Was Shiva an Alien

Recently I watched a program on “Was Shiva an Alien?” Interesting hypothesis, but not good analysis/reasoning at arrive at conclusion. They missed out on interpretation of the literature on Lord Shiva, which could have made the claim to be more plausible. So here is my take on that ...

One of the oldest description of Shiva, is in Shiva Strotam - composed by his one of most famous worshipper – Raavan.
So let’s try and decipher, how Shiva Strotam (original text below in Sanskrit) describes Shiva.

जटा कटाह सम्भ्रम भ्रमन्निलिम्पनिर्झरी-
विलोल वीचि वल्लरी विराजमान मूर्द्धनि ।
धगद्धगद्धग ज्वल ललाट पट्ट पावके
किशोर चन्द्र शेखरे रतिः प्रतिक्षणं मम ।।
(btw you can listen to this shloka in the starting of the song "Kaun hai wo" from Movie Bahubnali. Click Here to listen to it.)

This shloka, is describing someone who is wearing a helmet with his thick locks of hair giving an illusion of moving milky way. The helmet has a moving wave on a display above it, it has a fire emitting gun at the center of helmet, and a torch light on top of helmet.

How do I come this interpretation? By translating it word by word. Let's do it together.
जटा means long locks of unkempt hair. //  कटाह = कढ़ाई ie a large circular pot.
सम्भ्रम – is सम भ्रम. In this सम =समान means "equivalent to"; भ्रम means illusion.
भ्रमन्निलिम्पनिर्झरी = भ्रमण + निलिम्प + निर्झरी
भ्रमण = Traveling. ;निलिम्प = Godly, heavenly; निर्झरी = River; निलिम्पनिर्झरी = आकाश-गंगा ie milky way.

Next line - विलोल वीचि वल्लरी विराजमान मूर्द्धनि
विलोल = लहराता हुआ, अस्थिर //  वीचि = लहर, तरंग,  किरण , चमक = shining wave.
वल्लरी = बेल ie a creeper   // विराजमान = Seated // मूर्द्धनि = upper part of the head.

Thus first shloka means "The long locks of hair in a pot, give an illusion of a moving Milkyway. An unsteady creeper like shiny wave is seated on very top of the head."

Next shloka
धगद्धगद्धग ज्वल ललाट पट्ट पावके
किशोर चन्द्र शेखरे रतिः प्रतिक्षणं मम ।।

धगद्धगद्धग ज्वल = धक् धक् करके जलता हुआ ie burning intensely
ललाट = forehead ; पट्ट = flat area ; पावके = Fire ; किशोर = young ; चन्द्र = Moon  ; शेखरे = top
किशोर चन्द्र शेखरे= One who has young moon on his top of head
रतिः = love  ;  प्रतिक्षणं = every second  ; मम = I

So the complete translation of both shlokas
The long locks of hair in a pot, give an illusion of a moving Milkyway. An unsteady creeper like shiny wave is seated on very top of the head.
The forehead has an intensely burning fire, and has a young moon on top of his head, - I wait lovingly every second for him.

Could it be describing someone who is wearing a glass helmet (कटाह) that is reflecting the milky way (भ्रमन्निलिम्पनिर्झरी) which has a moving sinewave display (ie unsteady creeper like wave =विलोल वीचि वल्लरी) on top (मूर्द्धनि) of helmet (कटाह ) and a fire emitting gun (धगद्धगद्धग ज्वल ललाट पट्ट पावके) mounted at the center of helmet and a torch light (किशोर चन्द्र शेखरे) on top of head/helmet.

Do these lines describe an alien; or a person from future; or a God is upto you to decide.

Assuming that these lines describe someone from future or an alien, lets see if the description makes sense. Nearest known thing to a torch light to a person few thousand year back would have been moon. Our space travelers as well as miners have a torch on their helmet. A helmet mounted gun that emits fire would have appeared like a third eye which burns when it opens.Now the question is why would anyone mount a gun on helmet’s forehead ? Well because it will help him aim better, and free the hands and also reduce reaction time. Very practical design I would say.

The way Ravana ( or whoever wrote these)  has described Shiva, it appears that he too has not seen Shiva, but is longing to see him.  Based on the verbal description in form of shlokas passed on generation to generation, an image of Shiva has been created. Maybe you can re-imagine the image of Shiva, by re interpreting the same words.

You only see what your eyes want to see

You only see what your eyes want to see...Madonna – from song Frozen.

Some of my friends support Modi all the way and some other see no virtue in any move that Modi makes. Some believe Kejriwal is the most honest person in the world and some believe exactly opposite of that. And they stick to that – against all odds, they are not even willing to consider new information if it is against their stand.

What is the thought process of a Bhakt.
Whats in your head... in your head... Zombie Zombie Zombie.. what's in your head ( Love that Cranberries song... good lyrics) 


Both Modi and Kejriwal had a very high decibel personality based campaign and had polarized the opinion about them. The opposition was shallow, and also had skeletons in their cupboards – and accordingly found it easy to attack personality rather than issues.
The trouble with personality based elections is that it results in binary supporters - either you trust/like someone or you don’t. There is no middle ground in a personality led election campaign.


But then the elections that brought these individuals to power are over. New information is available for both these politicians in terms of how they have behaved over last year or two.
Also why are their supporters/ detractors wearing their support/criticism on their sleeve all the time.
Why are these supporters using facebook / whatsapp to express their opinion all the time – and at times putting their personal / professional relationships at stake? Why are they so charged up and trying to convince others?


 This I believe is result of cognitive dissonance.
(Cognitive dissonance is the mental stress or discomfort experienced by an individual who is confronted by new information that conflicts with existing beliefs.)

In order to minimize the discomfort, they try to deny any and every information that conflicts with their existing beliefs. They go out of their way- and start selling their own ideology / try to convert others. This reduces their dissonance.


People who believed Modi is evil / communal / feku ...are at a loss when they see something good attempted by him. A Modi hater will go out of way and use his/her personal reputation / relationships / friendships at stake - to prove Modi’s good activities are actually very bad. Doing this minimizes their dissonance. Infact if Modi was not doing good work, his detractors might have been less vocal about their opinions.


People who had a belief that Kejriwal is the most educated & honest person, find it very difficult to find fault with his policies / lack of actions now.


What can be done - well, there are tried and tested approaches to reduce cognitive dissonance- well that is a topic for a larger blog post....and frankly not my area of expertise.


In US, Trump also had a very similar personality focused high decibel campaign, and globally almost EVERYONE has a stand on Trump. If Trump starts doing something logical, he will face a lot of backlash / every good step will also be criticized.