Siva is one of the three great gods of Hinduism. In English today the same name is more often written Shiva — same god, different spelling. In the old picture of the universe, one god makes the world, one keeps it going, and Siva brings things to an end. Hindu teachers are careful here: ending things is not only death. Siva clears away what is finished so that new things can begin, which is why people call him both the Destroyer and the Creator. Statues often show a third eye on his forehead, a three-pointed spear, a snake, and sometimes a dance inside a ring of fire. In India he is loved as well as feared; families pray to him, and a great night festival marks the year. In English this is a proper name, always with a capital letter. You will meet it in religion, art, and talk about India, not in everyday chat about objects. Some people are also named Shiva, but when English writes Siva in a dictionary it almost always means the god.