1
Neha Mubeen
Iconography: Meaning and Myths of Icons
Professor Viraj Shah
16th November 2014
Brahma Cult
In the early Vedic period, Prajapati was viewed as the ultimate infinite creator in the Upanishads, Brahmanas and Vedas. Translated as ‘Lord of the
Creatures’ in early Indian Sanskrit, he is later referred to as Brahman in the Post-
Vedic age. Prajapati is seen as a semi-abstract deity1 whose work of creation moves onto Brahman in the Post-Vedic times in the story of Hiranyagarbha in the Rig Veda.
In the story, Prajapati, who was feeling lonely at the time, touched a cosmic egg and willed it to exist when the universe was still unperceived and sunk in sleep.2 From the egg, Brahman was born, who persuaded Prajapati to create more beings.3 He created light and darkness, day and night, water and earth, and the different species of animals from parts of his body. In essence, Prajapati gave himself up as sacrifice to create
Gods and beings. He created the horse from his swollen right eye; he created demons and created Gods to counteract the demons. The Sarapata Brahmana says that
Prajapati himself was sacrifice, because everything he created was because he wanted to express himself.3 Prajapati is still one of the Gods that are worshipped in weddings
1 Gonda, Jan. "The Popular Prajāpati." History of Religions 22.2 (1982): 130+.JSTOR. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
2 Class notes
3 Bhattacharji, Sukumari. "RISE OF PRAJĀPTI IN THE BRĀHMAṆAS." Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute 4th ser. 64.1 (1983): 205. JSTOR. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.
In the Post-Vedic Puranas, the image of God is represented as a holy trinity consisting of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, which evolved from the omniscient
Brahman. Brahman, born from the cosmic egg, was the self-existent Supreme All-
Being. Brahman was the uncreated creator of the universe and time itself, showing that despite his lack of physical being but eternal presence is reflected in the universe’s nature of having no beginning and no end.5 In the Atharvaveda, it is said that all the Gods were like cows in a cowshed in Brahman before he put them on
Earth.6 Brahman was the Universal Soul who carried on the task of creation by depositing seed into the waters and manifesting himself in a golden egg, from which
Brahma was born after 1000 years, forming one third of the holy trinity. Brahma carried on Brahman’s creation by completing the universe with the remnants of the egg and procured Brahman’s status as the supreme creator in the Mahabharata between 400 BC and 200 AD.7
4 Joshi, J. R. "PRAJĀPATI IN VEDIC MYTHOLOGY AND RITUAL." Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute 53.1/4 (1972): 104. JSTOR. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
5 Robertson, Leo C. "THE CONCEPTION OF BRAHMA. THE PHILOSOPHY OF MYSTICISM." The Monist 26.2 (1916): 236. JSTOR. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
6 Wilkins, W. J. "Brahma." Hindu Mythology, Vedic and Purānic. London: Curzon, 1973. 1. Print.
7 Coomaraswamy, Ananda. "A Vaishnava Relief." Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts 30.178 (1932): 39. JSTOR. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
The holy trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, whose functions are to create, preserve and destroy, are said to be mutually complementary because they are different forms of Brahma himself.8 According to Puranic Legend, Vishnu the
Preserver was Brahma’s manifestation when he developed himself into the world and
Shiva the Destroyer is Vishnu’s (and indirectly, Brahma’s) manifestation of a simple being. Technically, all the three are manifestations of neuter Brahman.2 According to the Vaishnavites, Brahma is born from a lotus emerging from Vishnu’s navel, earning himself the name Nabhija, which means ‘navel born’.9 The other version of the creation of the holy trinity is in the Brahma Purana, which states that Brahma divided himself into male and female counterparts – some legends say he created his consort
Saraswati out of himself and then created all the world’s creatures – and created
Vishnu and then man itself.10
In the Puranas, Brahma was almost always represented in a trinity or a
Trimurthi, which means trimorphic, which literally means that Brahma, Vishnu and
Shiva are all different forms of each other.8 In the Brahma Purana, once Brahma created the world, he created ten Prajapati men from his mind to speed up the process of populating the world.11 The chief of the Prajapatis, Daksha is said to have been
8 Gonda, J. "The Hindu Trinity." Anthropos 63/64.1/2 (1968): 215. JSTOR. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
9 Maxwell, C. N. "LANGUAGE AFFINITIES." Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 16.1 (130) (1938): 70. JSTOR. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
10 Werner, Karel. "The Mythology of Brahmā By Greg Bailey, Pp. Xvi, 256. Delhi Etc. Oxford University Press, 1983. £12.00." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland 116.02 (1984): 292. JSTOR. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.
11 Mclean, Andrew M. "Emerson's Brahma as an Expression of Brahman." The New England Quarterly 42.1 (1969): 121. JSTOR. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
In later myths, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva converge into one ascetic being called Dattaterya, who has 6 arms and 3 heads to symbolize the synthesis of the three
Gods. It is said that the Gods went to the hermitage of Anusaya for help and in return,
Anusaya asked for a son who has all the three aspects of the Gods. The Gods agreed and hence, Lord Dattatreya was born. Currently, he has a large following as he helps devotees in times of need and lead them to Nirvana.13
Essentially, Brahma created the universe. Vishnu preserved and maintained it, while Shiva was responsible for destroying it once time was up. For the
Gods, one day is the entire lifespan of the universe, in which Vishnu preserves the world.14 Each cycle is one Brahma Kalpa, which is approximately 4,320,000,000 human years, after which the universe will be destroyed by Shiva and will be re-
12 Wilson, H. H. "Origins of Solar Dynasty." The Vishnu Purana: A System of Hindu Mythology and Tradition. Calcutta: Punthi Pustak, 1961. 348. Google Books. Oxford University Press. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.
13 Rigopoulos, Antonio. "The Genealogy of Dattatreya." Dattātreya: The Immortal Guru, Yogin, and Avatāra: A Study of the Tranformative and Inclusive Character of a Multi-faceted Hindo Deity. Albany: State U of New York, 1998. 7. Print.
14 Hazra, R. C. "THE NARASIṀHA-PURĀṆA." Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute 26.1/2 (1945): 33. JSTOR. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
As a part of the elite Trimurthi, Brahma’s appearance is unique and easily identifiable. Brahma is typically depicted with four heads and four arms. Richly decorated with glittering gems and gold, his upper body is naked while the lower body is covered with a thin cloth. A Rajisik God, Brahma’s penchant for purity and activity is seen in his fairness, and he has his hair up in a Jata Mukuta showing his royalty and elite status.2 There are some paintings of him with a white beard, showing the intensity of his state of preoccupation in meditation and keeping of time.16
Famous for never holding weapons, he is seen sitting in Lalitasana or Padmasana, showing dignity and ease because he is the creator of the world.17 He is also seen holding a vase, a book, a rosary, and sacrificial ladles (known as Shruk and Shruv) in his hands. The vase is representative of creation and fertility, while the rosary represents Time as Brahma is supposed to be keeping track of the universe’s time.
The book is to represent the Vedas as knowledge, while the Shruk and Shruv prove his title as the Lord of Sacrifices.2 He is seen with his consorts Savitri and Gayatri in the background. Brahma is also sometimes seen holding a lotus or sitting on a lotus, which could be either seen as reiterating the Vaishnavite belief of lotus as his birth place, or it could stand for the fertility and creation of life as seen by the lotus
15 Islam, Shamsul. "The Influence of Eastern Philosophy on Yeats's Later Poetry." Twentieth Century Literature 19.4 (1973): 288. JSTOR. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
16 Dimand, M. S. "A Stone Figure of Brahma." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 22.5 (1927): 136. JSTOR. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
17 Eastman, Alvan C. "A BRAHMA IMAGE OF THE X-XI CENTURY." Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts of the City of Detroit 10.3 (1928): 34. JSTOR. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
Janas, Tapas and Satya,19 all epitomizing knowledge, purity, and grace, reflective of
Brahma.16
Brahma’s four hands are seen in held up in symbolic gestures or holding meaningful artifacts, although it is said that the hands represent the four directions of travel – Poorab, Paschim, Uttar, and Dakshin – and stand for ego, intellect, mind and confidence - attributes that are unique to Brahma.2 His upper right hand is in Abhaya
Mudra, showing courage and protection, while his lower left is in Varada Mudra, showing his charity and boon-giving nature.17 The hands behind are the ones holding the respective objects or Ayudhas characteristic of Brahma.
Each of Brahma’s heads is said to be reading out each Veda, although there are beliefs that the heads stand for the four corners of the earth. There are stories that describe each head to be reading out each Veda – the Rigveda, Atharvaveda,
Yajurveda and Samaveda.16 Brahma grew these extra heads to continue staring at his daughter Shatarupa. Other names for Shatarupa are Saraswati, Ushas, Savitri,
Gayatri. Brahma created Shatarupa after he created the Prajapatis out of parts of his body20. When he told his Prajapati men to go forth and create more men, Brahma
18 Gupte, Ramesh Shankar. "Brahma." Iconography of the Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains. Bombay: D.B. Taraporevala Sons, 1972. 27. Print.
19 Buitenen, J. A. B. Van. "The Large Ātman." History of Religions 4.1 (1964): 111. JSTOR. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
20 Wilkins, W. J. "Daksha." Hindu Mythology, Vedic and Purānic. London: Curzon, 1973. 373. Print. 7 didn’t realize he needed a female compliment until Vishnu explained the concept of the female principle to him.2 Shatarupa was the result.
The name Shatarupa itself means ‘hundred beautiful forms’, so when
Brahma created her to be the female principle, he himself couldn’t take his eyes off her. Shatarupa got embarrassed and moved to avoid his gaze but Brahma grew 4 heads in the 4 directions to continue staring at her. She then tried to fly away from him, but Brahma grew a fifth head on top to stare at her in the sky.2 It is also said in some stories, that Shatarupa changed her form into different animals to escape
Brahma, but Brahma changed into the male version of the animal Shatarupa chose to be with her – thus creating every current animal now existing in the community.21
Shiva reprimanded Brahma for exhibiting incestuous behavior, and sliced off
Brahma’s fifth head on top with his nails as punishment – which can be seen in the
Brahmasiraschedaka Murti.22 In the same myth, Shiva is said to curse Brahma that he wouldn’t be worshipped, which contributed to why there are such few living Brahma temples in India.
A similar myth that explains why Brahma has just four heads is the story of Brahma’s ‘rogue’ head. Cursed by his daughter, Saraswati, for pursuing her,
Brahma’s fifth head would always speak the opposite of what his other heads would say. Hence, when Brahma met Shiva one day and started to compliment him, his
21 Panikkar, Chitra. ""Sānta" in Book IV of "Finnegans Wake"" James Joyce Quarterly 35.2/3, ReOrienting Joyce (1998): 462. JSTOR. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
22 Gupte, Ramesh Shankar. "Samhara Murtis." Iconography of the Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains. Bombay: D.B. Taraporevala Sons, 1972. 42. Print. 8 rogue head began to insult Shiva harshly, causing Shiva to get angry and slice off the fifth head.23
Another story in the Shiva Purana which explains the current lack of
Brahma worshippers is the story of Lingodbhava where Vishnu and Brahma argue about who is the better God.22 In order to break up the fight, Shiva rises from the ground in a flaming Shivalinga form and challenges both the Gods to find the beginning or end of the Shivalinga to prove which God is more superior.2 Brahma flies on his swan vahana to the skies to try to find the top, while Vishnu transforms into a boar to dig into the ground to find the other end of the linga in the ground. On his way up, Brahma finds a Ketaki flower falling down from above and convinces it to lie to Shiva that Brahma found him at the top end of the Shivalinga and brought him down as proof. Shiva realizes Brahma is trying to cheat Vishnu – who had already admitted that he couldn’t find the Shivalinga’s end – and cursed Brahma that he would have no followers as punishment.24
Thus, despite Brahma being one of the elite three Gods in Hindu
Mythology and having almost all Hindu prayers carry dedications to him, there are very few temples dedicated to him. There are no specific Brahma cults in existence as compared to the Shiva and Vishnu cults, although there are a number of ancient temples that were once dedicated to Brahma. Due to the decline of the Brahma cult, these once busy temples are just treated as historical grounds. Currently, there are
23 Santideva, Sadhu. "Siva and Brahma." Ascetic Mysticism: Puranic Records of Siva and Shakti. New Delhi: Cosmo Publications, 2000. 123. Print.
24 Sharma, Arvind. "Chapter 7 Brahma." Classical Hindu Thought: An Introduction. New Delhi: Oxford UP, 2000. 80. Print. 9 non-living Brahma temples existing on the outer ends of India: in Himachal Pradesh
(Khokhan, Kullu District), Gujarat (Kedbrahma), Tamil Nadu (Kumbakonam,
Thanjavur District and Bramhapureeswarar, Tirupattar and Hosur), Kerela
(Thiruvanathapuram), Uttar Pradesh (Bithoor, Kanpur) and Rajasthan (Asotra).25
Currently, in India, there are very few remaining living temples sacred to
Brahma. One of the temples is the Adi Brahma temple in Khokhan, Buntar, near the
Kullu Valley. The temple is made of wood and stone, in the Buddhist pagoda style in honor of Brahma.26 The other prominent and largest shrine that exists in the name of
Brahma is the Brahma shrine in Angkor Wat in Cambodia.
The most well known Brahma temple in India is the temple, called
Jagatpita Brahma Mandir, situated in Ajmer, Rajasthan. This temple is said to be approximately 2000 years old and was built by the sage Vishvwamitra with marble and decorated with silver coins27 to honor Brahma’s creation of the environment of
Pushkar in his defeat of the demon Vajranabha28 and performing a yajna/sacrifice.29
25 Bolon, Carol Radcliffe. "The Durga Temple, Aihole, and the Saṅgameśvara Temple, KūḐavelli: A Sculptural Review." Ars Orientalis 15 (1985): 47-48. JSTOR. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
26 Staff, Sun. "The Sampradaya Sun - Independent Vaisnava News - Feature Stories - August 2009." The Sampradaya Sun - Independent Vaisnava News - Feature Stories - August 2009. Feature Stories, n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
27 "Temple Profile: Mandir Shri Brahma Ji." Rajasthan Devasthan. Department of Devasthan, 2001. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.
28 Bansal, Sunita Pant. "Jagat Shri Brahma Temple." Hindu Gods and Goddesses. New Delhi: Smriti, 2005. 23. Print.
29 Chaudhary, Jyoti K. "Pushkar." Pilgrim Places of India. Panchkula (Hr): Delhi Book Bureau, 2010. 30-31. Print. 10
The temple is visited by sages and pilgrims after bathing in the sacred Pushkar lake30 because it is believed that Brahma performed a yagya in the Pushkar area and also created lake Sarovar from a lotus petal falling from his hands. It is said that Brahma was looking for a place on earth to make his abode. Upon flying over the Pushkar area, a lotus fell out of Brahma’s hands, making his decision for him, naming the land as ‘Pushkar (derived from pushpa – lotus and kar – hand) and also creating the sacred
Mansarover Lake of Pushkar.31
Another myth that explains why the Pushkar temple is the most famous temple in India is that when Brahma wanted to perform the yagya in Pushkar, he needed his consort Saraswati to be there. Since Saraswati was nowhere to be found,
Brahma had to make do and marry another girl – Gayatri instead. Saraswati got angry with Brahma and cursed him to only be worshipped in Pushkar and nowhere else.28
Additionally, every year, on Karthik Poornima, the full moon night between October and November, thousands of pilgrims come to visit the Pushkar Fair and bathe in sacred Pushkar Lake. The journey to Pushkar is seen as a pilgrimage since another religious site Mansarovar Lake is close to Mount Kailash. After dipping in the Pushkar Lake, a lighting ceremony is carried out where hundred of diyas are lit on leaves and floated across the lake at dusk. 32
30 Talwar, A. P. "Pushkar." Growing Old Mirthfully. New Delhi: Regency Publications, 1998. 226-28. Print.
31 Pandey, Tripti. "A Lotus In The Desert." Pushkar: Colours of the Indian Mystique. New Delhi, India: Bookwise, 2004. 19. Print.
32 Mukherjee, Arpita. "Pushkar Fair: Camels, Festivities and Celebrations for Brahma | Latest Travel Blogs & Articles at Travel.India.com." Travel India. ITripto, 20 Nov. 2012. Web. 15 Nov. 2014.