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RELIGIONS
Eternal India
encyclopedia
The goddess Aditi, unlike most other Vedic deities, is not associ-
ated directly with some natural phenomenon. She is the mother of the
gods, including Indra, although she does not have a male consort in the
Rig Veda.
The goddess
Vac
whose name means ‘speech’ is the personifica-
tion of speech which enables one to hear, see, understand and then
express oneself in words. She is also associated with creation as the
partner of the primeval man, Prajapati.
Sarasvati
is the goddess associated with the Sarasvati river, which
is called mighty and powerful. In later times Sarasvati is the consort of
Brahma. She is the goddess of inspiration, speech and learning. In this
aspect she is similar to
Vac
with whom she is consistently identified in
the Brahmanas.
Prithvi
is the earth goddess. There are several goddesses men-
tioned so infrequently in the Rig Veda that no clear idea can be formed
as to what they represent.
While some of the Vedic goddesses like Sarasvati survive in post-
Vedic times, many others simply disappear. A galaxy of powerful
female deities take their place in the Hindu pantheon. Female divini-
ties, the spouses of the gods, began to the worshipped.
The chief form of the Mother goddess is that of the wife of Shiva.
In her benevolent forms she is known as Parvathi, Mahadevi, Sati,
Gauri and Annapurna. In her grim aspect she is known as Durga and
Kali.
Parvathi has been identified as a reincarnation of the goddess Sati,
Shiva's first wife who committed suicide because of an insult to her
husband. Shiva is a god of extremes, both ascetic and sexual and
Parvathi plays the role of modifier. She is a model of devotion to Shiva.
Parvathi is usually worshipped in her fierce aspect as Durga ("the
inaccessible") and Kali ("the black"). It is in this form that sacrifices
are offered to her.
As Durga she is represented as a beautiful woman with ten arms,
each of which has a weapon. She is shown piercing the buffalo-demon
Mahisha with a spear. She rides a lion. In Bengal the worship of this
goddess forms the most popular of all the Hindu festivals.
Kali is represented as a black woman with four arms. In one hand
she has a sword, in another the head of the giant she has slain, with the
other two she is encouraging her worshippers. For earrings she has two
dead bodies. She has a necklace of skulls, her only clothing is a girdle
made of dead men's hands and her tongue protrudes from her mouth. In
relation to Shiva, she appears to play the opposite role from that of
Parvathi. Parvathi calms Shiva. It is Shiva who tames Kali. Kali is a
central figure in Tantricism and in Bengali Sakta devotionalism.
Lakshmi, also known as Sri, is the goddess of wealth, prosperity
and fortune. She is the wife of Vishnu. She is seated on a lotus, and has
a lotus in her hand. She is one of the most popular and widely venerated
deities of the Hindu pantheon. She is worshipped throughout the year
in a variety of festivals, the most important being Diwali (Deepavali).
Saraswati, wife of Brahma, is the goddess of learning and music.
She is shown seated on a lotus, astride a swan, a vina and a book in her
hand. She is the creator of Sanskrit and the Devanagari script.
THE DIVINE RISHIS
A rishi is an inspired poet or sage, the inspired persons to whom the
hymns of the Vedas were revealed and under whose names they stand.
When Brahma wished to populate the world, he created seven "mind-
born sons" like himself. In the Satapatha Brahmana their names are
given as Gotama, Bharadwaja, Viswamitra, Jamad-agni, Vasishtha,
Kasyapa, and Atri. The
Mahabharata
gives them as Marichi, Atri,
Angiras, Pulaha, Kratu, Pulastya and Vasishta. The Vayu Purana adds
Bhrigu to this list making eight. The Vishnu Purana adds Bhrigu and
Daksha and calls them the nine Brahmarishis. The names of Gautama,
Kanwa, Valmiki, Vyasa, Manu and Vibhandaka are also included
among the rishis by different authorities.
The name Manu is given to 14 mythological progenitors of man-
kind and rulers of the earth, each of whom holds sway for the period
called a Manwantara, the age of a Manu, a period of no less than
4,320,000 years. The first of these Manus was Manu Swayambhu.
(The self-bom Manu). Manu was born directly of the god Brahma
and was a hermaphrodite. From the female half of his body he bore
three sons and two daughters, from whom descended a series of
Manus. To the first Manu is ascribed the law book, the code of
Manu, a collection or digest of current laws and creeds, which is the
foundation of Hindu law. The human race is descended from the
seventh Manu who was the sole survivor of the great flood which
submerged everything and who was rescued by Vishnu in his first
avatar, when he took the form of a fish.
Narada's name is not found in the list of Brahma's sons in the
Vishnu Purana but he is generally regarded as one. He is the
messenger of the gods and is often described as imparting
information that is known only to them. It was he who persuaded
the sons of Daksha not to beget offspring and who was cursed for
his interference. It was he who informed Kamsa of the approaching
birth of Krishna which led that king to slay the children of Vasudeva.
In later times he is connected with the legend of Krishna as his
friend and companion. The name Narada is frequently employed as
a term of abuse. It is used to describe a quarrelsome and meddling
person. He is the inventor of the
vina
and was chief of the
Gandharvas or heavenly musicians.
Kubera, the god of riches, does not occupy a very conspicuous
position in Hindu mythology. That distinction goes to Lakshmi, the
goddess of fortune, wife of Vishnu. He performed austerities for
thousands of years and received as a boon from Brahma that he
should be the god of riches and one of the guardians of the world. At
the suggestion of his father Visravas, he took possession of Lanka
as his abode. Kubera on Ravana’s demand yields Lanka.
Asuras : In the oldest parts of the Rig Veda this term is used
for the supreme spirit. In the sense of “god” it was applied to
several of the chief deities - Indra, Agni and Varuna. It afterwards
acquired an entirely opposite meaning and came to signify a demon
or enemy of gods. Most immediately dangerous to men were the
Rakshasas, most famous of whom was Ravana, the ten-headed
demon king of Lanka whom Rama defeated and killed.
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