Introduction
Ritadhvaja, "he whose banner is truth or cosmic order", is one of the eleven Rudras, a group of deities who are aspects or manifestations of Shiva in the Puranic tradition.
The eleven Rudras (Ekadasha Rudras) are a group of deities who are aspects or manifestations of Shiva. The idea goes back to the Vedic Rudra and the Maruts, who are sometimes called the sons of Rudra. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (3.9.4) says that the eleven Rudras are the ten vital breaths and the mind, and are called Rudras because when they leave the body at death, they make people weep (the verb rud, "to weep"). In the Puranas, the eleven Rudras are sons of Kashyapa and Surabhi, or of Kashyapa and Aditi, or manifestations of Shiva. The lists of the eleven names differ between the Mahabharata, the Harivamsha and the Puranas. This article follows one Puranic list: Ajaikapada, Ahirbudhnya, Pinakin, Ritadhvaja, Tryambaka, Maheshvara, Vrishakapi, Shambhu, Hara, Ishvara and Kapardin.
The Rudras are worshipped together in the Ekadasha Rudra rites, in which the Rudram hymn is recited eleven times over an abhisheka of Shiva. A tradition regards Hanuman as the eleventh Rudra, an incarnation of Shiva.
Name and early references
The name Ritadhvaja is a compound of rita, the Vedic word for cosmic order and truth, and dhvaja, "banner" or "flag". It means "he whose banner is truth". The name is also used for a king in the Puranas, and for other figures.
In the Puranic tradition
There are few stories about Ritadhvaja as a Rudra, and he is known mostly as a name in the lists of the eleven Rudras. The lists of Rudras in the Mahabharata and the Puranas differ, and Ritadhvaja does not appear in all of them.