Most people know that there are many gods in the Hindu religion. The lists of "major deities" that I have found often include somewhere between 15 to 25 gods. I have no idea how many minor or lesser gods there are but it must be quiet a few. I am going to talk about a few of the major gods. What their purpose is, how the fit into the religion, the overall importance of the god, and interesting things I find about them.
First up, Brahma
Brahma is the creator, he is responsible for making the earth. The changing of day to night is also his responsibility. He is part of the holy trinity consisting of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Brahma created many lesser gods with his mind and many more with his body. To create the human race he split himself into two people, one being a goddess, the other a god. Brahma called the girl part Gayatri, and together they created people. Brahma has four heads and four arms, he used to have five but one was lost after a conflict with Vishnu and Shiva. Brahma holds in his hands a sacrificial tool, knowledge, a water pot, and a rosary.
Bramha is a complicated god with many tales and back stories. Having multiple gods makes it much easier to create tales of how the gods interact, which makes them easy to characterize and relate too. Brahma is the first piece in setting up the aura of factuallity of
existence.
Vishnu
Vishnu is the preserver, lord of protection, sustenance, and maintenance. He is the second part of the trinity. He is responsible for sustaining the human race. He does so with the help of his consort Lakshmi, the goddesses of wealth. Vishnu needs Lakshmi's wealth to continue supporting and protecting the human race. He has dark skin the color of clouds. He carries in his hands a conch shell, a disk ( to represent the wheel of time ), a lotus
flower, and a mace ( to show the power and punishing capabilities if discipline in life is ignored). He rests on a bed made out of a 1000 headed serpent.
Shiva
Shiva is the god of destruction, the third part of the trinity. He destroys the world so Brahma can create a new one. Shiva is also responsible for the changing of people, destroying old habits and making change possible. He is covered with ashes, carries a poisonous snake to show he has mastered death, a trident, he is often shown with some sort of tiger representing the mind, he has the goddess Ganga captured in his matted hair. Ganga is the goddess of the Ganges river, he captured her to prevent the flooding of the world. Shiva lives on top of Mount Kailasa in the Himalayas. He has had two
wives. The first was Sati, and the second was Parvati. He is the father of Ganesha, and Kartikeya.
Ganesha
Ganesha is the god of knowledge and remover of obstacles. He earned this position by racing his brother around the universe. While his brother took off to travel the universe, Ganesha walked around his mother and father whom he considered the source of all existence. He won and earned the title of Lord of all existing being. There are many stories regarding how Ganesha got an elephants had instead of his own. One was that his mother created him to guard her doorway, when Shiva demanded entrance and Ganesha refused he was decapitated. Later on Parvati (his mother) restored him to life and gave him the only available head around. That of an elephants. Ganesha is a fat ugly man with the head of an elephant, he shows that inner beauty is more important than physical appearances.
Lord Rama
Lord Rama is the hero of the tale Ramayana. He is one of the most commonly worshiped
gods in all of Hinduism. Lord Rama carries a bow and arrow and destroy evil. The monkey god
Hanuman is his loyal devotee. A brief of the Ramayana can be found here. He is married to Sita.
Lord Krishna
Lord Krishna is loved by all people. He is one of the commonly worshipped gods in
Hinduism. He is know for his ability to spread love through music, and for destroying evil. He is
often portrayed with a human child that was his friend. This image helps bond man and god
together. He is also often shown with his childhood pet cow. He is the 8th incarnation of Vishnu.
Lord Kartikeya
Kartikeya is the god of war, very similar to Ares from Greek mythology. He is the second
son of Shiva, with Ganesha being the first. He has six faces each with its own name: Kartikeya,
Subramaniam, Skanda, Guha, Shadannana, and Sanmukha. He is also the god of fire. He works
with Ganesha to help people. While Ganesha helps clear the path ahead, Kartikeya gives power
to the individual in order to help them complete their goals. He carries a spear to destroy bad
habits in humans.
As you can see from just seven of some of the major gods of Hinduism, there is an abusrd
amount of back story. Every god has its own stories with many of them being intertwined,
and some being contradictory. Many of the stories get to be elaborate and allow for the gods to
be well personified. Painstaking detail has gone into the creation of these tales. All to provide
an explanation for the world around us. To explain things and provide meaning for existance.
The stories provide the solid base for a religion to be built around. Stories that are interesting
and easily told quickly spread and convert new members. The stories can be used to give reason
for certain rituals, and can add significance where there was none before. The stories about the
gods are a fundemental part of Hinduism, used to teach lessons and provide examples to
emmulate. The stories and gods themselves are not the religion, they are means in which taught,
spread, and understood.
A temple full of
various Hindu gods. There are many.
