HINDU GODS

Vedic Gods

The Hindu pantheon developed over a considerable period of time. To answer the question "What do Hindus believe about the gods?" one must clarify which time period, as their emphasis on certain gods changed through the centuries. The earliest Hindu texts are the four Vedas, the Rig Veda being the oldest (1200 BC), containing 1028 hymns with more allusions to myths than full stories. Over one fourth of the Vedic hymns concern Indra, the king of heaven, the storm god who gained prominence by defeating the demon/dragon Vritra who was holding back rain from heaven, having imprisoned the cloud-cattle. Other important Vedic gods were Varuna, god of the ocean, Agni, god of fire, Surya, the sun god, and Yama, god of death.

By the time that the Mahabharata was written (300 BC - 300 AD), other gods who played only minor roles in the Vedas have become popular. Three gods in particular came to be known as the Trimurti: Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva the destroyer. Their fame grew during the Middle Ages when "stories of old" called the Puranas recorded their achievements and adventures in great detail. After the Trimurti became dominant, the Puranas relegated most of the older gods to the status of World Protectors, eight lords over each point on the compass.



Gods of the Trimurti

BRAHMA the creator (also known as Prajapati): After the act of creation, he has little prominence, often referred to as "grandfather," aloof, unaware or unconcerned about the consequences of his actions. In one story he rewards even demons for their asceticism, thus causing much grief to the other gods. Brahma is sometimes said to be self-created, or born from a lotus out of Vishnu's navel, or hatched from the cosmic egg. He is often depicted with four heads: as his daughter/consort Sarasvati tried to avoid his lustful gaze, other heads grew up in each direction she ran; when she ascended to heaven, a fifth head appeared, which Shiva cut off because of Brahma's incestuous lust.


VISHNU the preserver of cosmic order (dharma): Represented with blue skin and four arms, often sleeping on a coiled serpent floating on the ocean. He rides Garuda, the sacred bird (symbol of Indian airlines today). As Vishnu became more important over the centuries, his "history" became more complex. The Puranas developed the idea of Vishnu having appeared on earth in nine previous avatars (or incarnations) during the present Great Age (Mahayuga), with one still to come (note that the number of avatari varies in the Puranas, some listing as many as 22, others say they are innumerable). See the typical list of ten below.


SHIVA the destroyer: Also god of fertility, gained prominence by destroying the city of demons; in one version he waited 1000 years until the cities, which rotated in the air, were aligned, then pierced all three with one arrow. He became so powerful because the other gods gave him their divine energy, which he kept after the battle (story in the Mahabharata). Shiva appears with a blue neck, because he swallowed the poison from the serpent Vasuki, which would have polluted the world ocean. He also has three eyes, for one day his wife Parvati playfully covered two of his eyes and the universe fell into darkness; he created a third eye to restore light. This eye destroys by fire. Shiva wears a necklace of skulls as "lord of goblins." Dancing Shiva symbolizes the eternal movement of the cosmos, but also he dances to bring about the destruction of maya / illusion (i.e. this world) at the end of each kalpa (see great ages below).



Avatars of Vishnu

1. First, Vishnu appeared as a great fish named Matsya who gave aid to Manu (the Hindu Noah) in the great flood.

2. Next, he descended to earth as the tortoise Kurma, who rescued 14 of the best treasures of the previous world from the flood. He also supported the mountain from which the gods and demons churned the milk ocean. In the Vedas and in the Mahabharata, both these first figures are associated with Brahma, not Vishnu.

3. Varaha, the wild boar, who pushed mud up from the sea to create land.

4. Narasimha, the man-lion: he killed a demon who swore neither man nor animal could harm him. This was the last avatar during the first age.

5. Vamana, the dwarf: he tricked a demon-king who ruled the three worlds into agreeing to give him as much land as he could cover in three steps. He then grew to enormous size and encompassed the universe in three steps.

6. Parashurama: a brahmin, by his influence priests became the dominant caste over warriors. He appears in the Mahabharata but not as an avatar of Vishnu.

7. Rama, the hero of the Ramayana (the other great Hindu epic) was born to defeat the demon Ravana. He was the husband of Sita and extremely jealous of her. After she was kidnapped by the demon, he suspected that she'd been unfaithful, and sent her into exile for 15 years, carrying his two sons. In the role of his avatars, Vishnu took over Indra's earlier aspect of demon-slayer.

8. Krishna (the dark one): Kansa tried to kill all his mother's children but Krishna escaped, surviving an attack by three demons as a child. In his youth there are stories of amorous episodes with cowgirls (he had 16,000 wives and 180,000 sons). Finally he kills Kansa and many demons, hence called the "slayer of demons." Krishna appears as a major character in the Mahabharata, overseeing the great battle.

9. Buddha: the first avatar of Vishnu in the fourth or present age. This addition to the Vishnu myth was probably an attempt to subordinate popular Buddhism to the Hindu system. As Buddha, he deceives the enemies of the gods with lies, saying there are no gods, no endless cycle of lives, only peaceful sleep (nirvana), which actually is a distortion of Buddhist teaching.

10. Kalki: at the end of this age, Vishnu will appear again as the bringer of destruction on a white horse. He will purify the world of evil, and the endless cycle of ages will begin again (see below).



Vishnu as Krishna and Kalki

Hindu Goddesses

Goddesses don’t appear prominently in the priestly Vedas, but apparently arose out of popular cults of common people; their stories are recorded in the Puranas. They are very popular today.

SARASVATI: consort to Brahma/Prajapati (his daughter in the Vedas), goddess of the arts, knowledge, and creativity, “mother” of the four Vedas; once she was late to a ceremony so Brahma married another wife. When Sarasvati arrived and found out, she cursed him to be worshipped only once a year, thus no major cults honor him as with other two in the Trimurti.

LAKSHMI: consort to Vishnu, reborn as his wife with each avatar, most famous as Sita for Rama. Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth, fortune, beauty, pleasure, prosperity (very popular goddess)

Sarasvati and Lakshmi

DEVI or MAHADEVI (great goddess): consort to Shiva, who appears in many forms:

* As Sati she threw herself in fire to defend her husband’s honor.

* Reborn as Parvati, mountain goddess, but by this time Shiva was practicing asceticism, so it took Kama god of lust to entice him; Shiva destroyed him with fiery gaze but eventually mated with Parvati (necessary as only their son Skanda could defeat the demon Taraka, a boon granted by Brahma). She became mother by herself of Ganesha, but one day Shiva didn’t recognize him and cut off his head, replacing it with the first creature that came along, an elephant.

* Durga, depicted with ten arms riding a lion/tiger, created by the Trimurti to kill demons using Vishnu’s discus, Shiva’s trident, Indra’s thunderbolt, etc (protective energy).

* Kali, black earth mother, (destructive energy); sprang from Durga’s forehead during a fit of rage. Her rites include sacrificial killing (at one time human), dressed with earrings of little children, necklace of snakes, skulls and heads of her sons, belt of severed arms, thirst for blood. Kali reminds the worshipper that death and destruction are also part of life which we must accept.



Parvati, Durga, Kali



Demons (asuras, “antigods”)

Rakshasa (demon/man-eating ogre) is one of many asuras, powers older than the gods that distract men from the true path, preventing spiritual progress. In the Mahabharata they include nagas (serpent spirits), daityas (genii), and danavas (giants); actually these terms are often interchangeable. Other celestial beings include apsaras (heavenly dancers) and gandharvas (heavenly musicians).

Some texts describe both gods (devas) and asuras as being assigned to castes. In the battle between Indra and Vritra, the demon had through great asceticism become a brahmin demon, so Indra committed the great sin of brahminicide by killing Vritra. In one sense a demon warrior (ksatriya) who kills men is only fulfilling his particular dharma or social duty, and is not thought of as evil.

Gods and demons are not considered irreconcilable opposites (such as good and evil) but complementary forces. In the eternal cycle of creation and destruction, both are necessary aspects of Ultimate Reality. In the Vedas devas (gods) and asuras were both children of Brahma, sharing the same origin and nature. Only at the churning of the Great Milk Ocean were the asuras deceived and denied access to the divine Soma; so the division between gods and demons is not so much good and evil as who won and who lost.

The Mahabharata begins by saying that asuras became human warriors in the end of the 3rd age, so the gods must become incarnate as well to counter their power. When asuras die, they also go to Indra’s heaven (as does Duryodhana).

FUNDAMENTAL BELIEFS OF HINDUISM



Hindu religion is more philosophy than doctrine. There is no authoritative hierarchy of clergy; the religion is highly decentralized with multiple sects, perfectly acceptable to Hinduism (in contrast to the regrettable divisions within Christianity). The Hindu claim that there are different paths for each person.

A practical definition of Hinduism: performing the duty (dharma) of one's stage in life and social status (caste).

The essence of the Hindu vision of reality lies in the tension between dharma (social duty or righteousness) and moksha (release from the material world, final liberation from the endless cycles of rebirth). Both these perspectives, the world-supporting and the world-denying, are necessary to fulfill human destiny.

Other important terms :

* karma = moral law of cause and effect (deeds of past lives determine present)

* samsara = rebirth according to the nature of a person's karma; what we are now is the sum of all we have done in the past.



Dharma and caste

Dharma means fulfilling one's duty in one's station in life, which is determined by birth not merit. Each person is born into a distinct caste, depending on the karma from the past lives. There is no crossing over or intermingling from one caste to another, as this would disrupt the social order. Brahmins are the highest caste because they have faithfully executed their duty in a previous life; lower castes must have served society poorly to be born into their caste, but if they perform their duty in this life, they have hope of being reborn to a higher caste. Thus dharma focuses on maintaining social and cosmic stability.

The caste system is supported by the Rig Veda myth of the giant Purusha from whose head brahmins were created, nobles and warriors from his arms, farmers and merchants from his stomach, and servants from his feet, an example of how mythology preserves the values of a society by rooting present practice in the ancient past, but also it can be seen as a means of maintaining the status quo to the benefit of those in power.



BRAHMAN, the one true reality

BRAHMAN is the spiritual essence underlying all reality, is the only reality. All gods and the world are only aspects of BRAHMAN, only an illusion in comparison to the one reality. This is the insight of the Upanishads, recognizing an ultimate unity in the multiplicity of gods and all life.

* note: BRAHMAN (which I write with all caps) is not the same as the creator Brahma, nor should it be confused with the highest caste of Brahmins (not all texts make these distinctions in spelling so it becomes confusing at times).

BRAHMAN is one, limitless, impersonal, indefinable, without qualities, eternal, unchanging, inactive (complete in itself thus no need to act).

BRAHMAN is present in all people in the form of the atman or soul. We must realize that BRAHMAN and atman are one, that our essential self transcends our individuality, our limitations, even our death; this realization brings release (moksha) from illusion. Seeing the world as full of particulars, individuals with egos acting in competition, life as diversity and change -- all this is maya (illusion).

Release (moksha) from the endless cycles of illusion does not mean "non-being" (a Western concept). In Hindu thought, existence in this world is characterized by the illusion of polarities (good/evil, light/dark, male/female, being/nonbeing) whereas BRAHMAN is beyond these distinctions.



Cycles of time

There are four ages (called yugas):

* The first lasts 1,728,000 years

* The second lasts 1,296,000 years

* The third lasts 864,000 years

* The fourth lasts 432,000 years (this last age is Kali yuga, our present age beginning 5000 years ago)

Each age sees a decline in virtue (dharma) from the previous. As told in one parable, in the first golden age, dharma stood on four legs like a table, but in the second age it stood only on three, in the third age on two, and now in the present age only on one, thus all but one fourth of the world's virtue has vanished in the present age.

These four ages, as lengthy as they may seem, are only a small part of the great cycle of time:

* 4 ages = one mahayuga (great age), 4,320,000 yrs, after which creation will rest (return to a state of non-differentiation) for one mahayuga.

* 1000 mahayugas = one day of Brahma (or one kalpa), 4,320,000,000 years, after which Brahma sleeps and creation rests for one kalpa.

* Brahma's lifetime = 100 years of his days and nights: 4.32 billion x 365 x 2 x 100 = 311 trillion yrs, after which Shiva dances, all things including Brahma dissolve and nothing exists for an equivalent time, then it all begins again.

Against such immense scale, one single lifetime becomes insignificant.



WEB Resources on Hindu Thought:

The Hindu Universe

Ancient India

Indian Mythology.com

Lopa's Mahabharata page

Hinduism



Other sites of related interest:

Under a Banyan Tree stories from Indian mythology, adapted for today's children