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Gods of India
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Balarama |
Krishna and
Balarama, the two brothers were the sons of Vishnu and are
sometimes regarded as his joint incarnations. Balarama is
normally shown with two hands holding a club (gada) and
plough. According to the Vishnu Purana, Vishnu took two of his
haris, one black and the other white, and implanted them in
Devaki’s womb. Shortly before their birth, they were
miraculously transferred to Rohini’s womb in order to prevent
them from being killed by the king Kansa. After they were
born, it was noticed that the complexion of Krishna was dark
and Balarama was light. They grew up together but Balarama
never became as popular as Krishna. Both brothers seem to have
been the most human of all the incarnations. One day, Balarama
ordered the river Yamuna to move closer to him so that it
would be more convenient for him to bathe, and when it said
no, then he threatened him with his plough.
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Brahma |
The Lord Brahma
has four faces, though only three can be seen. He has matted
hair, wears a pointed beard and the eyes are usually closed in
meditation. He has four hands which may hold a variety of
objects such as a rosary, water-pot, book, scepter, spoon, bow
or lotus, sometimes two of his hands may be in a boon-giving
and protective attitudes. The rosary represents time. The
whole universe evolves out of water, therefore Brahma carries
water in the water-pot. He wear a tiger skin or the skin of a
black antelope as a garment and the sacred cord over his left
shoulder. He is sometimes shown riding the goose, or sitting
in the lotus position in a chariot being pulled by seven
swans. The swan is his vehicle which is the symbol of
knowledge. In Hindu cosmology, the basic cycle of cosmos which
passes through all eternity, is the Kalpa or the Day of
Brahma, equivalent to 4320 million years. A night is of equal
length, and 360 days and nights of this duration form one year
of Brahma’s life. This is expected to last 100 years. In the
Rig Veda, the word Brahmin (or Brahma) was used to indicate
the mysterious power contained in sacred utterances. Later,
this was associated with the skill of the priest who spoke the
words and he was described as a Brahmin. In the Upanishads,
this power was regarded as universal and forms the elemental
matter from which everything including the gods themselves
originally emerged. Later, this supreme creative spirit became
fully personalized under the name of Brahma. Since this idea
is linked with the origin of the universe, it was inevitable
that Brahma should become associated with Hindu cosmogony.
Many legends grew in the later texts, surrounding the
connection with the origin and control of the universe. In one
of them, the supreme soul and self-existent lord created the
waters of the earth and deposited in them a seed which became
the golden egg, out of which he was born as Brahma. According
to other texts, he became a boar who raised the earth from the
primeval waters and thus created the world. He is described as
assuming the appearance of a fish or a tortoise at the
beginning of the ages. In much later developments of Hindu
mythology these aspects are attributed to Vishnu and Brahma
assumes a secondary role. His worship slowly declined and has
not been wide spread since the 6th century A.D. The images of
Brahma are still made. Many temples include them in their
scheme of sculptural decoration, although it is only in
extremely rare cases that he occupies the position of the main
icon. There are very few temples of Brahma in India. The
Brahma temple in Pushkar and Orissa are the famous temples of
Brahma in India. |
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Hanuman |
The
Hanuman, the monkey god, is a very popular deity and
is worshipped all over India, specially in villages.
His image is found in many forms, often with one head,
two arms and a long tail looped over his head. He has
a monkey’s face on a very well built and strong human
body. There are several other forms also where he has
ten arms and five heads which includes his own head,
heads of garuda (half man, half bird), boar, horse and
man-lion, which represents the five most important
avataras of Vishnu. Hanuman was an important character
in the Ramayana in which he is shown as the epitome of
devoted service and loyalty. His search for the Sita,
captured by Ravana, illustrated his superhuman powers
and zealous performance of the tasks assigned to him.
When he came to know that she was held captive in
Lanka, then he set Lanka on fire with his flaming tail
and returned to Rama and helped him in various ways to
besiege Lanka. He flyed twice to the Himalayas during
the war, and his wish to remain as Rama’s faithful
servant was granted. So, every Rama temple also has an
idol of Hunuman as a minor deity. His worship is
believed to destroy all evils. The Hanuman Jayanti
festival is celebrated in the month of March or April
as the birthday of Lord Hanuman all over the country.
People visit the temples where the idol is given a new
coat of vermilion mixed with clarified butter and then
richly decorated. Fasting is done and the Hanuman
Chalisa (hymns of Hanuman), Ramayana and Tales of
Hanuman’s love for Rama are also read. |
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Indra |
Indra is
the Vedic god of rain and thunder. He is also the king
of the gods. He has four hands. In one hand he holds a
thunderbolt, and in other hands he holds a
conch-shell, bow and arrows, a hook and net. He is
also shown as having two hands and eyes all over his
body, and is called the thousand eyed one. His vehicle
is the king of the elephants, Airavat, who is white in
colour and has four tusks. He is not directly
worshipped in temples, but he appears in the tales of
religious scriptures. His idol appears on the walls of
many Vishnu temples. Indra is also the guardian of the
East. In the earlier Vedic period Indra was very
powerful and was shown as the protector of cows,
priests and gods. There are more hymns in praise of
Indra than in praise of the other Vedic gods. He has a
beautiful consort, known as Indrani. In the post-Vedic
period and in the Puranas, Indra was shown as being
given a lower status in all respects. He was still the
king of the smaller gods, but was inferior to the holy
triad of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. At a later stage he
is described as the ruler of Swarga (heaven) where the
gods live. At this stage he is shown as having
developed human frailties. |
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Kamadeva |
Kamadeva,
the god of love, is very fair and handsome and the
best looking god. He carries a bow made of sugarcane
and strung with a line of humming bees. He shoots with
his bow the five flower-tipped shafts of desire. He is
accompanied by his wife Rati (passion) and his friend
Vasanta (spring), who selects the shaft to be used on
the victim. The vehicle of Kamadeva is the parrot. He
is generally described as the son of Lakshmi and
Vishnu, and is also said to be the son of Brahma. He
is surrounded by beautiful nymphs (Apsaras), and loves
to wander around specially in springs, loosing his
shafts indiscriminately, but with a preference for
innocent girls, married women and ascetic sages. One
day, Lord Shiva burned him to ashes as punishment for
disturbing his deep meditation, but Kamadeva’s shaft
had gone home and Shiva could not obtain peace until
he married Parvati. During this time, Kamadeva lay
dead and love disappeared from the earth. Later, Shiva
allowed him to born as the son of Krishna. The god of
desire thus became the son of the Krishna in the
pantheon associated with love. |
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Krishna |
The Lord
Krishna, the eighth incarnation of Lord Vishnu, is
considered as the most important incarnation. The Lord
Krishna is widely worshipped as the most recognizable
human form of the gods. He is usually shown in blue or
black skin color, having two hands and playing the
flute or holding a conch-shell or flute in his hand.
He also wears colourful garments and is richly
ornamented. By his side is his consort Radha and
usually some cows. The flute playing adds to the
pastoral character of many of his stories and the
effect it has on the gopikas provides a rich source of
speculation on its symbolism which is apparent in a
lot of poetry and in many dance forms. One of the
theories behind its blue color is that Vishnu, because
of his association with water, is depicted blue. So,
all his incarnations, including Krishna, are shown as
such. In Hinduism, persons who have depth of character
and the capacity to fight evil are depicted as blue
skinned. As per another theory Vishnu implanted
two hairs, one black and the other white in Devaki’s
womb (which miraculously got transferred to Rohini’s)
and as a result, from the black hair Krishna took
birth, with a dark skin, and from the white hair his
brother, Balarama. |
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In
paintings he is shown standing on one leg with
the other crossed in front, resting on its
toes. He is also shown as dancing with the cow
herds, girls (gopis), as a child eating butter, or as
Arjuna’s charioteer addressing him in the battlefield.
According to Hindu mythology, the Lord Vishnu
manifested himself as Krishna so as to kill the evil
king Kansa. The king had been forewarned that the
eighth child of Devaki would kill him, so he
prisoned Devaki and slaughtered her new born babies
one by one. The seventh child, Balarama was saved by
this kinsmen. When the eighth child was born, there
was a big storm; the doors burst open, the guards fell
asleep and Vasudeva (Krishna’s father) walked out of
the prison, take the baby Krishna with him to Yashoda
with whom he spent his childhood. The incarnation of
Vishnu has accumulated a great variety of myths.
Krishna showed all the aspects of human development
usually associated with childhood, adolescence and
adulthood. His advice on the battlefield of the
Mahabharata to Arjuna is one of the major sources of
guidance for the daily living for many Hindus today.
The Janamashtami festival is celebrated in the month
of August or September all over India as the birth of
Lord Krishna. On this day, the temples are decorated,
bells are rung, the conch-shell is blown and Sanskrit
hymns are sung in his praise. The majority of devotees
observe a fast for twenty-four hours which is broken
at midnight, the time when Lord Krishna was born. The
idol at that time is washed with milk and his name is
chanted 108 times. In most places and particularly in
Mathura and Vrindavan, tableaux (jhankis) depicting
episodes from Krishna’s life are shown.
Special sweets are prepared for this festival. |
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Kuber |
Kuber is
the god of wealth and also the treasurer of gods. His
white body is dwarfish. He has three legs and eight
teeth. He has two to four hands and carries a mace, a
purse containing money, vase, fruit and bowl in his
hands and two hands are in the boon giving and
protective models. His body is covered with jewels and
other ornaments. His vehicle is known as the Pushpak.
Kuber is not an important deity and his images are
very rarely seen, though he is frequently referred to
in the epics. He is also called the god of the Yakshas
(savage beings). His brother Ravana, by practicing
austerities, obtained from Shiva the boon of
invincibility and so was able to defeat Kuber and to
seize and retain Lanka and the chariot, Pushpak. As
Lanka could not be restored to Kuber, Vishwakarma, the
architect god, built him a palace on Mount Kailash. He
also has a beautiful garden called Chaitrarath on
Mount Mandara. Kuber’s domains are in the high
Himalayas, as he is the guardian of the North and the
mountains are also the repository of mineral wealth.
Kuber watches over the earth’s storehouse of gold,
silver, jewels, pearls and the nine nidhis, special
treasures. |
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Vishwakarma |
Vishwakarma is the divine architect of the whole
universe and is normally shown as white coloured. He
normally has four hands in which he carries a
water-pot, book and club. He may also hold craftsmen’s
tools in one of his hands or are placed near his seat.
He wears a crown, a necklace of gold and rings on his
wrists. All the flying chariots of the gods, their
weapons, etc. wear his creations. He built the city of
Lanka for Ravana, and Dwaraka, the city associated
with Krishna. It was he who revealed the science of
mechanics and architecture (Satapatya Veda). According
to Satpatha Brahmana, he performed a yagna in which he
offered all creatures including himself, as sacrifice,
to elucidate the cyclic process of destruction and
renewal of all cosmic life and matter. His daughter
Sanjana was married to Surya, the Sun god. Implements
of the trade such as lathe machines, chisels etc. are
worshipped when the Sun enters the Bhadrapada
constellation. Jaipur has an industrial area named
after him. |
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Yama |
Yama is
the messenger or god of death and the jungle of men.
He is represented as a green coloured man, clothed in
red garments and wearing a crown. He wears a flower on
his head. He carries a mace in one hand, and a noose
in the other for catching his victims. He is sometimes
shown having two to four arms. His vehicle is a black
buffalo. Yama was the twin brother of Yami, who later
became the river Yamuna. He was the first mortal to
die and having discovered the way to the other world.
He is also the guide for those who depart this world.
He has two ravenous dogs, each with four eyes and wide
nostrils. They guards and road to his abode and wander
among the men summoning them to their master. In the
Puranas, Yama is called the judge of men who, when
they die, are brought before him and Chitragupta (the
Record Keeper) with whom their actions have been
recorded. The virtuous are conveyed to heaven (Swarga)
and the wicked to hell (Naraka). After death the soul
takes four hours and forty minutes to reach Yama.
Therefore a dead body should not be cremated before
his time has elapsed. Brahma, after creating the
world, realized that a place for judgement and
punishment for the wicked is needed. He therefore
requested Vishwakarma, the architect god, to create
one. This legendary place created for Yama has a mild
and salubrious climate and there is no fear of enemies
or any affliction of mind or body. Each person is
rewarded according to his past deeds. To the virtuous
and to the sinner Yama appears in different forms. To
the virtuous he appears like Vishnu, with a charming,
smiling face and lotus-like eyes. To the wicked he
appears to have limbs ‘three hundred leagues’ long,
hair like gigantic reeds and eyes like deep wells.
Yama is also the guardian of the South. |
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