Hinduism is among the world’s oldest religions and boasts over 900 million followers around the globe. The Hindu religion teaches that there is one supreme God, Brahman, who is present in all things. However, Hindus worship many other lesser deities as well, the most important of which are Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Hindu’s believe that Brahman’s work on Earth is done and this triumvirate has taken over Brahman’s role of creating, maintaining and destroying the world.
Shiva takes on the role of destroyer and Vishnu takes on the role of preserver and protector. Brahma, not to be mistaken with Brahman, takes on the role of creator.
Brahma was responsible for the creation of the world and everything in it.
Of the members of the triumvirate, Brahma is the least worshipped god in Hinduism today. In all of India, there are only two temples devoted to his worship, compared to the many thousands that are devoted to Vishnu and Shiva.
Brahma is represented in human form with four heads. It is believed that from these four heads come to the four Vedas, which are the most ancient religious texts for Hindus. Brahma also has four arms and usually depicted with a beard. Brahma’s female companion is Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge.
Considering that the Christian God is revered as the Creator of all things, it may seem strange that the Hindu god of creation is not highly worshipped. However, there are several stories in Hindu mythology that shed some light on this.
Brahma created Shatarupa
One such story says that Brahma created a woman named Shatarupa to help him with his job of creation. According to the myth, Shatarupa was so beautiful that Brahma became completely infatuated with her and stared at her wherever she went.
Shatarupa was embarrassed by this attention and tried to escape his gaze, but in every direction that she moved, Brahma sprouted a new head until he had developed four. The frustrated Shatarupa became desperate and began to jump to try to escape his gaze. This prompted Brahma to sprout yet another head on top of the others in order to keep her insight.
It is said that Shiva admonished Brahma for his “unholy” behavior towards Shatarupa and chopped off his fifth head as punishment. Brahma had given into the cravings of the flesh and abandoned the work of the soul and for this Shiva’s curse was that people should not worship Brahma.
The story also goes on to say that Brahma has been continually reciting the four Vedas ever since as a form of repentance, one from each of his four heads.
The Escape from Brahma’s gaze
Another interesting addition to this story says that in her attempts to escape Brahma’s gaze, Shatarupa also changed her form, becoming every creature on earth. This was not enough to stop Brahma, however, who responded by changing into the male version of whatever creature she became, thus creating every animal species in the world.
Another view on why Brahma is not worshipped is simply because his role as the creator is over. Unlike Vishnu and Shiva, Brahma’s job is done, making him seem less important and less relevant in the eyes of many Hindu worshippers today.
