Rudra / Śhiva's Viṣvarūpam: Macro Appearance of Rudra

Ṛṣis of the Vedas were very explicit about the appearance of Rudra and the commonality with that of Puranic Śiva. While the first declaration to Rudra is seen in the Rig Veda, the Saṃhitās of Atharva & Yajur Vedas gave utmost detail to His features and nature, but the important aspect is the usage of terminology and the consistency across Vedas is impressive. Let’s see why the Vedic Ṛṣis addressed Rudra as Viṣvarūpam starting with his color/hue, hair, eyes, throat, count of Rudra, and more. Let’s go over various shades/colors used to describe Rudra and find out how Rudra can have such diversity. Rig Veda says: “He is brilliant shines like the Sun, dazzling like gold, and the best of the divine and of Vasu”RV1.43.5, so the keyword here is “brilliance/ shine“. Now, let us compare this with Yajur Veda, Taittirīya Saṃhitā 4.5.5 which says: “Oh lord of mountains, whose brilliance/rays which permeates”, the Sanskrit word here is Hiraṇya (हिरण्य) meaning the Golden/brilliant one. Let’s compare the above with titles from three different Vedic Śākhās, Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā 16.11, Taittirīya Āraṇyaka 10.22.40 & Caraka-Katha Āraṇyaka: