Hindu Divinities: Ganesha

Ganesha is one of the most worshipped Gods of Hinduism. He has a human body and an elephant head.

According to one of the legends, Shiva’a wife Parvati conceived Ganesha to protect her door while she was taking a bath. When Shiva arrived, Ganesha (that didn’t know Shiva) didn’t let him pass and Shiva cut his head.

Then Shiva seeing his wife so sad, promised her that he would replace the newly born’s head with the head of the first living creature that would pass in front of the door. And this creature happened to be an elephant!

Hindu Divinities: Brahma

In Hinduism, Brahma (meaning “evolution” in sanskrit) is the God Creator of the universe and member of the Tri-Murti (“three shapes”) composed by Brahma (God that creates), Vishnu (God that preserves) and Shiva (God that destroys).

One of his specificities is to be represented with 4 heads and 4 arms. The legend says that when he was creating the universe, Brahma engendered a female divinity called Shatarupa and fell deeply in love with her. In order to be able to follow her in all the directions where she was trying to go away from him, he grew five heads: one for every cardinal direction and one to see above.

In order to control this God, Shiva cut the head looking above and declared that it was inconvenient to Brahma to be in love with his own daughter. Shiva decided that Brahma would not be venerated anywhere as a punishment.

And in fact, despite being the God Creator, Brahma is almost completely ignored and only a few temples are dedicated to him.

Hindu Divinities

Are you interested in Indian spirituality? This week India Chez-Moi will bring you more knowledge about Hindu Divinities.