A quiet notice V2Melody closes at midnight on , Spanish time.

Closes

A note from Richard

V2Melody will close at midnight on 20 January 2028

This site has been a retirement project in musical poetry: poems chosen with care and set to music, offered freely for as long as it felt right to keep the garden open.

The work no longer holds the place it once did in my life. I have gone as far with it as I wish to go. Like a sand mandala, it was made to be completed and then released. I am not attached to its permanence, and I do not believe any of it needs to last beyond the time it was given. The poems were already here before I arrived and began to experiment with them. They will still be here when these musical experiments, and indeed myself, have been swept away, like the sand of a mandala. Nothing has been lost.

I want a simpler end to my life, days of simple love and enjoyment with my wonderful wife of 20 years. The work of maintaining a server, the monitoring, and the residual obligations that come with keeping a site alive no longer fit that life.

From 4 November 2026 I will not be adding new poems or musical poems to the site.

The experimental music I am making now is on my Suno profile. Those pieces stay there, and are not added to this site.

Until midnight on 20 January 2028, Spanish time, everything remains available exactly as it is. That is when my VPS server contract comes to an end, and it will not be renewed. After that, the server will be switched off and the site will disappear.

The Mandala Is Finished explains this more fully.

Thank you to anyone who found a poem, a track, or a quiet moment here.

The pleasure was in the making.

Richard

Home › Glossary › Letter R

Rudra

World Religion
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

An early Vedic deity associated with storms, wind, and healing, later identified with Shiva as a fierce and compassionate god.

Detailed Definition
Rudra appears in the Rigveda as a complex figure—terrifying yet benevolent, destroyer of disease yet bringer of storms. His name means “the howler” or “roarer,” reflecting his wild, untamed nature. Over time, Rudra’s attributes merged with those of Shiva, forming the composite deity worshipped in later Hinduism. In poetry, Rudra evokes awe and reverence for the raw, unpredictable power of nature and the divine. Hymns like the Shri Rudram praise him as both fearsome and merciful, capable of granting longevity and spiritual insight. Poets use his imagery to explore the duality of divine wrath and grace, and the necessity of confronting chaos to attain peace.
Example
Example in poetry:
In a Vedic hymn, Rudra is “the howler whose arrows bring disease—and healing”; A modern verse: “Rudra is the storm that destroys crops—but clears air for new growth”; A minimalist reflection: “Rudra: fierce grace”; A diasporic lyric: “Shiva’s Rudra form reminds me: destruction is sometimes mercy.”
Additional Notes
Rudra is a complex Vedic deity, a god of storms, wind, and hunt, often feared and associated with wild nature and disease. He is also a healer ("The Roarer"). In the post-Vedic period, Rudra's fierce and compassionate aspects were synthesized into the deity Shiva, the ascetic lord of destruction and transformation. The Shiva Sahasranama (thousand names of Shiva) includes Rudra, showing this theological evolution.
Also Known As
Shiva The Howler
Skip to main content