(Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva)

Brahma is the god of creation and he is traditionally accepted in Hinduism as the Creator of the entire universe.  To indicate that the manifested world of plurality has emerged from the unmanifest Reality, Brahma the creator is described as being born from the navel of Vishnu.

Lord Vishnu, major god of Hinduism and Indian mythology, popularly regarded as the preserver of the universe.  The concept of Lord Vishnu is based chiefly on two beliefs: humans may attain salvation by faithfully following predetermined paths of duty, and good and evil powers (gods and demons) contend for dominion over the world.

Shiva is one of the gods of the Trinity.  He is said to be the god of destruction.  Shiva is also known as “Gangadhar” (meaning the carrier of the River Ganges). Shiva is said to carry the Ganges in his locks. Shiva is sometimes shown with his trident (trishool) in his hand. Shiva with this weapon indicates his victory over his ego and attainment of the state of perfection.

The three gods represent the three fundamental powers of nature which are manifest in the world: creation, destruction and maintenance.  These powers exist perpetually.  All three powers are manifest at all times.  They are inseparable.

It looks presumptuous, in a few pages, to give a clear idea about what can be the hindu religion.

First of all, let us make several remarks. Some people will think them somewhat ingenious, but other will feel them useful.

 An indian is somebody living in India, whatever his religion is.  A hindu is somebody following the religion called hinduism. It's generally considered that nobody may

become a hindu by conversion. People are born hindu. This comment is not useless, for at least two reasons :

 hindu people do not practice proselytism; that is to say, they don't try to convince everybody in the world that their religion is the best one, even if they are fully convinced about that !

 it can't be useless to emphasize, for westerners, that it's difficult and rare to be allowed to convert oneself to hinduism.

Being born as a hindu, in a particular cast, one generally believes in the power of gods and worship them. But it's a personal affair.

Hinduism is a complex religion. Along the centuries, it has proved its ability to absorb and adapt to the local context a lot of different beliefs, belonging to various spiritual paths. This results in confusion for those who have not deeply studied the question.

Only one common exemple : most times, westerners think that hindu are polytheist, because they obviously worship a lot of gods (sometimes, one tells they are 33 millions !). Yes, OK, but gods are not what westerners use to name God.

Gods are functions, forms (murtî) of the Divine Power, forms of the Formless Unknowledgeable God. They are expressions of the Ultimate Reality which is called Brahman in India (neutral gender). Brahman cannot definitely be described; the sacred texts rather describe what Brahman is not. And for Hindu people, man has not been created similar to any Brahman's image...

The three main Emanations of Brahman (the Trimûrti ) are the Gods Brahmâ, Vishnu and Shiva . This concept is not similar at all to the Christian Trinity.

Brahmâ is the Creator of the manifested World; but we would rather say, since there is no real creation from nothing, that Brahmâ is the Organizer; Vishnu is the Preserver, who maintains and supports the world; Shiva is the Destructor.

Beware the misundertanding !. The manifested World has not been created once for all : Hindu have a cyclic conception of the Manifested Reality. The World appears, takes place then disappears, following cycles; each cycle is called a kalpa .

Moreover, the manifested World has not been created like westerners understand the word creation. Indeed, the World exists and does not exist. He is only a relative reality, an illusion that we think to be truth. He is the produce of Mâyâ , the power of Illusion. Therefore he is, in the same time, the cause and the product of the essential ignorance in which the human being is deeply immersed. At least, this is the point of view (Darshana ) explained by the Vedanta , but other points of view may also be acceptable... (I told you it's not easy !).

Hindu people use to worship particularly Shiva or Vishnu. The exclusive Shiva's worshippers belong to a Shaiva sect, the exclusive Vishnu's worshippers refer to a Vaishnavi sect.

Stop ! In India, the word sect does not include any pejorative idea, on the contrary of what we see in the western countries, where the word sect is badly considered.

Vaishnavi and Shaiva people can be distinguished, except their exclusive faith, by specific rituals, or various signs (marks on the face, clothes).

Brahmâ

It's a curious thing that Brahmâ, the Principe of Creation, is so rarely worshipped; there are only a very few Brahmâ temples in India : the most known is located in Pushkar (Rajasthan).

However, Brahmâ is frequently designed on temple walls. He is four-headed, each head watching at a cardinal point; sometimes, he wears a short bearb. He holds the sacred book of the Veda , because He is the Master of the Veda.

At the beginning of each cosmic cycle, Brahmâ rises from the Vishnu navel; then, Vishnu is lying asleep on the Serpent of Eternity called Ananta .

The Brahmâ vahâna is the goose (hamsa).

His Shakti is Sarasvatî who has several other names : Sâvitrî, Brahmî, Bhâratî, etc. She is four-headed, holds a book, a mâlâ and plays vînâ .

Vishnu

Vishnu has taken, at different periods, various animal or human forms, in order to play a particular role in the manifested world. One uses to say these are Avatâra .

Each of the Vishnu incarnations is linked to a particular legend which reports how Vishnu has manifested Himself under a particular form, in order to re-establish the Dharma on earth. To say simply, the Dharma is the Divine Law, the Natural Order of things in the cosmos. In other words, the Vishnu comings

in the manifested world are motivated by His function of Preservation, when demons and other negative forces threaten to make world falling into ruins.

 Matsya (the Fish). This legend is similar to the legend of the Deluge. This incarnation of Vishnu as a fish gave Him the opportunity to teach Manu , the first man, how to build a boat.

 Kûrma (la Tortue). Under this turtle form, Vishnu plunged in the ocean deepness, to get and bring back to the surface, bearing it on His back, the Mount Mandara . This mount was then used as an axis by gods and demons to churn the original Ocean of Milk and extract the amrita from it.

 Varâha (the Boar). Under this form, Vishnu went to the deepness of the Deluge waters and brought back the goddess Earth who had been drawn there by the demon Hiranyaksha who wanted to revenge from gods. Vishnu had to fight during thousand years to win.

 Narasimha (the Lion-Man) who vanquished the demon Hiranyakashipu , however invulnerable thanks to the powers granted to him by Brahmâ. Defied by the demon to appear under a visible form, Vishnu rose out a pillar under this awful half man half animal aspect and destroyed the demon.

 Vâmana (the dwarf who becomes a giant - Trivikrama). The demon-king Bali had extended his control over the infernal, earthly and celestial worlds. Although a pious man, it was thus necessary to fight him. Vishnu took the form of a begging dwarf and requested to the king to give Him three feet of land. The king accepted this request. Then, Vâmana grew hugely and, in only three strides, He crossed the Three Worlds and vanquished the king.

 Parashurâma (Râma with the axe). This legend reports the struggles which opposed the Brâhman casts to Kshatriya . Parashurâma fighted against the Kshatriya and overcomed them, giving again the first role to the Brâhmans. This legend reflects most probably historic facts.

 Râma ou Râma-Chandra (Similar to the Moon), hero of the Râmâyana , who vanquished the demon-king Ravana from Lankâ thanks to the aid of the monkey army commanded by Hanuman and released His wife Sîtâ previously kidnapped by Râvana.

 and finally Krishna (the Black Lord), the most worshipped of the Vishnu incarnations. May adventures are imputed to Him; some are narrated in the Mahâbhârata .

 The ninth Avatar for hindu people would be the historic Buddha .

Some state that even Jésus would be a Vishnu incarnation.

One more Avatâr is still remaining to come in the future, at the end of the present cycle. We are now living the last part of the present cycle, called Iron Age (Kali Yuga). A cycle or yuga lasts 4.32 million years. The last Vishnu incarnation will be Kalki , riding a white horse, holding a sword which will strike the wicked persons in order to reestablish the purity among men.

Râma and Krishna are the most known Vishnu Avatâra. A lot of legends report their exploits, which people thinks have occured during historic periods, although very ancient. Many of these legends may be read in the Râmâyana and the Mahâbhârata epics.

One of the Mahâbhârata chapters is the Bhagavat-Gîtâ, which can be considered as one of the most beautiful spiritual texts in the world, whatever the religion.

Known in the human world thanks to His Avatâra, Vishnu has also, in the world of Gods (Deva ), many other names. Some of them are :

 Gopala ( the Cow-herd, another name for Krishna),  Narayana, also called Shesheya (The Lord who rests on the Primordial Waters, lying on Ananta, the

Serpent of Eternity),  Keshava (the Long-haired),  Sarangapani (the Lord of the musical instruments),  Janardana (an awful form) : The Lord who distresses the human beings, etc.

One concedes two Shakti to Vishnu : Lakshmî (also called Shri Devî) and Bhû Devî who may have many other names and forms, according to various local customs.

The usual Vishnu emblems are the conch (shanka ), the wheel or solar disk (chakra ), the club and the lotus flower. Vishnu is many times crowned by a tall head dress, in the shape of a troncated cone. His mount-animal is an eagle, named Garuda , often represented with a human head.

Shiva

The Shiva devotees worship Shiva. He rarely manifests Himself to human beings. According to His specific functions or iconographic representations, a lot of names (symbolically 1008 names) are given to Him. He may have an awful form (like Bhairava, often displayed in the Kathmandu valley - Nepal) but also a benevolent aspect. Among the Shiva's names, one will quote the following :

 Shiva Natarâja (The Lord who perfoms the cosmic dance of destruction and creation of the worlds),  Shiva Natesha (Dancing Shiva),  Bhikshâtâna-mûrti (The Lord who is begging),  Lingaraja (The Master of the Lingam),  Pashupati (The Master of animals),  Yogeshavara (The King of the yogi),  Shiva Lakulîsha (The Master of the Yogi),  Kumbeshvara (The Master of the pots),  Nageshvara (The Master of the Nâga),  Dakshinâmûrti (The Master of Arts and Music); He is watching to the south direction (dakshina) and is

often represented on the temple walls; He is holding the sacred book of the Veda  Mahâdeva (The Great God),  Lingodbhava-murtî (The Lord who rises out the Lingam),  Nîlakhanta (Shiva with a blue throat),  Sundareshvara (The Nice Lord, worshipped in the Madurai main temple),  Ardhanarishvara (Shiva represented half-man half woman),  and, very ususual, Harihara, twin representation of Shiva and Vishnu on the same body, etc.

Shiva is frequently accompanied by His wife. A wife's god is a female counterpart or Shakti (see above). Shakti is the cosmic energy, the energy of creation of the god. Shakti is not really distinct from the god.

According to Their functions, the Shakti of Shiva are benevolent (Pârvatî ), warlike (Durgâ ), or awful and destructive (Kâlî ).

However, Kâlî is often worshipped as the Divine Great Mother, in Kolkota for instance. These goddesses themselves have various forms and names. For exemple, Pârvatî (The Mountaineer, daughter of the King of Himalaya) can be named as

 Umâ,  Minakshi ("The goddess with a fish-eye", worshipped in Madurai),  Kumârî (worshipped in Nepal),  Mâyâ, Châmundâ, Annapûrnâ, etc..

Another exemple. Durgâ has been many times represented under the famous form of the goddess Mahîshâsuramardinî, the sixteen-armed Durgâ, riding a lion, who kills in a raging fight the demon-king Mahisha who had took the form of a buffalo.

As all gods do, Shiva holds in His hands different objects, attributes which symbolize His functions :

 the trident

 the blaze that Shiva Natarâja holds in one hand,

 the crescent of moon in His hair,

 one or several skulls,

 a magic club (parashu),

 a tiger skin,

 a deer, etc.

His vahana is a beautiful white bull, Nandi , which can be seen everywhere, sitting in front of the temple gateways and sanctuaries devoted to Shiva.

Nevertheless, in His innumerable temples, Shiva is most often worshipped under the symbolic form of the Lingam . The Lingam is a cylindrical stone, sometimes of a huge size, with an egglike top. The Lingam basis is fixed on a round or oval pedestal, the Yoni .

Both represent the Principle of Creation, the union of male and female symbols. Indeed, we must understand that Shiva is not only a Destructor : Shiva only destroys for the purpose of transformation, since transformation is always requested to allow life to be perpetuated throughout cycles.

Devî

The prominence of the female Shakti symbolism affords a particular place to divine images in cults. Shakti is the Power which permits god to act.

Both aspects, the creative one and the destructive one, are emphasized thanks to an extensive number of images.

The Shakti of each of the three main gods (Trimûrti) is many times represented with them, on stone temple images and other images.

One comprises the Shakti goddesses as Devî.

Devî, associated with Shiva, Vishnu, Sûrya and Ganesh, are the Pañcha Devata, the Five main Gods in Hinduism and are all worshipped daily since more than 1000 years.

Some more Gods

The purpose of this chapter is neither to provide a broad and comprehensive view about Hinduism, neither to give explanations about secrets and numerous rituals of this very complex religion. This is why we will only indicate some definitions and exemples.

The history of India plunges deeply in the roots of a very ancient past. The archeological diggings of antique cities (Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa) have demonstrated that a brilliant agricultural civilization has developped more than four thousand years ago. Then, after a decline of this Indus civilization, came progressively from western central Asia areas, so-called aryan tribes, who were initially transhumant shep-herds. There is no general agreement, among specialists, if these aryan people were warriors who destroyed the prevalent civilization, or if they progressively melted themselves with the local people, bringing their customs and believes.

So, with these invasions were introduced other believes, the Vedic gods. However, the local cults remained used even after a long period, particularly in South India, because Aryans stayed mainly in North India. After long time, all these cults started to be intermixed...

Specific Vedic gods, who initially symbolized natural elements, can be found here and there, for instance : Sûrya (the Sun, to whom was dedicated the famous Konarak temple in Orissa ( ), Indra , (the Sky, Master of Gods), Varuna (Waters), Agni (Fire), Vâyu (Wind), Chandra (Moon), Usha (Dawn), etc.

Skanda

The Ganesh brother, Skanda , rides on a peacock; He is the god of war. Skanda is sometimes represented with His brother Ganesh and Their parents Shiva and Pârvatî. Skanda is easy to recognize thanks to His mount, the peacock. On other representations (Tamil Nadu), He is shown six-headed, and therefore named Shanmukha (Shan = six, mukha = faces). After an unlucky competition with His brother Ganesh, He decided to remain a bachelor and to stay in mountains. However, according to other legends, one reports that He has two wives, Valli et Devanai.

Ganesh

Ganesh is usually also named Ganesha or Ganapati.

He is a singular God, who appeared in hinduism, according to most specialists (all of them do not agree with this statement), in the first centuries A.D. Several terracotta recently discovered seem to testify this.

Ganesh is one of the most important Gods of hinduism. In ancient times, He was not so important as the main gods of the Trimûrti (Brahmâ, Vishnu et Shiva). But progressively, He took a major place into the people's life.

As proof, innumerable Ganesh devotees consider Him as the Supreme Deity. The Gânapatîya sect , active in the western coast of India (Maharashtra) from more than 1000 years, gives testimony of that fact.

Son of Shiva, Ganesh should not be normally worshipped by Vishnu devotees. However, in reality, one may verify that Ganesh goes beyond the barriers between sects. He is so universal that a legend tells He is a son of Vishnu too ! Besides, one sometimes find small Ganesh shrines in Vishnu temples...

His qualification of Vighneshvara, "The Lord of Obstacles" (i.e. He is the god able to raise obstacles, but also to put obstacles if we don't worship Him properly). So, He is widely worshipped in any place in India.

This strong faith towards Ganesh led to consider Him as one of the Pañcha Devata. Shankarâchârya , the great philosopher of the Vedanta (9th century), stated officially that the Ganesh cult should be henceforth introduced in the orthodox hinduism .

The Ganesh cult is also recognized by the Jain religion, in the major Svetâmbara branch, as well as among Buddhists from Nepal and other countries.

The importance of Ganesh / Ganapati in Buddhism can be found in the belief of the Mahâyâna Buddhism that the Ganapati Hridaya mantra had been teached to Ananda by Buddha Himself.

Thus the Ganesh cult has expanded outside India ( ) in South-East Asia, in Tibet, in China, in Central Asia, in Mongolia and in Japan, simultaneously with the Mahâyâna Buddhism.

In Japan, for exemple, a special cult is given to Him. And many proofs of His antique presence have been found in Cambodia, during the Khmer period, in Vietnam (formerly, these two countries were not separated for long times), in Afghanistan, in Thaïland, in Indonesia.

According to the usual definition, Ganesh or Ganapati is "The Lord who removes obstacles" and "the Lord who grants success" (Siddhi ).

Since more than two thousand years, most likely, He is invoked at the very beginning of auspicious opportunities, like marriages and other various occasions (inaugurating a shop, starting a travel, taking an examination, etc.).

Jaïn and Buddhist seem to have embodied Ganesh in their own cult from the 9th century forward. This assimilation has occured only after the development of a specific Ganesh cult, during the first Gupta period, from the 5th century forward. What has happened before this Gupta dynasty (characterized by wonderful achievements on cultural and artistic grounds), is much less known, whereas the seldomness of material remnants.

Places where Ganesh can be found in India are really innumerable. All cities, all villages own at least one temple or a shrine, small or big, a stele, a stone indicating the cult place...

Each of them have its particular history, or a local legend. Moreover, Ganesh images in public gardens, on street pavements, on ghats and river shores, above the doorway lintels, from the biggest palaces to the most modest houses, can be found everywhere...

Other creatures

They are really numberless :

 The deified major rivers (Gangâ , Yamunâ ),  Hanuman , the chief-commander of monkeys, who gives assistance to Râma in the battle against

Râvana, the Lankâ king who has kidnapped His wife Sîtâ  Demons like the Râkshasa , among whom the most known is Râvana  Temple "threshold door keepers" (Dvârapâla )  Celestial beings like the Kinnara, Yakshi , Apsarâ , Gandharva  The Yoginî , awful female assistants of goddess Kâlî  The Nâga , serpents who live in wonderful cities and realms underground  The numerous Gana , Shiva's servants  Monsters like the Yâlî , etc.

Tibetan and Nepalese gods

Although Ganesh is found in many places in Nepal (less often in Tibet, seemingly), we will not develop on this site the description of gods worshipped in these regions. We will limit ourselves to a few words.

Many divine forms are "specialized" names of the Buddha; therefore, they are not hindu gods : the five Jina Buddha , the medecine Buddha, the female counterparts of the Buddha (most known of them are the Green Târâ (Shyâmatârâ) and the White Târâ (Sitatârâ). Boddhisattva too; most known is Avalokiteshvara .

Boddhisattva are the realized human beings who made, by compassion for all suffering creatures, the vow to reincarnate themselves as many times as necessary to guide them in the spiritual path towards Liberation.

Other gods have taken a true regional importance as did Bhairava (an awful Shiva form) in Nepal, Mahâkâla (another Shiva form, as the Great Destructor - Kâla being the Time who actually ruins all things), Vajrapani (a local name for Indra), Palden Lamö.

We could not name all of them, and even less for the minor deities.