"Lord of Creatures" (Prajāpati) with Uṣas was born a boy, Kumāra, who cried and demanded to be given names. Then Prajāpati gave him the name Rudra because he had wept (rud); and he also called him Śarva ("All"), Paśupati ("Lord of Cattle"), Ugra ("the Dread"), Aśani ("Lightning"), Bhava ("the Existent"), Mahādeva ("the Great God"), and Īśāna ("the Ruler"), which are the eight forms of Agni. In slightly different order the names are given in a passage of the Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa (vi. I ff.) as Bhava, Śarva, Paśupati, Ugradeva, Mahādeva, Rudra, Īśāna, and Aśani; although here the origin of the being thus named is traced to the joint action of Agni, Vāyu, Āditya, Candramas (the moon), and Uṣas in the form of an Apsaras. Yet another account tells of the origin of Rudra from the deity Manyu ("Wrath"), who alone remained in Prajāpati after all the other gods left him when he was dissolved by the effort of creation. This fact explains why Rudra is so savage and requires to be appeased. He is the cruel one of the gods, and he is the boar, because the boar is wrath.
There are many other traces of the dread nature of the god. Thus in the ritual Rudra is so far identified with the Rakṣases, Asuras, and fathers that after uttering his name a man must touch the purifying waters; but, on the other hand, he is distinguished from them by the fact that his region is the north, not the south, and that the call used in his service is the svāhā, which is normal for the gods. While Nābhānediṣṭha, the son of Manu, was absent from home as a student, his brothers deprived him of any share in the paternal estate which they enjoyed during the lifetime of their father. When he complained of this to his parent, he was told to go to the Aṅgirases, who were sacrificing with the object of obtaining heaven, and to make good his loss by gaining from them a boon for teaching them the proper recitation on the sixth day. He did so, but, when he was taking possession of the thousand cattle which the Aṅgirases gave as the reward, a man in black raiment (Rudra) claimed the prize to be his own, declaring that whatever
