Vishnu and his Avatars / Krishna Avatar

Krishna is the god supposed to be the most popular in contemporary Hinduism. He is certainly the best known abroad because of the Krishna Consciousness movement, better known as the Hare Krishnas. But Krishna is not any one god we are talking about. Like the Hinduism that spawned him, Krishna is an umbrella term of reference for a multitude of gods all going under the same name. There are many Krishnas, and all of them together add up to a very confusing package indeed. People may think that they are talking about the same Krishna, but the subject matter is so various and so contradictory that no consensus is possible. That would have delighted Krishna by the way, the Classic Trickster God, and famed for being naughtily ambiguous in all that he said and did. No other form of godhood in India has evoked so much adoration and so much condemnation, sometimes simultaneously. Krishna is therefore not so much a god as an ongoing mythical, social, cultural and psychological phenomenon in the Life of India.

To begin with is the name. Even many devout Hindus are unaware that his name literally means 'Black'. His name describes the hue of his skin, dark as the night, and a perpetual embarrassment and discomfort for an India obsessed with fair skin. It is a curious phenomenon that Ancient India had no trouble with the concept that a black man may have been the supremely handsome male of all time, but from medieval times onwards the whitewashing, in some cases as in murals literally, began. His skin is described as deep blue, is explained as the result of a venomous snakebite with the poison flooding his system and turning the skin the characteristic blue. In the many movies and mythological serials made about him, they do not even bother with such rationalizations, they cast a fair skinned actor and that is that. The ability of the Trickster to get under the skin and disturb the comfortable assumptions of people is never clearer than in India's many delusional measures to escape from the reality of the name Krishna, which means 'Black'.

But who this Black One may have been, is a matter of even greater confusion. The earliest reference we have to him is in the Chandayoga Upanishad, where Krishna, son of Devaki, as our hero is, is described as a great scholar. It is curious to note that the first reference we ever have of this god refers to his intellectual accomplishments and not, as is usual, to his saving powers of strength. Most scholars are agreed that Krishna in his present form was not a Vedic hero but an amalgamation of local culture heroes with the great character of that name in the epic, the Mahabharatha. He seems to be an impossible mix of defender of the myth of pastoral, an agriculturist strongman, an urbane intellectual and prime hero of the martial races. Was he a local god who was too strong to be ignored and assimilated in Hinduism's famous 'include and transcend' maneuver? Was he a great warrior prince promoted to deific status over the ages? Was he a great religious reformer and unifier, pointing the way forward and revitalizing a faith that was already showing signs of decrepitude? Was he a primal nature god, cheerfully contemptuous of the norms of so-called civilized society, indulging in bacchanalian ascents to the divine energy in all of us? Was he a great proponent of love being sufficient, and caste and theology could fall by the wayside. Was he an advocate of realpolitik and necessary Machiavellian ruthlessness? Was he an adorable Puer Aeternus, Eternal Youth god, for whom all of the above would have been beside the point? It is gratifying to be able to give a categorical answer.
We don't know.

Krishna is Krishna - all of these and none of them.

It must be understood that the myths and stories about Krishna are a work in progress; they are being constantly added to, even down to this very day. Research is constantly throwing up new twists to this never-ending tale from the various regions of the country. It's to be noted that the intellectual and heroic scale of Krishna was first delineated in the Mahabharatha and that has remained practically unaltered in essentials in future versions. What grew to gigantic proportion are the tales dealing with his childhood and his many amours, apart from a host of sundry battles that he, as an avatar of Vishnu is mandatorily obligated to fight. As the stature of Krishna grew, he is even supposed to have fought and defeated Shiva, whereas in earlier tales he is, like all other avatars of Vishnu, a devotee of Shiva. Krishna is also celebrated in dance and music to a scale unprecedented for any other form of divinity in the world. The story line of Krishna as it is accepted today is somewhat like this. He was born to a nobleman in the city of Mathura. His uncle, cousin to his mother Devaki, was the great and evil Kansa who had deposed the king Ugrasena, his father, out of his eagerness to enjoy the throne. (In retrospect let it be said that Kansa may have had a case. Krishna died at the age of 116 and Ugrasena was still alive then and still ruling over the throne Krishna had restored him to!) Krishna's father was named Vasudeva and except for a famous exploit in spiriting his newly born son out of their prison he was not particularly notable. For Kansa had put his sister and her husband under house arrest, terrified by an oracle that proclaimed she would bear his destroyer. In spite of his appalling cruelty, slaughtering all the babies born to them, the Destined Slayer manages to be saved and is brought up in the village of Gokula by Nanda and Yashoda, the most famous foster parents in Indian history. Vasudeva's other wife used to live in Gokula too and she had an older boy called Balarama, who grew to be Krishna's closest friend. Of course, in course of time the secret was out but they had become as close as brothers anyway.

This spiriting away of the savoir who would overthrow the tyrant has many parallels with Jesus's story and then Kansa does a Herod in sending out a demon slayer of babies named Putana. Krishna performs his first miraculous act when he suckles the evil female and literally sucks her life out. By then she had managed a one-person version of the slaughter of the innocents on her own. The many miracles that Krishna performed in childhood are impossible to recount here. With each act of valor, Kansa's despair grew and he tried wilder and wilder schemes to kill this strange boy. At the age of twelve, Krishna had enough of this constant persecution and he traveled boldly into Mathura where he performed feats of strength and then fell upon his evil uncle and beat him to death with an elephant tusk.

Vishnu and his Avatars / Buddha Avatar

It is well known that the Buddha is one of the avatars of Vishnu. What is not so well known is that this avatar is not about the historical personage known to the Buddhist faith. This is something else altogether, a peculiar attempt at cooption which took the form of a badly designed myth. Buddhism was driven out of the land of its birth and rendered almost extinct there too, but the sheer greatness of the Buddha required a cultural adjustment, if not downright assimilation. It was an intolerable humiliation if such greatness was not somehow part of the Great Tradition and remained forever as a powerful heresy that actually reduced the mother faith to a minority status for a while. The inclusion of the Buddha in the avatar cycle was a somewhat confused attempt to include aspects of spirituality that had seemed to have had bypassed the Hindu Weltanschauung.

The avatar story as it exists in the texts is unique in that it is not a grand narrative as are the other avatar stories. There is more than a modicum of sheer embarrassment at the nature of this engulfing invented narrative. The Bhagvata Purana, for instance, has only four paragraphs devoted to the most important avatar ever known to India after Krishna. It is not even a myth, for the nature of a myth is that it is rarely real but always true. This is an afterthought, an alternative explanation for a faith that swept the land and was reabsorbed only by integrating all its features to the extent that the man who contributed the most to the process of re-establishing the intellectual dominance and popularity of Hinduism, Adi Shankara, was called a hidden Budhhist. The Buddha was too important, too influential and too obviously a genuine spiritual giant to be disregarded - once the faith itself was rendered sterile. Only by making Buddha an avatar of Vishnu could any backsliding be prevented.

The stories about Buddha are simple and also, alas, somewhat insulting, reflecting as they do the medieval degeneracy of intellect in India that could not rise above such productions. The core narrative usually goes something like this. Danavas and daityas, demon enemies of the gods, had gained supremacy over the sacred cities of the earth through their exemplary moral conduct and control of the fire sacrifices. (Moral conduct is following the rules of theology, not genuine goodness, which explains why the demons often had an advantage.) To win back the supremacy of the gods, Vishnu incarnates on earth as the Buddha and preaches a doctrine that there is no soul, fire sacrifices and other sacred rituals are useless, the Vedas just priestly scribbling, the caste system a useless contrivance, while the body is supreme and should be indulged as there is no life after death. Convinced by these pleasurable doctrines, the demons sin often and mightily, fall from grace, and the old religion was reinstated with relief by a people who were ostensibly yearning for it all the while. In some other versions, notably the Skanda Purana, Vishnu resorts to this trickery to get back the sacred city of Kashi for Shiva, who had been driven from it by the unbearable power of austerities practiced by the King Divodasa.

In yet another version in the Shiva Purana, the Buddha is an incarnation of the sage Gautama. This worthy was too saintly and great for his jealous Brahmin neighbors to bear with equanimity and they conspired to drive him away on a false charge of cow slaughter. The angry Gautama retaliated by propagating a faith that smashed Brahmanical privileges and reduced their social influence drastically. This is an attempt to explain away the phenomenon that was the Buddha, by playing with the similarity in names, for the Buddha's original name was Siddhartha Gautama. It also grimly concedes a ressal fallout of the Buddhist faith, the Brahmins came very close indeed to being marginalized forever.

It is worth recording here that the Swami Vivekananda, who was indulgently tickled by all alternative versions of sacred stories in India, used to lose his temper when ever he considered what had been done to the Buddha's life -going so far as to say that the Hindus were the real demons for making up such scandalous tales about the greatest religious figure India had for many thousands of years. Such tales were Hinduism's backhanded compliment to the greatest man to ever arise from within its body and offer a credible challenge with an alternative viewpoint of spirituality. The Buddha remained an inexplicable, perpetually threatening counterpoint to the Great Tradition until he was covered over by the obscuring mass of the mythology of Vishnu. Most Hindus today are innocently unaware of these developments and really believe, in total sincerity, that the Tathagatha of the Sangha is identical to the avatar of Vishnu.

Vishnu and his Avatars / Kalki Avatar

The Kalki Avatar is the only avatar of Vishnu that is set in the future. It is an episode of speculative prediction more than anything else, a validation of the ancient belief of mankind that things are going to the dogs! The Kalki avatar is supposed to do all the typical things an avatar does - beat up the bad guys, restore cosmic balance and so on. There are however no adventure stories to relate about him, his freedom of action is unrestricted even if his mission is not.

The Kalki Avatar is a consequence of a belief that mankind is going from bad to worse in this most degenerate of Yugas called the Kali Yuga or Dark Iron Age. This is not a particularly original belief, ancient Greece having the identical classification. Many other cultures have minor variations on these four ages of human mythical history. The Kali Yuga is going forward at full throttle now but this apparently is not as bad as it gets. It is going to get much worse before it is all over. Kalki is the means of this cosmic clean up act.

All we know is that when mankind finally hits its nadir, Kalki will be born in the southern State of Andhra Pradesh to pious brahman parents. His heroic destiny will soon manifest itself and he will mount a white horse, brandish a flaming sword and wipe out the bad guys and restore dharma. That is the agenda as set down in the Vishnu Purana.Many people have noticed the similarity between Kalki and the horseman of the Apocalypse, but no sensible conclusion about it has yet been arrived at. That is the extent of the data we have on this avatar. He will be identified by two of the Nine Immortals currently residing on the planet. They are characters from the Mahabharatha, Kripyacharya and Ashwatthama. The latter was cursed by the Krishna Avatar to suffer immortality with an ever festering wound as punishment for launching what seems to be only understandable as a primitive nuclear device. (I kid you not. There is even a description of radiation sickness and genetic mutations amongst the survivors.) Like the Wandering Jew of European myth he is doomed to stay alive and traverse the earth until the savior returns and puts him out of his agony. Ashwatthama's life covers the exact time span of the Kali Yuga. He was there when it began and contributed the single most horrifying intervention of evil to the age. First he broke the rules of chivalry by attacking at night while people were sleeping and using fire too. Then he launches this missile strike. Hence the severity of his punishment and the long wait for redemption. Since Ashwatthama was the last person to see Vishnu in his previous avatar, his casting vote will prove crucial in determining the authenticity of the Kalki Avatar.
The Kalki Avatar is essentially a rare sort of myth, a myth of dissolution and apocalypse. Its descriptions of the last stages of the Kali Yuga are eerie to say the least. Like Mother Shipton and other prophets, the writer foresees airplanes and space travel and submarines and battles with modern equipment. It is a standing embarrassment for rationalists and they ignore it altogether. However none of these things are put forward as improvements or as progress. They serve to illustrate the essential degenerative aspect of the Kali Yuga. This theory of Yugas has made the Hindu the most cheerful pessimist in all human history.He confidently expects, as a natural law, that things will go from bad to worse as time goes by and is immensely happy when his belief is almost certainly vindicated by events. The Hindu therefore has a cultural bias to tolerance of trouble. That is, after all, the way things are meant to be in the Kali Yuga.

Amongst the many predictions made are that rulers will lose all ethical character, their rule will be short-lived and full of conflict, they will be insatiably greedy and not care about the people and launch unnecessary wars. The legal process will become another name for lying your head off. Welcome to the twentieth century! It's no wonder the Kalki myth took such deep root. There is no temple to Kalki and no ritual of worship either. Hindus worship the past not the future, and this is a telling indication of that. The caste system is predicted to break down, character and learning degraded, with one's bank balance the only measure of worth. Sacred places are places with mineral deposits, (I particularly like this one) not spiritual sites, and all morality goes to the dogs. Sexual license is unbridled, people get every known and unknown disease, wars wipe out most of the human race and the survivors are a stunted brutish race that wear skin and bark and live to a maximum age of twenty three. Kalki comes riding on his white horse to set this mess in order.

A positive aspect of this cheerful acceptance of things going to the dogs, always a matter of perspective, is that many social reforms take place with minimal upheaval. In other countries a revolution would be required for these things, but in India, the swift collapse of centuries old traditional norms and social institutions are placidly accepted as "Kali Yuga." Thus there was no violent opposition, though there remains deep resentment, to reservations being made for what were the lower castes, people who were not even a blimp on the radar screens of Old India. India conceded the vote and higher university education to women before the USA and many European countries did. This is Kali Yuga and such things are normal and acceptable - even if regrettable! When Indira Gandhi became the first female Prime Minister of free India there was almost relief at this accurate enactment of one of the most famous predictions of the Vishnu Purana, that women would rule! That she was of impeccable Brahmin lineage helped; it saved many traditionalists some extra days of glumness. While tradition may have been in ruins, the predictions made by that tradition were seen to be triumphantly vindicated, and there was some gloomy elation over this. The other predictions that women would invade male domains, wear male clothes and demand sexual independence are all also more or less coming true, to the cheerful distress of many. The Vishnu Purana is at least one thousand five hundred years old and these things were more remote a possibility than reaching the moon then.

One very strange aspect of the Kalki myth is that it has never triggered off any end of the world hysteria. One of the problems with avatar theory is that man loses all personal initiative to do anything, for action is Vishnu's department! The upside to that is that the Hindu is immune, usually but not always, to all the-end-is-nigh scares. The world cannot end without Kalki turning up, so there is nothing to worry about. There is actually a god-man who calls himself Kalki but he does not preach any imminent end of creation either. He wears an Old Testament robe and an Egyptian cloth cap on his head and is usually photographed in Zarathusthra attitudes - none of which are very Hindu to begin with. When somebody tried to sell me on the 'fact' that this was indeed the long awaited Kalki, I wanted to meet Ashwatthama. That guy has been around for nine thousand years and he would have been immensely more fascinating to talk to. That was the end of that. India meanwhile awaits Kalki with the sublime confidence that guaranteed disaster generates.

Vishnu and his Avatars / Mohini Avatar

Of all the twenty-two avatars of Vishnu listed by the Bhagvatam, surely none is as delightful as the Mohini Avatar. It is not even classified as an avatar usually, as the technical specifications of an avatar require it to be a descent of the Vishnu energy onto the earthly or Creation plane, to perform a particular task or series of tasks and then merge back into the primal Vishnu who is every where as his name itself, Vishnu, 'He-who-pervades', indicates. The avatar is thus a local specialized concentrated energy manifestation of a divine energy that is everywhere in the universe, engaged in sustaining it. Mohini however seems to be outside this rule though her manifestations are always concerned with matters of Cosmic Gravity that require Vishnu's intervention.

Mohini is regarded as coexisting with Vishnu, she is one of his polymorphous analogues. She is not, strictly speaking, an incarnation but a form that Vishnu assumes at will. This is a vital difference but then that assumed form does everything the avatar does anyway, so the distinction is moot. Mohini is not exactly Vishnu's Maya either (see our glossary for details on the Maya concept) though she certainly makes the fullest use of it. Mohini has been called the Enchantress, but she does not enchant the mind so much as drive it bereft of reason by infusing every particle of it with desire - for her! Mohini is supernaturally beautiful, beautiful in a manner a woman never can be, for they have to be real, but she is a facsimile of the Creative Feminine and can be starkly, cruelly flawless. In the dramatic tradition of Japan, for a long time the hero would be played by a female actor as only she could convey the abstract essence of male heroism, any male attempt being invariably and inevitably flawed by the common clay of being a man. Mohini is the reverse of that principle, a fantastic version of femininity, her attraction being precisely that she is not a woman; she seems to be, and in reality is, a woman like no other. Trying to possess this impossibly beguiling 'woman' is what drives men mad.

It must be noted here that Vishnu is the archetypal Trickster god of mythology and nothing would appeal to his humor more than to be a woman who drives reason out of the mind. Moha, the quality of desire after which Mohini has been named, always has as an unexpressed component the loss of all ratiocinative facility. It is an abdication of the human dignity, a turning away from being Manava, Human, itself a word derived from Manas, the mind, and indicative of man's unique position as a self-aware biological being. Mohini, by causing Moha, causes man to forsake that particular dignity, and it is always a choice of free will operating here. The turning away from the operative consciousness to mere desire for sexual gratification has always excited the peculiar contempt of the Hindus and Mohini is thus the worst punishment that can be visited upon evil.

It is a Titanic energy however, something primal and ancient, lurking in the seedbeds of galactic creation, ready to erupt forth just when one feels most smug and complacent about the many virtues one possesses. It is not merely sexual in context or scope, though that is the most obvious manifestation of it. Mohini is Yin to Vishnu's Yang, he would not be able to uphold and protect and preserve Creation if he did not have this terrible force for dissolution under his control as part of his nature. Vishnu can maintain order precisely because he knows how to disrupt it - instantly, any time, and as an integral part of himself. However, it is recognized as being dangerous, which is why there is no temple or even any worship of the Mohini aspect of Vishnu. The dangers of adoration sliding into lust are too strong, especially when Sanskrit devotional poetry was so erotically charged to begin with. Mohini is a dissolutive force, not a preservative one (preserving through dissolution, a typical trickster concept) and hence not a fit object of worship, though there is awed respect in the concept itself and is one of the unique contributions of Hindu mythology to the pantheons of the world. There is also hardly any artistic representation of Mohini available anywhere, except for the great and gorgeous murals of Kerala palaces and temples. The normal artist did not have the hardihood to attempt a representation of this elemental force.
In the June of 2004 I came to know that, contrary to expectation and common perception, there is indeed a temple to Mohini in India in the state of Andhra Pradesh. It is at Ryali, a small township 30 kms near the city of Rajahmundry. The five foot tall black stone image of Jagan Mohini - the enchantress of the world - is actually the rear side of a Vishnu image in his form as Keshava, protector of the universe. To emphasize the link with Mohini and the Coorma Avatar, Vishnu has been depicted holding the Mandhara mountain instead of the usual lotus in one of his left hands. [See Coorma avatar for details.] There is a sculpture of the river goddess Ganga, at Vishnu's feet which perpetually drips holy water. The Jagan Mohini sculpture is not particularly extraordinary except in that it exists in the first place! Nevertheless, the fact that it is part of a dual image instead of standing alone reinforces the instinctive wariness about Mohini worship.

The first appearance of Mohini is during the great myth of the Churning of the Cosmic Ocean. (For details see the Coorma Avatar article.) The demon horde got hold of the Nectar of Immortality obtained in cooperative effort with the gods and they were refusing to share it. A fight would have meant serious casualties and an explosive stalemate was broken only by the appearance of this ravishing creature. She offered to arbitrate, and in the grand tradition of all Tricksters proceeded to rob the trustful demons (trustful because lustful) blind. She doled out the nectar to the gods first, making sure that not a drop was left by the time she came to the demons. They were held in thrall by her personality as well as the hope that if they behaved she would share her favors with one of them and the others could go hang. Nothing is ever promised, but the appearance of Mohini always induces such erroneous assumptions. The poor demons got massacred because they had abdicated their reason.

Next, Mohini appears to save the great god Shiva. That worthy, named the Simpleton God by his frustrated admirers, had just granted a demon coming out of horrendous penances to please him, the ability to turn anything he touched into ashes. This got him the epithet of Bhasmasura, the Ash-demon, and matters would have gone well if the demon had not decided to test the efficacy of his world conquering boon on Shiva first. One cannot slay somebody one has just granted a boon to, it is not correct protocol, so Shiva had to choose the better part of valor and take to this heels, chased by the demon through all the quarters of the universe. This impossible situation could not be resolved by anybody, for nobody dared to come near the Ash-demon. Nobody except Mohini. Upon seeing her, Bhasmasura forgot his conflagration experiments and instantly wanted to marry her. She answered that she was under a vow that she would marry only the man who could match her in a dance competition. It says much for the general levels of culture prevalent that the demon was a great dancer too, as befits a devotee of Shiva Nataraja, the Lord of the Dance, and felt confident of holding his own. The great competition began and the infatuated demon gave a very credible account of himself until the ruthless humor of the Trickster came into play. Mohini began to dance with various Mudras, positions of the hands, which required her to frequently touch her head. The poor asura, under the control of moha, did not realize what he was doing and reduced himself to an ash heap.

This myth has a very delightful sequel. One of the great classical dance forms of Kerala is called Mohiniattam, the dance of Mohini, though literally it means the Sway of Mohini, and the pun works exactly the same in the original Malayalam. It is danced only by women, odd in a culture that used to have only men play female characters in its other great dance form, Kathakali. This is pure shringara however, the erotic element alone, and the psychic risks for men to dance that particular aspect of feminity were correctly recognized as being too great and better left alone. The dance is exceedingly beautiful, and after a while you realize that there is nothing there a man can really access, except as a spectator, held in the grip of the creative feminine spiral, which, by no accident, is the commonest motion in the dance form.

Kerala mythology also provided the last great public appearance of Mohini, when she joined hands with Shiva to give birth to Ayyapan, Kerala's guardian god and the strongest in the Hindu pantheon. (For details see our Ayyapan article in Gods.) Shiva had his doubts initially whether this would work, as he was a yogi and self-controlled, as well as being committed to his wife Parvati. When the Mohini form was before him however, the myths are very clear that he was bedazzled instantly. There are many wall paintings in Kerala, charged with erotic intensity, that depict this moment. Parvati is gazing upon the amorous Shiva and Mohini, hot with jealous anger, yet she is also accepting of the situation, as there is really nothing else to be done. As to the questions they raise about gender identities and sexual orientations, the pious Indian response has always been to state these things blandly and never think about them.

It is also worth noting that the 'Dark side' of the dark blue skinned Vishnu is a white and dazzlingly beautiful woman form! This is one Shadow that functions only in the open and in the light, a pretty remarkable concept. But when you are Vishnu the Trickster, what else would your Shadow be? It is also worth noting that this form is not assumed cavalierly, it is brought in only at supreme crises in the Cosmos, the consequences of letting Mohini loose are far worse than the usual angry god rampage category so familiar to Hindu myth. What is frightening here is that Mohini is mockingly, laughingly, in control and all everybody else goes out of their minds. She had to be pulled out to overcome the great Yogic control of Shiva - that is how potent this avatar of Vishnu is, and gives a measure of its strength. That is another reason Mohini is not worshipped and never will be. Some things are merely to be respected, not adored, and never interacted with. The lesson Mohini teaches is that of the drastic and dramatic consequences of losing one's conscious awareness. It is enough that it be understood and acted upon, there is only danger in worshipping it. Some lessons are needed but in minuscule doses. Vishnu the Preserver took good care to ensure this avatar would never gain any popularity.

Gods and Goddesses of Ancient India

Hindu Dieties

Within Smarta Hinduism, a variety of forms of God are seen as aspects of the one impersonal divine ground, Brahman (not Brahma). Brahman is seen as the universal spirit. Brahman is the ultimate, both transcendent and immanent the absolute infinite existence, the sum total of all that ever is, was, or ever shall be.Brahman is not a God in the monotheistic sense, as it is not imbued with any limiting characteristics, not even those of being and non-being, and this is reflected in the fact that in Sanskrit, the word Brahman is of neuter (as opposed to masculine or feminine) gender.

Vedanta is a branch of Hindu philosophy which gives this matter a greater focus. Yoga is the primary focus in many ways of a Hindu's religious activities, being somewhere between meditation, prayer and healthful exercise.

Some of Hinduism's adherents are Smarta monists, seeing multiple manifestations of the one God or source of being, which is often confused by non-Hindus as being polytheist. It is however properly seen as one unity, with the personal gods being different aspects of one Supreme Being, like a single beam of light separated into colours by a prism, and are valid to worship.

Swami Vivekananda, a follower of Ramakrishna, along with many others, who brought Hindu beliefs to the West, were all Smarta in belief. Other denominations of Hinduism, as described later, don't hold this belief strictly and more closely adhere to a Western perception of what a monotheistic faith is. Additionally, like Judaeo-Christian-Islamic religions which believe in angels, Hindus also believe in less powerful entities, such as devas.

Trimurti

In Hinduism, the Trimurti (also called the Hindu trinity) are three aspects of God in His forms as Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

Brahma - Hindu creator god

Brahma is the Hindu god (deva) of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. He is not to be confused with the Supreme Cosmic Spirit in Hindu Vedanta philosophy known as Brahman. Also, in Sanskrit Grammer, Brahman is Nominative Singular of generic word Brahman, as Aatma is Nominative Singular for Aatman. Brahaman and Aatman are same in Vedanta Philosphy, the Para-Aatma (Supersoul) and Jeeva Aatma (Individual Soul) are Brahman. His consort is Saraswati, the goddess of learning. Brahma is often identified with Prajapati, a Vedic deity.

According to the Puranas, Brahma is self-born (without mother) in the lotus flower which grew from the navel of Vishnu at the beginning of the universe. This explains his name Nabhija (born from the navel). Another legend says that Brahma was born in water. In this he deposited a seed that later became the golden egg. From this golden egg, Brahma the creator was born, as Hiranyagarbha. The remaining materials of this golden egg expanded into the Brahmanda or Universe. Being born in water, Brahma is also called Kanja (born in water). Brahma is said also to be the son of the Supreme Being, Brahman and the female energy known as Prakrti or Maya.

At the beginning of the process of creation, Brahma created eleven Prajapatis (used in another sense), who are believed to be the fathers of the human race. The Manusmriti enumerates them as Marichi, Atri, Angirasa, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Vasishtha, Prachetas or Daksha, Bhrigu, and Narada. He is also said to have created the seven great sages or the Saptarishi to help him create the universe. However since all these sons of his were born out of his mind rather than body, they are called Manas Putras or mind-sons.

Within Vedic and Puranic scripture Brahma is described as only occasionally interfering in the affairs of the other devas (gods), and even more rarely in mortal affairs. He did force Soma to give Tara back to her husband, Brihaspati. He is considered the father of Dharma and Atri.

Vishnu - the Maintainer, Preserver

He is most famously identified with His avatars, or incarnations of God, most especially Krishna and Rama. Additionally, another important name for Vishnu is Narayana.

Shiva - the Destroyer

Shiva is considered to be the supreme deity in Shaivism, a denomination of Hinduism. Many Hindus such as those of Smarta tradition are free to accept various manifestations of the divine as their chosen deity for worship, and those who prefer Shiva are called Shaivas. Shaivism, along with Vaisnava traditions that focus on Vishnu, and Sakta traditions that focus on the Goddess (Devi) are three of the most influential denominations in Hinduism.

The worship of Shiva is a pan-Hindu tradition, practiced widely across all of India. Shiva is one of the five primary forms of the Divine in Smartism, a denomination of Hinduism that puts particular emphasis on five deities, the other four being Vishnu, Devi, Ganesha, and Surya. Another way of thinking about the divinities in Hinduism identifies Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva as each representing one of the three primary aspects of the Divine in Hinduism, known collectively as the Trimurti. In the Trimurti system, Brahma is the creator, Vishnu is the maintainer or preserver, and Shiva is the destroyer or transformer.

Attributes of Shiva

• Third Eye: Shiva is often depicted with a third eye with which he burned Desire (Kama) to ashes.
• Serpents: Shiva is often shown garlanded with a snake.
• Crescent: Shiva bears on his head the crescent of the fifth day (panchami) moon. This is placed near the fiery third eye and this shows the power of Soma, the sacrificial offering, which is the representative of moon. It means that Shiva possesses the power of procreation along with the power of destruction.The moon is also a measure of time; thus the Crescent also represents his control over time. Thus Shiva is known by the names of Somasundara and Chandrashekara.
• Sacred Ganga: Ganga, the holiest of the holy rivers, flows from the matted hair of Shiva. Shiva allowed an outlet to the great river to traverse the earth and bring purifying water to human beings. The flowing water is one of the five elements which compose the whole Universe and from which earth arises. Ganga also denotes fertility one of the creative aspect of Shiva.
• Drum: A small drum shaped like an hourglass is known as a "damaru". This is one of the attributes of Shiva in his famous dancing representation known as Nataraja. A specific hand gesture (mudra) called damaru-hasta (Sanskrit for "damaru-hand") is used to hold the drum. This drum is particularly used as an emblem by members of the Kapalika sect.
• Vibhuti: Vibhuti is three lines of ashes drawn on the forehead that represents the essence of our Being, which remains after all the malas (impurities of ignorance, ego and action) and vasanas (likes and dislikes, attachments to one's body, world, worldly fame, worldly enjoyments, etc.) have been burnt in the fire of knowledge. Hence vibhuti is revered as the very form of Shiva and signifies the Immortality of the soul and manifested glory of the Lord.
• Ashes: Shiva smears his body with ashes (bhasma). Some forms of Shiva, such as Bhairava, are associated with a very old Indian tradition of cremation-ground asceticism that was practiced by some groups who were outside the fold of brahmanic orthodoxy. These practices associated with cremation grounds are also menteioned in the Pali canon of Theravada Buddhism. One epithet for Shiva is "Inhabitant of the cremation ground" referring to this connection.
• Tiger skin: He is often shown seated upon a tiger skin.
• Elephant and Deer Skin: Shiva also wears elephant skins. Similarly deer represent the jumping of minds (flickering mind). Shiva wears deer skin which indicates that he has controlled the mind perfectly.
• Trident: (Sanskrit: Trishula) Shiva's particular weapon is the trident.
• Nandi, the Bull, is his Vahana (Sanskrit for vehicle).
• Lingam:Shiva is often worshipped in the form of a lingam.These are depicted in various forms.
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• Mount Kailasha in the Himalayas is his traditional abode.
• He is often represented as immersed in deep meditation.
• He is said to eradicate Kama (sexual desire), Moha (material desire) and Maya (mundane thoughts) from his devotees' minds.

Polytheistic Gods

Although the pantheistic system allowed only a subordinate rank to the old polytheistic gods, and the actual religious belief of the people was probably but little affected by their existence, they continued to occupy an important place in the affections of the poet, and were still represented as exercising considerable influence on the destinies of man. The most prominent of them were regarded as the appointed Loka palas, or guardians of the world; and as such they were made to preside over the four cardinal and (according to some authorities) the intermediate points of the compass.

Thus Indra, the chief of the gods, was regarded as the regent of the east; Agni, the fire, was in the same way associated with the southeast; Yama with the south; Surya, the sun, with the southwest; Varuna, originally the representative of the all-embracing heaven (atmosphere), now the god of the ocean, with the west; Vayu (or Pavana), the wind, with the northwest; Kubera, the god of wealth, with the north; and Soma with the northeast. (Note: In some traditions, Eesana, an aspect of Siva is regarded as the regent of the northeast and Nirrti the regent of the southwest.)

In the institutes of Manu the Loka palas are represented as standing in close relation to the ruling king, who is saki to be composed of particles of these his tutelary deities. The retinue of Indra consists chiefly of the Gandharvas, a class of genii, considered in the epics as the celestial musicians; and their wives, the Apsaras, lovely nymphs, who are frequently employed by the gods to make the pious devotee desist from carrying his austere practices to an extent that might render him dangerous to their power. Narada, an ancient sage (probably a personification of the cloud, the water-giver), is considered as the messenger between the gods and men, and as having sprung from the forehead of Brahma.

The interesting office of the god of love is held by Kamadeva, also called Ananga, the bodyless, because, as the myth relates, having once tried by the power of his mischievous arrow to make Siva fall in love with Parvati, whilst he was engaged in devotional practices, the urchin was reduced to ashes by a glance of the angry god. Two other mythological figures of some importance are considered as sons of Siva and Parvati, viz. Karttikeya or Skanda, the leader of the heavenly armies, who was supposed to have been fostered by the six Knittikas or Pleiadesand Ganesha (lord of troops).

Smartism

Smartism, a denomination of Hinduism is a monist as well as a monotheist religion that understands different deities as representing various aspects and principles of one supreme entity, Brahman or parabrahman. After all, Swami Vivekananda, a follower of Ramakrishna, along with many others, who brought Hindu beliefs to the West, were all Smarta in belief. Other denominations of Hinduism do not strictly hold this belief. Only a Smartist would have no problem worshiping Shiva or Vishnu together as he views the different aspects of God as leading to the same One God. It is the Smarta view that dominates the view of Hinduism in the West. By contrast, a Vaishnavite considers Vishnu as the one true God, worthy of worship and other forms as subordinate.

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Vedic Deities - These deities represent forces of nature or devas and are not equivalent to Brahman represented as Vishnu or Shiva. The Devas hold a similar place in relation to God as angels do in Judaeo-Christian traditions.

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Ancient India - Goddesses

Aditi - Hindu Great Goddess, as the Woman Clothed with the Sun. Sun Goddess, Mother of all the Lights of Heaven. She gave birth to the twelve zodiacal spirits.

Ananta - Indian Serpent Queen. aka Sarparajni. She enveloped all gods during their death, sleeping between incarnations.

Banka-Mundi - Hunting Goddess of the Khoud. Merely uttering Her name made one fearless against jungle beasts.

Bardaichila - Assamese Storm Goddess.

Bentakumari - Assamese Water Goddess. First fish of the season was given to Her.

Bhasundara - Tibetan Goddess of Prosperity

Bhavani - Common name for Mother Goddess of India. Bestower of Existence. Evoked by women in labor, who burned perfume to honor Her.

Bisal-Mariamna - Shakti of Sunlight in Mysore. Symbolized by a brass pot full of water called the Kunna-Kannadi or 'eye mirror'. Into this pot are put pepper leaves and coconut flowers, a small metal mirror leans against it.

Budhi Pallien - Assamese Forest Goddess, appears as a tiger roving through the Indian jungle.

Chomo-Lung-Ma - Goddess Mother of the Universe, original name of Mt. Everest. One of the oldest Indian deities.

Devi - Dearly Beloved Goddess

Durga - the Queen Mother, Warrior Goddess, rode tigers into battle defending Her children, the gods.

Hudigamma - Hindu Mother Goddess served by eunuch priests dressed in women's clothes.

Indrani - Queen of the gods.

Ista Devata - Tantric Patroness of the Self. Individual Guardian Angel of the Enlightened Sage.

Kadru - Serpent Goddess, Mother of the Nagas, or Cobra people.

Kali - Black Earth Mother, Conqueror of Time, Goddess of fertility, death and regeneration. Dark Mother, Hindu triple Goddess of creation, preservation and destruction. Birth and Death Mother. Treasure house of Compassion, Giver of Life to the World. Her mantras brought into being the very things whose names She spoke for the first time, Originator of the creative word or Logos. A triple Goddess - Maiden, Mother, Crone. Lady of the Dead. The Ocean of Blood at the beginning and end of the world. Also known as Jagadamba.

Kauri - Indo-European Swan Goddess. Cowrie shell was sacred to Her.

Khon-Ma - Mother Earth, Ruler of All Spirits emanating from the Earth element.

Kundalini - Serpent Goddess representing the inner power of the human body

Kurukulla - Dravidian Goddess of Caverns.

Lakshmi - Goddess of fortune,wealth and abundance. Portrayed as a golden skinned woman sitting or standing on a lotus, Her symbol. Hindu Goddess of Sovereignty. Source of the divine drink Soma. aka Padma, Lady Lotus. Goddess of Beauty and Good Fortune.

Manasa-Devi - Serpent Goddess of Bengal, identified with the Moon, bearing the Moons's magic name Mana.

Marici - Buddhist Diamond Sow, Great Goddess seated on a lotus surrounded by 7 pigs. Glorious One. Sun of Happiness.

Maya - Virgin aspect of the triple Hindu Goddess, symbolized by a Spider, spinner of magic, fate and earthly appearances. The spider's web was likened to the Wheel of Fate and the spider to the Goddess as a Spinner, sitting at the hub of Her Wheel. Mother of the Enlightened One, Buddha. Her colors were white, red and black. Hawthorne, Her tree.

Nanda Devi - Blessed Goddess. Mountain Mother Who gave birth to the Ganges. Nanda Devi is one of the Holiest Mountains of the Himalayan chain.

Parvati - Maiden aspect of Kali. Daughter of the Mountain. Shiva's bride. Daughter of Heaven. Also known by Maya, Sati, Durga, Shakti, Privithi. Dark and colorful, ornate and mysterious. The richness of hues in Her attire as well as Her jewels symbolize Her power. She lifts Her veil to reveal Her beauty, shining like the Sun rising over the mountain of Anapurna. The cocoon, butterfly and the karmic golden wheel reflect Her deep connection with life and death, cause and effect, and transformation.

Prajnaparamita - Personification of Wisdom

Prakriti - Nature. Sanskrit title of Kali as female Holy Trinity, commanding the Gunas, the white, red and black threads of Creation, Preservation and Destruction. She embodied past, present, future; earth, sea, sky; youth, maturity, age.

Privithi - Very ancient Earth Mother.

Sara Kali - Queen Kali, Mother Goddess of the gypsies. The Mother, the Woman, the Sister, the Queen, the source of all Romany blood. Queen of Heaven and Earth.

Sarama - Vedic Bitch Goddess, Mother of the brindled Dogs of Yama. The Huntress.

Saranyu - Goddess Who gave birth to all animals, Mother of all Creatures. Vedic Mare Goddess, Mother of the Centaurs.

Sarasvati - White skinned Goddess of poetry, music, science and learning as well as all creative arts. Inventor of the Sanscrit language. She wears a crescent moon on her brow and rides a swan or a peacock, or is seated on a lotus. The Flowing One. Inventor of all the arts of civilization: music, letters, mathematics, calendars, magic, the Vedas and all other branches of learning. Ancient River Goddess. Queen of Heaven. Mother of Waters. aka Ganga. Originally a River Goddess, She originated in the Ocean. Great culinary Goddess, She invented Soma, or Amrita (drink of bliss). Independent of nature. Goddess of sensual love, creativity, beauty, art and music. Goddess of learning and teaching

Savitri - Hindu Mother of Civilization, She Who brought forth music and literature, rhythm, time, measurements, day and night, memory, conquest, victory and yoga.

Shakti - Tantric title of the Great Goddess. Cosmic Energy. The Tantras say the female principle antedates and includes the male principle and this female principle is the Supreme Divinity. Tantric doctrine says mortal women are life itself, and Goddess-like, because they embody the principle of Shakti. The series of Universes appear and disappear with the opening and shutting of her eyes. (from the Lalita Sahasranamam) Final union with Shakti occurred at the moment of Death, according to Tantric mystics.

Shasti - Bengali Feline Goddess, depicted riding a cat. Goddess of childbirth and Protectress of Children.

Shitala - Protectress against small pox. Mothers appealed to Her for help for their children.

Sita - Furrow, the Goddess Earth as the wife of Rama (Krishna).

Smashana-Kali - Kali Ma as the Goddess of cremation grounds and other places of Death. Her yantra was an 8 petaled lotus with multiple repetitions of the inverted triangle. The meaning was Rebirth following Death. Her priestesses, called dakinis, arranged funerals and tended the dying.

Tara - Pre-Vedic Savior Goddess, known from India to Ireland. Indo-European primal Goddess Earth. An extremely ancient festival held annually at Athens was named after Her, Taramata (Mother Tara) nicknamed The Rioting because of its wild orgiastic customs. The sacred grove of Tara in Ireland was the Goddess's genital shrine. In India, Tara is called The Most Revered of the old pre-vedic Goddesses. Wine is sacred to Her. Goddess of Compassion, The Diamond Sow. Diamonds are Her sacred stone. Tibetan Buddhist Great Mother. She is a Boddhisattva, an enlightened One who has vowed to incarnate until all beings have attained enlightenment. She also vowed to incarnate only as a female. She governs the Underworld, the Earth and the Heavens, birth, death and regeneration, love and war, the seasons, all that lives and grows, the Moon cycles. Green Tara is Her Nature-related aspect. Typically She is seen as a slender and beautiful woman of white complexion, long golden hair and blue eyes. She can also appear as red, black or dark blue. Her animals are the sow, mare, owl and raven. Goddess of spiritual transformation. When worshiping Tara, recognize all you see as Her body, made of green light, all you hear is Her divine speech, and all your thoughts as Her divine wisdom. Every molecule of air is Her divine energy and when you lie down, your head rests in Her lap. More on Tara

Uma - The Golden Goddess, personifying light and beauty. Daughter of the Mountains, Patroness of yogic ascetism. Kali's Crone aspect. aka Prisni, Mother of the Dark Season, Daughter of Heaven. Mother Death.

Ushas - Vedic Goddess of the Dawn.

• Indra
• Surya
• Agni
• Vayu
• Varuna
• Yama
• Kubera
• Soma
• Mitra
• Kamadeva
• Gayatri
• Aditi
• Ushas
• Saraswati
• Rudra

Mother Goddesses

• Shakti
• Devi
• Kali
• Durga
• Lakshmi
• Amman (Goddess)

List of Hindu Deities

TARA

GARUDA & KARURA - HINDU BIRD HEADED GODS

Gods & Goddesses of Ancient India