brahma

Works Cited

“Brahma.” BBC. BBC, 2014. Web. 24 Oct. 2014. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/deities/brahma.shtml#findoutmore>.

“Hindu Trinity.” Rudra Centre. Rudraksha Ratna, n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2014. <http://www.rudraksha-ratna.com/hindu_trinity.php>.

“The Legend of Brahma’s Four Heads.” Indian Mythological Stories. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2014. <http://www.kidsgen.com/fables_and_fairytales/indian_mythology_stories/the_legend_of_brahmas_four_head.htm>.

“Lord Brahma- Hindu God of Creation.” Lotus Sculpture. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2014. <http://www.lotussculpture.com/brahma.htm>.

Pandit, Bansi. “Lord Brahma.” Kashmir. Kashmiri Overseas Association, n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2014. <http://www.koausa.org/Gods/God12.html>.

lindsay

Lord of creation, humans, and the world

Four heads

• symbolize four Vedas
• once had a fifth head, decapitated by Shiva

Puja (worship)

• festivals/holidays:
• on the night of the full moon during the month of Kartik (October/November)
• Pushkar - biggest temple - people come to the temple and swim in the lake
• for what are they worshipped?
• nor worshipped as often as others - role as creator is over, no longer any reason to pray to him specifically
• unappealing because of incestuous infatuation with Sharupta, the female goddess he created to help him in creation
• Shiva decided Brahma was too "unholy" to be worshipped
• role in Hindu pantheon: creator god and father of Manu (men)

Four faces

Gold face

Story of going from five heads to four

While creating the universe Brahma made a beautiful woman and named her Satarupa. But Brahma was changed by his own creation. He had never before seen such a fine beauty. To enable himself to see her from all angles he gave himself a second, third, and fourth head. Wherever Satarupa went she found Brahma's eyes staring at her. Disgusted, she rose skywards and in order to see her, Brahma created a fifth head for himself.

Lord Shiva, the destroyer, was watching all this and Brahma's actions greatly angered him. He felt that as Brahma had created Satarupa, she was like his daughter and it was his duty to protect her.

He felt that it was wrong on Brahma's part to be in love with her and to teach him a lesson Shiva struck off Brahma's fifth head.

Brahma

• the Vedas (symbolizes intelligence)

Hindu God:

Red clothes

Maura Dougherty, Lindsay Michel, and Meghan Reckmeyer

Birth story/ancestry

• differing origin stories
• most popular story: born from Vishnu's navel
• also tales of him being born from a golden egg into a lotus
• he created the fathers of the human race from his mind

Four arms

• string of beads (symbolizes cycle of life and time)

• kamandalu (water pot) symbolizes energy

Symbols

• sits on a lotus flower
• red clothes
• associated with swans
• scepter in the form of a spoon