Oesho
Bactrian · deity · primordial · Recorded classification
Oesho is named on Kushan coins and associated with Shiva-like imagery. Iranian linguistic interpretation connects his name with Vayu; the Met catalogues a Bactrian votive panel as Shiva/Oesho. These strands of evidence do not establish a single uncontested identity.
Names and tradition associations
- Shiva William W. Malandra, VĀYU, opening discussion of OEŠO and Iranian etymology (2014/2015) (secondary); Metropolitan Museum of Art, object 2000.42.4, Panel fragment with the god Shiva/Oesho, Bactria, ca. third century CE (secondary)
Variant accounts
- Museum identificationThe Met identifies a Bactrian panel of about the third century as Shiva/Oesho: three heads, four arms, third eye, animal skin and trident. Its proposed shrine use is tentative; the depiction supplies no genealogy.Metropolitan Museum of Art, object 2000.42.4, Panel fragment with the god Shiva/Oesho, curatorial description (museum)
Domains
- wind
- destruction and renewal
- ascetic power
- cattle
Relations
- disputed identification: ShivaKushan imagery is identified with Shiva, while Malandra derives the name Oesho from Iranian Vayu. The relation records an interpretive question, not an unqualified identity or shared genealogy.William W. Malandra, VĀYU, opening discussion of OEŠO and Iranian etymology (2014/2015) (secondary); Metropolitan Museum of Art, object 2000.42.4, Panel fragment with the god Shiva/Oesho, Bactria, ca. third century CE (secondary)
Sources
- existence: Coins of Kanishka I, Huvishka and Vasudeva I, reverse legend ΟΗϷΟ; Rosenfield (1967) (numismatic)
- Oesho is named on Kushan coins and associated with Shiva-like imagery. Iranian linguistic interpretation connects his name with Vayu; the Met catalogues a Bactrian votive panel as Shiva/Oesho. These strands of evidence do not establish a single uncontested identity.: William W. Malandra, VĀYU, opening discussion of OEŠO and Iranian etymology (2014/2015) (secondary); Metropolitan Museum of Art, object 2000.42.4, Panel fragment with the god Shiva/Oesho, Bactria, ca. third century CE (secondary)