Shiva

==== Proto-Indo-European elements ====
The Vedic beliefs and practices of the pre-classical era were closely related to the hypothesised [[Proto-Indo-European religion]],<ref name="Woodard2006">{{cite book|author=Roger D. Woodard|title=Indo-European Sacred Space: Vedic and Roman Cult|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EB4fB0inNYEC&pg=FA242|date=2006|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=978-0252092954|pages=242–}}</ref> and the pre-Islamic Indo-Iranian religion.{{sfn|Beckwith|2009|p=32}} The similarities between the iconography and theologies of Shiva with Greek and European deities have led to proposals for an [[Proto-Indo-European religion|Indo-European]] link for Shiva,<ref name=woodward60 /><ref>{{cite book|author=Alain Daniélou|title=Gods of Love and Ecstasy: The Traditions of Shiva and Dionysus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QDQK7l13WIIC |year=1992|publisher=Inner Traditions / Bear & Co|isbn=978-0892813742|pages=49–50}}, Quote: "The parallels between the names and legends of Shiva, Osiris and Dionysus are so numerous that there can be little doubt as to their original sameness".</ref> or lateral exchanges with ancient central Asian cultures.<ref>{{cite book|author=Namita Gokhale|title=The Book of Shiva|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pFN15nX9_zsC|year=2009|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=978-0143067610|pages=10–11}}</ref><ref>Pierfrancesco Callieri (2005), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/29757637 A Dionysian Scheme on a Seal from Gupta India] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220104032/http://www.jstor.org/stable/29757637 |date=20 December 2016 }}, East and West, Vol. 55, No. 1/4 (December 2005), pp. 71–80</ref> His contrasting aspects such as being terrifying or blissful depending on the situation, are similar to those of the Greek god [[Dionysus]],<ref>{{cite journal | last=Long | first=J. Bruce | title=Siva and Dionysos: Visions of Terror and Bliss | journal=Numen | volume=18 | issue=3 | pages=180–209 | year=1971 | doi=10.2307/3269768 | jstor=3269768 }}</ref> as are their iconic associations with bull, snakes, anger, bravery, dancing and carefree life.<ref name=flahertyds81 /><ref>{{cite book|author=Patrick Laude|title=Divine Play, Sacred Laughter, and Spiritual Understanding|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cTDIAAAAQBAJ|year=2005|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-1403980588|pages=41–60|access-date=6 October 2016|archive-date=31 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240331131700/https://books.google.com/books?id=cTDIAAAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> The ancient Greek texts of the time of Alexander the Great call Shiva "Indian Dionysus", or alternatively call Dionysus ''"god of the Orient"''.<ref name=flahertyds81>Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty (1980), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1062337 Dionysus and Siva: Parallel Patterns in Two Pairs of Myths] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220102525/http://www.jstor.org/stable/1062337 |date=20 December 2016 }}, History of Religions, Vol. 20, No. 1/2 (Aug. – Nov., 1980), pp. 81–111</ref> Similarly, the use of phallic symbol{{refn|group=note|name="ilph_rep_l"}} as an icon for Shiva is also found for Irish, Nordic, Greek (Dionysus<ref>{{cite book|author1=Walter Friedrich Otto|author2=Robert B. Palmer|title=Dionysus: Myth and Cult|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XCDvuoZ8IzsC&pg=PA164 |year=1965|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=0253208912|page=164}}</ref>) and Roman deities, as was the idea of this aniconic column linking heaven and earth among early Indo-Aryans, states Roger Woodward.<ref name=woodward60>{{cite book|author=Roger D. Woodard|title=Indo-European Sacred Space: Vedic and Roman Cult|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EB4fB0inNYEC |year=2010|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=978-0252-092954|pages=60–67, 79–80}}</ref> Others contest such proposals, and suggest Shiva to have emerged from indigenous pre-Aryan tribal origins.{{sfn|Sircar|1998|pp=3 with footnote 2, 102–105}}
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