A Rigvedic god of the storm, the hunt, death, Nature and the Wind. Rudra is an early form of Shiva and a name of Shiva in the Shiva sahasranama.
Rudra (/ˈrʊdrə/) is a Rigvedic deity, associated with wind or storm, and the hunt. The name has been translated as "the roarer". In the Rigveda, Rudra has been praised as the "mightiest of the mighty". The Shri Rudram hymn from the Yajurveda is dedicated to Rudra, and is important in the Saivism sect.
The Hindu god Shiva shares several features with the Rudra: the theonym Shiva originated as an epithet of Rudra, the adjective shiva ("kind") being used euphemistically of Rudra, who also carries the epithet ghora ("extremly [sic] terrifying"). Usage of the epithet came to exceed the original theonym by the post-Vedic period (in the Sanskrit Epics), and the name Rudra has been taken as a synonym for the god Shiva and the two names are used interchangeably.