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Brahma is the Hindu creator god, and one of the Trimurti, the three principal Hindu deities (all hatched from an egg laid by Ammavaru), the others being Vishnu and Shiva. He is the husband of Sarasvati. However, being the Creator, all of his "sons" are "manas-putras," or mind-sons, indicating their birth from Brahma's mind and not from his body.
Brahma only occasionally interferes in the affairs of the gods, and even more rarely in mortal affairs. He did force Soma to give Tara back to her husband, Brihaspati. He is considered the father of Dharma and Atri. Brahma lives in BrahmapuraIn Hinduism, Brahmapura is the mythical and holy city of Brahma, one of the three primary deities. It is located on Mt., a city located on Mt. MeruIn Hinduism, Mount Meru is the mountain where the gods live, supposedly 80,000 leagues high. Svarga is also located here. There is a volcano called Meru near Arusha in the northeast of Tanzania in Africa..
Brahma is an agent of BrahmanThis article is about the concept of transcendent reality in Hinduism. See also Brahmin and Brahman (disambiguation). In the Vedantic (and subsequently Yogic) schools of Hinduism, Brahman is the signifying name given to the concept of the unchanging, infi, the Supreme Being or AbsoluteIn some varieties of philosophy, The Absolute describes an ultimate being; the Absolute is the whole of things, all that is. It is usually conceived of as unitary, as spiritual, as conscious — at least insofar as it can be acknowledged by the human mind — of Hinduism.
Brahma is traditionally depicted with four heads, faces and arms. Each head recites one of the four Vedas. The hands hold a water-pot used in creating life, a string of rosary beads used to keep track of the Universe's time, the text of the Vedas, and a lotus flower.
The acquiring of Brahma's heads makes for an interesting legend. When Brahma was creating the universe, he made a female deity known as ShatarupaIn Hindu mythology, when Brahma was creating the universe, he made a female deity known as Shatarupa (one with a hundred beautiful forms). According to the Matsya Purana Shatarupa was known by different names including Satarupa, Sarasvati, Sandhya or Brah (one with a hundred beautiful forms). Brahma was immediately infatuated. Shatarupa moved in various directions to avoid the gaze of Brahma. But wherever she went, Brahma developed a head. Thus, Brahma developed five heads, one on each side and one above the others. In order to control Brahma, Shiva cut off the top head. Also, Shiva felt that Shatarupa was Brahma's daughter, being created by him. Therefore, Shiva determined, it was wrong for Brahma to become obsessed with her. He directed that there be no proper worship in India for the "unholy" Brahma. Thus, only Vishnu and Shiva continue to be worshipped, while Brahma is almost totally ignored. Ever since the incident, Brahma has been reciting the four Vedas in his attempt at repentance.
Another legend of the lack of worship of Brahma is as follows: Once, both Vishnu and Brahma approached Siva and requested to find his beginning and end. Vishnu was appointed the end, and Brahma the beginning. Each took their journey, and neither could find their appointed destination. Vishnu, satisfied, came up to Siva and bowed down to him as a swarupa of BrahmanThis article is about the concept of transcendent reality in Hinduism. See also Brahmin and Brahman (disambiguation). In the Vedantic (and subsequently Yogic) schools of Hinduism, Brahman is the signifying name given to the concept of the unchanging, infi. Brahma did not give up so easily. As he was going up, he saw a kaitha flower, dear to Siva. His ego forced him to ask the flower to bear false witness of Brahma's finding Siva's beginning. When Brahma told his tale, Siva, the all-knowing, was angered by the former's ego. Siva thus cursed him that no being in the three worlds will worship him.
There is another legend which relates Brahma's not being worshipped to a curse by the great sage BrahmarishiBrahmarishi is the highest of the Rishis. One who has understood the meaning of Brahmam, hence the name. Pronunciation 'Brahm' sounds like 'Drum' with a 'B' 'a' is like the 'a' in 'above' 'Rish' sounds like 'Wish' with an 'R' 'i' is like the 'e' in 'eagle Bhrigu . Once a great fire-sacrifice ( yajna) was being organised on Earth with Bhrigu being the high priest. It was decided that the greatest among all Gods would be made the presiding deity. Bhrigu then set off to find the greatest among the Trinity. When he went to Brahma, he was so immersed in the music played by Saraswati that he could hardly hear Bhrigu's calls. The enraged Bhrigu then cursed Brahma that no person on Earth would ever invoke him or worship him again.