, show characteristics which are
common to most phases of Indian religion. Both seek for deliverance
from transmigration and are penetrated with a sense of the sorrow
inherent in human and animal life: both develop or adopt philosophical
doctrines which rise high above the level usually attained by popular
beliefs, and both have erotic aspects in which they fall below the
standard of morality usually professed by important sects whether in
Asia or Europe.

The name Siva is euphemistic. It means propitious and, like Eumenides,
is used as a deprecating and complimentary title for the god of
terrors. It is not his earliest designation and does not occur as a
proper name in the Rig Veda where he is known as Rudra, a word of
disputed derivation, but probably meaning the roarer. Comparatively