A Shocking Arrival
Shiva's embodiment as Lakuli was unorthodox to say the least. He found and abandoned corpse and entering it, emerged as young celibate holding a Vatara club, a lakula - hence the name, lakuli. The place where this happened is in Gujarat and is called Kayavarohana or Kayavatara (literally, descent into a body). Karnataka too, has a Lakuli with four pupils. The Pashupata cult survives as a strong tradition and is marked by heterodox rites and practices.

The Lakuli incarnation is worth nothing only because of its association with a major Shiva cult and mentions Krishna and Vyasa as part of the core group. It could have been a counter-thrust to Krishna and the Bhagavad Gita, a parting of the ways of Hara (Vishnu and Shiva), leading to two distinct devotional schools.

Another tradition includes the eleven chief Rudras among the twenty-eight incarnations of Shiva. The Rudras are a class of beings whom Shiva seems to have either created, or caused to be created under varying and conflicting conditions. In one myth, he willed them into existence just before he went into a state of utter quiescence as Sthanu (pillar). Brahma rejected these creations of Rudra-myriads of them, all equal to Rudra and resembling him, suprehuman and surenatual. They had sublimaed their sexuality and spread all over, becoming part of the universe, its living and supernatural. They had sublimated their sexuality and spread all over, becoming part of the universe, its living rhythms, invisible but ever active. They seem to reflect one of the etymologies of the word Rudra- 'ever-moving'. Then eleven chief Rudras are sometimes included among the twenty-eight incarnations of Shiva, and according to one tradition, these eleven Rudras were the sons of the sage Kashyapa and his wife Aditi, mother of the gods. The Shiva Purana mentions the eleven Rudras sired by Kashyapa, father of the gods, through Surabhi, the divine cow in a roundabout manner. Kashyapa worshipped Shiva at Kashi with penance and austerities. Shiva appeared and promised to enter Surabhi. The Rudras were born as a result and fought for the gods in one of their eternal clashes with the demons.

Yet another myth shows Brahma in a fit of disgust scrutinishing his own revolting creations-ghosts, boblins, snakes. He decided to end his life. The eleven Rudras, an expression of Shiva's mercy, emerged from Brahma's mouth as his vital breaths and revived the desperate Creator. The Rudras are really manifestations, powers, insights, not regular incarnations.

The Rudras have been given names in separate and slightly inconsistent lists. They were, as their generic name indicates, parts or particles of Rudra, complementing rather than imitating him, and assisting him in the intervals between world dissolutions in the miscellaneous activities he chose to engage in.

These incarnations of Shiva were perhaps, an attempt to match the Vaishnavite system of saviours and messiahs, for the Shiva Purana mentions a series of ten incarnations beginning with Mahakala, accompanied by their respective energies or shaktis.