Brahma

Brahma
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the Hindu god of creation. For other uses, see Brahma
(disambiguation).
For the genderless metaphysical concept of Ultimate Reality in Hindu philosophy,
see Brahman.
Brahma
God of Creation
Brahma on hamsa.jpg
Brahma, Pahari art, about 1700 A.D, India.
Devanagari ???????
Sanskrit transliteration Brahma
Affiliation Trimurti, Deva
Abode Brahmaloka
Weapon Brahmastra, Brahmashirsha astra, Brahmanda astra
Symbols Ladle (Sruk-Sruva), Rosary, Vedas, Kamandalu
Mount Hamsa (bird)
Consorts Saraswati
Brahma ('br?hm??; Sanskrit ???????, IAST Brahma) is a creator god in Hinduism.[1]
He has four faces.[2] Brahma is also known as Svayambhu (self-born),[3] Vagisa
(Lord of Speech), and the creator of the four Vedas, one from each of his mouths.
[2][4]
Brahma is sometimes identified with the Vedic god Prajapati, as well as linked to
Kama and Hiranyagarbha (the cosmic egg)[5][6]. He is more prominently mentioned in
the post-Vedic Hindu epics and the mythologies in the Puranas. In the epics, he is
conflated with Purusha.[2] Although, Brahma is part of the Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva in
Trimurti, ancient Hindu scriptures mention multiple trinities of gods or goddesses
which do not include Brahma.[7][8][note 1]
Several puranas describe him emerging from a lotus, connected to the navel of Lord
Vishnu. Other Puranas suggest that he is born from Shiva or his aspects,[10] or he
is a supreme god in diverse versions of Hindu mythology.[5] Brahma, along with all
deities, is sometimes viewed as a form (saguna) of the otherwise formless (nirguna)
Brahman, the ultimate metaphysical reality in Vedantic Hinduism.[8][6]
Brahma does not enjoy popular worship in present-age Hinduism and has lesser
importance than the other members of the Trimurti, Vishnu and Shiva. Brahma is
revered in ancient texts, yet rarely worshipped as a primary deity in India.[11]
Very few temples dedicated to him exist in India; the most famous being the Brahma
Temple, Pushkar in Rajasthan.[12] Brahma temples are found outside India, such as
in Thailand at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok.[13]
Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 History
2.1 Vedic literature
2.2 Post-Vedic, Epics and Puranas
3 Iconography
4 Temples
4.1 India
4.2 Southeast Asia
4.3 East Asia
5 Difference between Brahma, Brahman, Brahmin and Brahmanas
6 See also
7 Notes and references
7.1 Notes
7.2 References
8 External links
Etymology[edit]
LeftBrahma at the 12th century Chennakesava Temple, Somanathapura; Right Brahma at

a 6th7th Aihole temple.
The origins of Brahma are uncertain, in part because several related words such as
one for Ultimate Reality (Brahman), and priest (Brahmin) are found in the Vedic
literature. The existence of a distinct deity named Brahma is evidenced in late
Vedic text.[14] A distinction between spiritual concept of Brahman, and deity
Brahma, is that the former is gender neutral abstract metaphysical concept in
Hinduism,[15] while the latter is one of the many masculine gods in Hindu
mythology.[16] The spiritual concept of Brahman is far older, and some scholars
suggest deity Brahma may have emerged as a personal conception and visible icon of
the impersonal universal principle called Brahman.[14]
In Sanskrit grammar, the noun stem brahman forms two distinct nouns; one is a
neuter noun brhman, whose nominative singular form is brahma; this noun has a
generalized and abstract meaning.[17]
Contrasted to the neuter noun is the masculine noun brahmn, whose nominative
singular form is Brahma.[note 2] This singular form is used as the proper name of
the deity, Brahma.
History[edit]
Vedic literature[edit]
The 10th century artwork from Bihar showing the trinity of Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma
One of the earliest mentions of Brahma with Vishnu and Shiva is in the fifth
Prapathaka (lesson) of the Maitrayaniya Upanishad, probably composed in late 1st
millennium BCE. Brahma is first discussed in verse 5,1 also called the Kutsayana
Hymn, and then expounded in verse 5,2.[18][19]
In the pantheistic Kutsayana Hymn,[18] the Upanishad asserts that one's Soul is
Brahman, and this Ultimate Reality, Cosmic Universal or God is within each living
being. It equates the Atman (Soul, Self) within to be Brahma and various alternate
manifestations of Brahman, as follows, Thou art Brahma, thou art Vishnu, thou art
Rudra (Shiva), thou art Agni, Varuna, Vayu, Indra, thou art All.[18][20]
In the verse (5,2), Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are mapped into the theory of Gu?a,
that is qualities, psyche and innate tendencies the text describes can be found in
all living beings.[20][21] This chapter of the Maitri Upanishad asserts that the
universe emerged from darkness (Tamas), first as passion characterized by action
qua action (Rajas), which then refined and differentiated into purity and goodness
(Sattva).[18][20] Of these three qualities, Rajas is then mapped to Brahma, as
follows[22]
Now then, that part of him which belongs to Tamas, that, O students of sacred
knowledge (Brahmacharins), is this Rudra.
That part of him which belongs to Rajas, that O students of sacred knowledge, is
this Brahma.
That part of him which belongs to Sattva, that O students of sacred knowledge, is
this Vishnu.
Verily, that One became threefold, became eightfold, elevenfold, twelvefold, into
infinite fold.
This Being (neuter) entered all beings, he became the overlord of all beings.
That is the Atman (Soul, Self) within and without yea, within and without !
?Maitri Upanishad 5.2, [18][20]

While the Maitri Upanishad maps Brahma with one of the elements of Gu?a theory of
Hinduism, the text does not depict him as one of the trifunctional elements of the
Hindu Trimurti idea found in later Puranic literature.[23]
Post-Vedic, Epics and Puranas[edit]
In Vaishnava Puranic mythology, Brahma emerges on a lotus from Vishnu's navel as

Vishnu creates the cosmic cycle.[24]
The post-Vedic texts of Hinduism offer multiple theories of cosmogony, many
involving Brahma. These include Sarga (primary creation of universe) and Visarga
(secondary creation), ideas related to the Indian thought that there are two levels
of reality, one primary that is unchanging (metaphysical) and other secondary that
is always changing (empirical), and that all observed reality of the latter is in
an endless repeating cycle of existence, that cosmos and life we experience is
continually created, evolved, dissolved and then re-created.[25] The primary
creator is extensively discussed in Vedic cosmogonies with Brahman or Purusha or
Devi among the terms used for the primary creator,[25][26] while the Vedic and
post-Vedic texts name different gods and goddesses as secondary creators (often
Brahma in post-Vedic texts), and in some cases a different god or goddess is the
secondary creator at the start of each cosmic cycle (kalpa, aeon).[10][25]
Brahma is a secondary creator as described in the Mahabharata and Puranas, and

among the most studied and described.[27][28][29] Born from a lotus emerging from
the navel of Vishnu, Brahma creates all the forms in the universe, but not the
primordial universe itself.[24] In contrast, the Shiva-focussed Puranas describe
Brahma and Vishnu to have been created by Ardhanarishvara, that is half Shiva and
half Parvati; or alternatively, Brahma was born from Rudra, or Vishnu, Shiva

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Brahma

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

LeftBrahma at the 12th century Chennakesava Temple, Somanathapura; Right Brahma at

?Maitri Upanishad 5.2, [18][20]

Post-Vedic, Epics and Puranas[edit]

In Vaishnava Puranic mythology, Brahma emerges on a lotus from Vishnu's navel as

Brahma is a secondary creator as described in the Mahabharata and Puranas, and

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