A form of शिव .

The birth of रुद्र is from ब्रह्मा . Even before the creation of the प्रजापतिस् , ब्रह्मा had created सनन्दन , सनक , सनातन and सनत्कुमार . These four were not desirous of mundane pleasures and were not prepared to beget children. They were great sages and scholars, of abstinence and without any discord and animosity. When these four showed no interest at all in the creation of the world, ब्रह्मा became angry to such an extent that he was prepared to destroy the three worlds. At that time the whole of the three worlds shone in the radiance that emanated from the fire of the fury of ब्रह्मा . Then from his shining eyebrows which were curved with fury, a figure of unbearable radiance like the mid-day sun came out. That figure was रुद्र . Half of the fierce body of that रुद्र who was very furious, was a woman and the other half was a man. ब्रह्मा , saying, "Divide body", disappeared. Instantly रुद्र split himself into the figure of a man and the figure of a woman. He again divided the body of the man into eleven parts. These eleven figures are the eleven रुद्रस् .

The names of the eleven रुद्र s are given differently in different पुराण s. In a text it is said that the eleven रुद्र s are, मन्यु , मनु , महीनस , महान् , शिव , ऋतुध्वज , उग्ररेतस् , भव , काम , वामदेव and धृतव्रत . According to some other पुराण s, the eleven रुद्र s are अज , एकपाद ( एकपात् ), अहिर्बुध्न्य , त्वष्टा , रुद्र , हर , शम्भु , त्र्यम्बक , अपराजित , ईशान and त्रिभुवन . ब्रह्मा apportioned to the eleven रुद्र s the eleven positions of the heart, the five organs of senses and the organs of action and to रुद्र the eight positions of life, ether, air, fire, water, earth, the sun and the moon. It was said before that रुद्र was divided into man and woman. From the womanportion eleven रुद्राणी s came into being. They were धी , वृत्ति , उशना , उमा , नियुता , सर्पिस् , इला , अम्बिका , इरावती , सुधा and दीक्षा . The eleven रुद्राणी s became the wives of the eleven रुद्र s. (Viṣṇu Purāṇa, Aṃśa 1. Chapter 7) .

Other information regarding रुद्र

Details about the orgin, life, character etc. of रुद्र which occur in other पुराणस् are given below.

Thirtythree children were born to प्रजापति कश्यप , by his wife अदिति , as आदित्यस् , वसुस् , रुद्रस् and अश्विन्स् . (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Araṇya Kāṇḍa, Sarga 14) .

From the fury of ब्रह्मा , रुद्र was born; from the lap of ब्रह्मा , नारद was born; from the right thumb, दक्ष ; from the mind, सनक and the others; and from the left thumb, a daughter named वीरणी was born. (Devī Bhāgavata, Skandha 7) .

In the beginning of कल्प (Age of ब्रह्मा ) ब्रह्मा meditated upon getting a child like himself and a child of blue complexion appeared on his lap. He ran here and there crying aloud. ब्रह्मा asked him "Why are you crying?" He replied: "I must be named." Because he was crying (doing rodana) ब्रह्मा named him रुद्र (He who cries). He cried seven times more. ब्रह्मा gave him seven more names. They were भव , शर्व , ईशान , पशुपति , भीम , उग्र and महादेव . Thus there were eight रुद्रस् . To each of them, ब्रह्मा gave a position and wives and children. The Sun, water, earth, air, fire, ether, Brahmin who has taken vow and the moon were allotted to them as their positions and figures. Their wives were सुवर्चला , उषा , विकेशी शिवा , स्वाहा , दीशा , दीक्षा and रोहिणी . This world is filled by the sons and grandsons and so on of these wives. Their sons respectively were शनैश्चर शुक्र , लोहिताङ्ग , मनोजव , स्कन्द , सर्ग , सन्तान and बुध . This रुद्र who is described above, married सती the daughter of प्रजापति दक्ष . (Viṣṇu Purāṇa, Aṃśa 1, Chapter 8) . (For further information see under ŚIVA also)