The Hindu Pantheon
The Hindu gods are a colorful and variegated community and their number
is enormous. The average non-Indian is not a little baffled by this variety
and enormity of number. This little document is an effort to gently introduce
the Hindu pantheon to the non-Indian (read American) populace.
First of all the Divine Trinity :
1. Brahma : the god of Creation :
He is usually depicted as a four faced, hoary, old man
with a flowing white beard seated on a lotus flower. He is
one deity you won't find anybody worshipping or any temples
built for.
2. Vishnu : the god of Sustenance :
He is perhaps the most colorful of all the gods with very
many incarnations. He is also known by many different names
(a list of some of those can be found in the glossary at the end).
He is usually depicted as reclining on a huge coiled serpent with
his consort serving him at his feet. He is also a four handed deity
with a mace in one hand a conch in another and a spinning disc on
a finger of yet another.
3. Maheshwara : the god of Destruction :
He is ususally depicted sitting in meditation, his locks
matted atop his head with a crescent moon decorating it, an eye
in the middle of his forehead, a serpent coiled around his neck,
a trident beside him.
These physical descriptions are for you to recognise a picture or
idol of one of these deities when you see one. Do not be hasty to imagine a
grotesque image of the Hindu deity from the above descriptions.
Each of these trinity of gods is associated with a divine consort,
herself a goddess.
1. Saraswati : the consort of Brahma : goddess of Knowledge.
She is usually depicted sitting on a swan, playing a veena
(an Indian stringed instrument).
2. Lakshmi : the consort of Vishnu : goddess of Wealth.
She is depicted sitting on a lotus gold coins showering
out of her blessing hands.
3. Parvati : the consort of Maheshwara : goddess of Valour.
Other distinguished divinities are :
1. Vinayaka : the lord of Prosperity .
He is also the lord of "Vighna"s i.e "unexpected problems". So he
has to worshipped first before any auspicious ceremony/event can begin.
He is a well feared and widely worshipped god. He has the face of an
elephant and how it happened to be is a very interesting story but some
other time may be ..! He is the son of Maheshwara and Parvati. His
birthday is celebrated with much pomp and gaiety all over India.
Huge colourful idols are made and worshipped in a public place in every
locality for 12 days after which the idols are taken out in a procession
and immersed in a nearby pond or lake.
2. Kali : The fierce form of goddess Parvati. She assumes this fearsome form to
kill some wicked demon. She is a many handed deity with various weapons
adorning each hand. She is depicted as red eyed with her dark red tongue
put out as if to devour the demon's blood. Occasionally she is shown piercing
this demon with a trident holding him down with a leg.
3. Rama : One of the 10 incarnations of Lord Vishnu, Rama is an epic hero. His
life story forms the epic Ramayana, written by Sage Valmiki. He is the
embodiment of virtue : the Perfect Man, the Perfect husband, the Perfect
brother, the Perfect king, the obedient son. He is believed to have taken birth
to kill the demon king Ravana. Any further description of him would entail
the telling of the Ramayana. This Perfect One is depicted usually with his
wife Sita and his obedient brother Lakshmana and his great devotee, the monkey
Hanuman at his feet.
4. Hanuman : This great devotee of Rama is himself a deity. He is a very mighty,
intelligent, knowledgeable monkey minister to a monkey king Sugriva. He is
said to have been born with the divine influence of Lord Maheshwara. His
childhood pranks make a very interesting story. He is purported to be the
deathless one and a bachelor. Worshipping him is said to give one the strength
to fight off evil. There are many traditional style gymnasiums in India
which are named after him, where the practitioners also worship him.
5. Krishna : This deity is another incarnation of Lord Vishnu and is the key figure
in yet another epic of India namely the Maha Bharata. He is much more colorful
and mystical than Rama. He performed many miracles all through his lifetime
and his childhood episodes are very interesting. Among other things he was a
known lurer of women, prankster etc. Maybe I should include a couple of
documents more to tell those stories. He is also regarded as the person who
gave the Bhagavad Gita (the Divine Song) that magnificent philosophical guide
to the world.
6. Shanmukha : He is the younger son of Maheshwara. He is the commander in chief of the
Divine Army. He is supposed to have been conceived for demolishing the Demon king
Tarakasura. He is depicted atop his vehicle viz. a peacock, holding a spear in
one hand.
To be continued.
A list of alternate names for these deities :
(By no means to be considered exhaustive or accurate. Each deity usually has
a long list of names (108 or 1008 etc) composed by some devotee or described
in the puranas most of which are lengthy descriptive phrases. Some times the
various names are associated with either various incarnations or particular
physical features. You will find that most Indian (hindu) names come from these!)
1. Maheshwara : Siva, Sankara, Nataraja, Rudra, Parameshwara, Ishwara, Hara, Shambhu
2. Vishnu : Narayana, Hari, Narasimha, Narahari, Vittala, Panduranga, Venkateshwara
3. Krishna : Keshav, Madhava, Govinda, Sridhar, Vasudeva, Shyam, Murari, Giridhar, Gopal,
Murali(dhar), Venu(gopal), Giridhar
4. Vinayaka : Ganapati, Vighneshwara, Ganesha, Gajanana
5. Shanmukha : Muruga, Subrahmanya, Kumaraswami
6. Parvati : Uma, Chandi, Kali, Durga, Bhavani, Annapurna, Shakti, Jagadamba, Ishwari, Shyamala
Check out some images of the
Hindu deities