Third eye of Shiva

[Venkatraman Iyer]

>>Need some help: Does Shiva's third eye on the forehead
>>compared with moon? Is this common?

Prof. G. von Simson:
>It is common to associate Shiva's third eye with fire, and fire/sun and
>moon are opposites. KAma, the god of love,
>is, to mention an example, burnt by the fire emitted by this eye. A
>comparison of the eye with the moon would surprise me. It would also seem
>inappropriate because of
>the (crescent of the) moon being iconographically placed in Shiva's hair.

Thanks for the reply. I was testing to see if ever Shiva's
eye is called moon. Tamil texts also agree that
viruupaakshan's special eye is like fire (kan2al vizi
kAyvatum kAman2aiyE). The poem on Durga mentions two
crescent moons: one, an ornament on the forehead
and the other as in Shiva's head.

With respects,
V. Iyer


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