Emergence of Shaivism
The documentation of formal religious history, as opposed to archaeological evidence or scriptural mentions, is marked by Gavin Flood's remark that:
The formation of Śaiva traditions as we understand them begins to occur during the period from 200 BC to 100 AD.
The two great epics of India, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, deal extensively with stories of both Shiva and Vishnu, and there are references to early Shiva ascetics in the Mahabharata.
The Śvetāśvatara Upanishad (400 – 200 BCE) is the earliest textual exposition of a systematic philosophy of Shaivism. As explained by Gavin Flood, the text proposes:
... a theology which elevates Rudra to the status of supreme being, the Lord (Sanskrit: Īśa) who is transcendent yet also has cosmological functions, as does Śiva in later traditions.
In the grammarian Patanjali's "Great Commentary" (Sanskrit: Mahābhasya) on Pāṇini's Sanskrit grammar (2nd century BCE), he describes a devotee of Shiva as clad in animal skins and carrying an iron lance as the symbol of his god, perhaps a precursor of Shiva's trident.
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