Brahma: A Creator So Ordinary!

Priyanka Rout

Brahma: A Creator So Ordinary!

Gods and goddesses of the Hindu religion are always revered for being powerful and mighty; they are described as mythical powers who can create and destroy the universe. We build temples and worship their idols with this belief in our hearts. While temples are built for almost every god and goddess, an exception might shock you.

Lord Brahma: The God of Creation; Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

It is said that the creator of our universe is Lord Brahma. Belonging to the Trimurti, the three deities of supreme divinity that include Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma himself, he is believed to be Svayambhu or self-born. Some say that he was born in a lotus that emerged from the navel of Vishnu, while others say that he was created from the various aspects of Shiva. While all these speculations are made by the Shaivism and Vaishnava sects, the goddess-centric Shaktism believes that Devi created the entire universe along with Lord Brahma in it.

Brahma is a bearded man with a golden or red complexion, four heads, and hands in many folktales and religious stories. All the four heads point to four cardinal directions and represent four different Vedas. He is usually visualised as a person who is seated on the lotus, and his vahana (mount) is a hamsa (swan). Brahma's energy and knowledge are said to be because of his wife, Goddess Saraswati. According to some of the scriptures, Brahma created his children through his imagination, and thus they are known by the name of Manasputra.

There are numerous stories on the origin of Brahma. According to a famous legend of Brahmananda Purana, there was an eternal ocean, a golden egg called Hiranyagarbha emerged. As the egg broke open, Lord Brahma emerged out of it. He had created himself within that egg, and thus, he came to be known as Swayambhu or self-born. Upon coming out of the shell, he created the entire universe along with manushya and Jeev jantus.

During the advent of the Vedic period, gods of nature, including Surya, Chandra, Indra, and Agni, were mainly worshipped. There was no concept of worshipping gods like Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma. Yajnas were conducted mainly by the Brahmins, and no one else was allowed to conduct them. Idols and temples were not worshipped. Though some temples could be found, their structures were entirely different. These temples were more like celebration centers, consisting of Natya mandapa and bhojana mandapa. There were some idols of Devi, Shiva, Vishnu, and his avatars, but no Brahma idols were worshiped. It was probably because of this shift that Brahma was no more worshipped. It could be because he was associated with the Vedic period and with customs like yajnas. But with the coming of the Puranic period, all the Vedic period practices were abandoned, and temple tradition was initiated.

Apart from anthropological and historical reasons, many mythological legends are attached to this concept. According to a legend from the Vaishnava tradition, there was pralaya or chaos when Vishnu was asleep. When Vishnu woke up, the world came to life, and from his navel emerged a lotus, from which Lord Brahma was born. He became scared when he first saw the world, but Vishnu reassured him.

We cannot worship a scared god; instead, the god should remove our fears.

Yet another story is from the Shaiva tradition. It is said that Brahma and Vishnu always used to fight with others to prove who was supreme and should be worshipped. On the one hand, Brahma argued that since he is the creator of the universe, he should be worshipped, and on the other hand, Vishnu argued that since he protects the universe, he should be worshipped. One day, when Brahma visited Vishnu, Vishnu did not stand to greet him, which angered Brahma to such an extent that a fight ensued between them, and this fight slowly transformed into a war. Shiva entered the scene and transformed himself into an Agni-stambh or fire pillar to stop the war. This pillar extended to above the sky and beyond the sea and neither had any beginning nor end.

Shiva challenged both Brahma and Vishnu that whoever was successful in finding the endpoint of the pillar should be worshiped. Vishnu transformed into a Varaha while Brahma changed into a rajhans. Both of them went in the opposite directions to complete the challenge. On his way, Brahma met a Ketaki Pushp descending from the edge of the fire pillar. Taking advantage of this situation, Brahma decided to play dirty. He realised that it would have taken him ages to reach the end of the fire pillar, and thus, he convinced Ketaki Pushp to tell Vishnu that he had already reached the end and brought the Ketaki Pushp as proof.

However, Shiva could catch hold of Brahma's treacherous ways and cursed him that he would never be worshiped since he used falsehood to win the challenge.

There are many speculations behind why Brahma is not worshipped like other deities. One such story is related to his infatuation with a female deity named Shatarupa, who was so attractive that Brahma grew an extra head to look at her wherever she went. This continued for days together, and this indecent behaviour of Brahma angered Shiva.

An enraged Shiva thus cursed Brahma that no one would worship him.

Though considered the universe's creator, Lord Brahma started losing his importance by the 7th century. The shreds of evidence of Brahma's downfall were primarily found in the Puranic legends. People started disregarding him as a God and stopped worshipping him. One can find only two temples of Lord Brahma, the first being at Pushkar in Rajasthan and the second being at Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu. However, there are no such traditions of Brahma anywhere in the Indian subcontinent apart from this.

The reasons why Brahma was never worshipped could be divided into two sections: the first one being the anthropological or historical reason, and the second one being mythological.

Indian mythology holds many interesting instances where our cultures and traditions are reflected in various ways. Stay tuned to know how the three divine gods or the Trimurti came into being and how their presence enlightened the world!