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Here we see how an evil and disreputable god, the patron of low castes and violent occupations, becomes associated with the uncanny forces of nature and is on the way to become an All-God. Rudra is frequently mentioned in the Atharva Veda. He is conceived much as in the Śatarudrîya, and is the lord of spirits and of animals.
Thou art He in honour of whom the butter is poured, thou art the butter itself that is poured, and thou art the puissant Lord of all. Thou art those sections of the Brahmans that are called Trisuparna, thou art all the Vedas; and thou art the sections called Satarudriya in the Yajuses. Thou art the holiest of holies, and the auspicious of all auspicious things. Thou animatest the inanimate body.
We only know that in later ages emotional religion, finding expression as so-called devil-dancing in its lower and as mystical poetry in its higher phases, was prevalent among them. The White Yajur Veda contains a celebrated prayer known as the Śatarudrîya addressed to Rudra or the Rudras, for the power invoked seems to be now many and now one.
Bhakti is often associated with the doctrine of the playfulness of God. This idea so strange to Europe may have its roots partly in the odd non-moral attributes of some early deities. Thus the Rudra of the Śatarudrîya hymn is a queer character and a trickster.
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