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HINDU PANTHEON
1 <= 2 <= 3 <= 12 <= 330 million
Hinduism:
The Religion of 330 million Gods
(and Goddesses)!
but 12 popular deities
3 important deities (Trimurti)
2 most dominant deities
and One ultimate reality: Brahman!
Hindu Deities
I. VEDIC GODS: Indra, Agni, Mitra, Varuna,Soma, Rita,
Gui,...
II. GODS of POPULAR HINDUISM
GODS OF POPULAR HINDUISM (OR POPULAR DEVOTION):
*HINDU TRIMURTI (TRINITY)
 1. BRAHMA
(creator) <===>
 2. VISHNU (Preserver)<===>
 3. SHIVA (destroyer) <===>
SHIVA + KALI => GANESHA (GANAPATI)
(Father+Mother => Son)
Wives
SARASVATI
LAKSHMI
KALI (PARVATI)
TEN MAJOR HINDU AVATARS
The number of avatars has never been settled.
Most Hindus today recognize ten, named in this order:
 1°) Matsya (the fish)
 2°) Kurma (the tortoise)
 3°) Varaha (the boar)
 4°)Narasimha (the man-lion)
 5°) Vamana (the dwarf)
 6°) Parashurama (an ax-wielding man)
 7°) Krishna
 8°)Rama (a folk hero)
 9°) Gautama Buddha (the founder of Buddhism)
 10°) Kalki (the avatar yet to come)
POPULAR HINDU DEITIES
 1. BRAHMAN (the Ultimate Reality)
 2. SACRED COW
 3. Two dominant types of Hinduism:
SHIVA
 VISHNU

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4. TRIMURTI
5. MAJOR GODDESSES
6. RAMA
7. KRISHNA
8. THE NOTION OF AVATARS
9. KALKI (Avatar to come)
10. OTHER GODS AND GODDESSES
MOST POPULAR GODS OF MOST HINDUS

Two dominant Gods: SHIVA and VISHNU

Today, most Hindu adherents are
- Shaivites (worshippers of Shiva)
or
- Vaishnavites (worshippers of Vishnu)

Other important popular Gods:
- Kali
- Krishna
- Rama
- Ganesha
HINDU PANTHEON
Gods and Goddesses of today’s Hinduism
330 million (but 12 popular deities)
Gods
Goddesses
 1. BRAHMAN
8. KALI (Parvati)
 2. BRAHMA
9. SARASVATI
 3. VISHNU
10. LAKSHMI
 4. SHIVA
11. SITA (ideal wife)
 5. GANESHA (Ganapati)
12. Sacred Cow
 6. KRISHNA (associated with the cult of the Sacred Cow)
 7. RAMA (ideal king and ideal husband)

( Kalki and Buddha)
Hindu Goddesses
1.
SHAKTI, the Great Goddess who goes by many names
such as
1. KALI,
2. PARVATI,
3. DURGA
2.
3.
4.
5.
SARASVATI
LAKSHMI
SITA
The SACRED COW
FEATURES OF HINDU THEOLOGY
Hindu understanding of the nature of God offers a complex picture
dominated by the following features:
 1. conception of unity and plurality of God:
 Notion of Avatars
 330 million Gods and Goddesses, one and unique Brahman.
 2. Notion of Trinity
 3. female and male gender of God
 4. doctrine of incarnation of God (or Avatar)
 5. doctrine of the return of KALKI (the “savior”): doctrine born
between 100 and 300 C.E.
 6. two basic conceptions of the nature of God (the impersonal God of
the philosophers and the Personal God of popular devotion)
 - Two different manifestations of the Divine: benevolent and terrifying
(Mysterium tremendum: Otto), inspiring both love and fear.
I. Unity and diversity of God
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According to the epic "Mahabharata" (1.1.39), there are
33,333 Hindu deities.
In other, later sources, that number is multiplied a
thousandfold.
Thus there are more or less 330 million Gods and
Goddesses in the Hindu Pantheon
Usually, however, the gods are referred to as "The
Thirty-Three.”
But most believers today worship 12 deities
II. Hindu Pantheon
Hindu pantheon includes 12 major deities:
 1) Brahman, the ultimate reality
 The trinity (3 main Gods): Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.
 Three main Goddesses: Kali, Lakshmi, Sarasvati
 8) The Sacred Cow
 9-10) 2 major avatars: Krishna and Rama
 11) Ganesha
 12) Sita
 KALKI, the avatar to come
 Buddha (as one of the avatars)
 (Jesus)
HINDU TRINITY




1. BRAHMA (creator) <===>
2. VISHNU (Preserver)<===>
3. SHIVA (destroyer) <===>
Wives
SARASVATI
LAKSHMI
KALI (PARVATI)
SHIVA+KALI => GANESHA (GANAPATI)
(Father+Mother => Son)
HINDU TRINITY (TRIMURTI)


HINDUISM offers its devotees many paths. However
most people’s devotion is centered around 3 major gods
that form the Hindu triad known as TRIMURTI.
At the core of Hindu thought we first find Brahman as the
ultimate reality, the one and undivided.
However postclassical Hinduism sees him in terms of
three forms or functions (Trimurti)- creation,preservation,
and destruction- each of which is expressed by a specific
god: Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.
HINDU TRINITY (or TRIAD)
In the light of the role he plays in the existence of the World, God is
conceived by Hindus as a trinity. Thus three principal moments
are envisioned in the life of the cosmos according to the Hindu
trinity
 Creation:
 Maintenance:
 Destruction:
God Brahma
God Vishnu
God Shiva
Poet Shivavakkiyar (XVII's century BC, Tamil literature) described Shiva as the
One God in the following way:
 "Not
Vishnu, Brahma, Shiva,
 In the Beyond is He,
 Not black, nor white, nor ruddy,
 This source of things that be;
 Not great is he, not little,
 Not female and not male
 But stands for, far, and far beyond
 All being's utmost pale."

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Important myths about the gods are tied to these
moments.
Traditionally, Brahma is the creator,
emanating the universe and simultaneously
promulgating the four Vedas from his four mouths.

As creator, God is conceived as the Cosmic dancer who
creates the world from his dance. And the World is then
conceived as Lila (Play of God).
BRAHMA
 The
God BRAHMA is to be distinguished
from the all-pervading god-force of the
Upanishads, BRAHMAN.
 The word BRAHMAN is neuter.
 The word BRAHMA is masculine and
refers to a distinct entity.
BRAHMA


Of the three leading deities of the Hindu
pantheon, Brahma receives the least attention.
Although Brahma is widely respected and
recognized as being the creator of the world,


only two temples are specifically dedicated to him
in all of India,
and he has no cult of devotees.
 Although
Brahma is not
mentioned in the Vedas,
considerable mythology has
accumulated during the postVedic era about him and his
work of creation.
VISHNU
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He is usually shown in images as a dark-blue man wearing
a crown and possessing four arms, each of which holds an
object specially associated with him:
- a conch shell,
- a discus,
- a mace,
- and a lotus.
Vishnu is deeply concerned for the welfare of humankind


In order to help men Vishnu is believed to have
incarnate in various forms, several of which are
animals.
His two chief incarnations (avataras), however, are
as men: Rama and Krishna.
SHIVA


- he is worshiped as the supreme monotheistic deity.
- Unlike Vishnu, Shiva has a ruthless, intolerant and
ferocious aspect. He is "The Destroyer", the god of death,
and of time which destroy all things. He wears a necklace
of skulls, inhabits burning grounds and battlefields, and is
accompanied by ghosts and demons.
SHIVA

He is usually depicted with two main symbols:
 a third eye in his forehead (as a sign of his wisdom),


and in temples he is often represented with the lingam, a
stylized phallus usually of stone (symbol of power of
procreation).
In Hindu temples, the lingam is often found together with
the YONI, a stylized form of the female sexual organ. YONI
stands as image of Shiva's wife called PARVATI.
SHIVA

SHIVA is regarded as a source of procreation as well as
destruction, that is a special divine force behind all natural
processes of destruction.
SHIVA



He is the great ascetic and yogi, that is, he is the symbol of
the great creative power of nature, and the patron of
ascetics and yogis. He sits on a tiger skin, sunk in
meditation, high on the Himalayan mountains, and by his
meditation preserves the world.
His body is covered with ashes, in token of detachment. He
is the lord of snakes which cover his limbs.
He is also the Lord of Dance (Nataraja), and his eternal
dance animates the universe, or destroys it.
LAKSHMI or SRI: Vishnu’s Wife
She is the goddess of wealth and prosperity.
 She is usually shown sitting on a lotus, and
is a popular divinity.

SARASVATI: Brahma’s Wife
She is the goddess of wisdom, knowledge,
speech, and poetry.
 She is patroness of art, music, speech, and
literature.
 She rides on a peacock,
 and carries a musical instrument, the vina, and a
book. She is said to have invented the Sanskrit
language,
 and is worshipped especially by students,
writers and musicians.

KALI (or PARVATI): Shiva’s Wife
Parvati has many characters and is known by
many names.
 She is the goddess of beauty.
 She is young, and kind.
 She is also called Kali and is depicted with a red
tongue protruding from her mouth.
 As Kali, she is the powerful and terrifying deity.

GANESHA (GANAPATI)
 Parvati
and Shiva have a son
called Ganesha, or Ganapati.
 This god-elephant is especially
beloved by all Hindus.
The Vedic Aryan Gods
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1. VARUNA (The high-arched sky)
2. SAVITAR, SURYA (Sun)
3. INDRA (god of war, storms and monsoons)
4. RUDRA (Mountain storms, plants)
5. AGNI (god of fire)
6. SOMA (drink of communion)
7. RITA (principle of cosmic order)
8. MITRA (god of loyalty and faith keeping)
9. GUI (the SACRED COW, in Hindi)
Hindu Pantheon
1. VEDIC GODS: Indra, Agni, Mitra, Varuna,Soma, Rita, Gui,...
2. BRAHMAN (THE SUPREME GOD OF HINDU PHILOSOPHERS)
3. GODS OF POPULAR HINDUISM (OR POPULAR DEVOTION):



*HINDU TRINITY
Wives
1. BRAHMA (creator) <===>
SARASVATI
2. VISHNU (Preserver)<===>
LAKSHMI
3. SHIVA (destroyer) <===>
KALI (PARVATI)
SHIVA+KALI => GANESHA (GANAPATI)
(Father+Mother => Son)
* AVATARS: Krishna, Rama, Gautama Buddha, Kalki, etc.
* The Sacred Cow (Gui)
IS HINDUISM A FORM OF POLYTHEISM?
(Deconstructing the Hegelian Paradigm Mythology)

“Images of the Hindu gods are not intended
to be understood literally…In studying
Hinduism, traditional labels of polytheism,
monotheism, or atheism are inappropriate.
They are not helpful in understanding Hindu
attitudes toward the divine. Perhaps the
term HENOTHEISM is better, for it
emphasizes one superior god in the presence
of lesser gods.”
(Warren Matthews, World Religions. 4th edition,
Thomson/Wadsworth,2004), pp.108-109.

“A distinctive attitude of Hinduism is that there is
more to the universe than meets the eye. There is a
reality that embraces all we experience; to
understand the universe and ourselves, its presence
is necessary. Behind all the phenomena of life a
source of energy makes it possible. This unit can be
experienced, however, in a great variety of ways. No
one way in itself is complete.”
(Warren Matthews, World Religions. 4th edition, Thomson/Wadsworth,
2004), p.109.

The distinction between the Gods is not between good
and evil, but rather between two ways in which the
divine manifests itself in this world, as both benevolent
and fearful, both harmonious and disharmonious.
Vedic Gods
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1. VARUNA (The high-arched sky)
2. SAVITAR, SURYA (Sun)
3. INDRA (god of war, storms and monsoons)
4. RUDRA (Mountain storms, plants)
5. AGNI (god of fire)
6. SOMA (drink of communion)
7. RITA (principle of cosmic order)
8. MITRA (god of loyalty and faith keeping)
9. GUI (the SACRED COW, in Hindi)
Vedic Hinduism and the response to
human anxieties.
Science has only recently become
humanity’s defense against natural ills.
 Most religions, past and present, address
the whole range of human insecurities.
 Like other religions, the Vedic religion
addresses its adherents’ most acute
insecurities, whatever they be. It was as
broad in its scope as the anxieties of its
people.

In sum, the worship of the Vedic or Aryan gods is
directed toward three types of insecurity:
1. Insecurity from natural forces: disease, danger
of injury, and want.
 2. Moral insecurity
 3. Military insecurity from foreign invasions
=>In economic needs, people worship the gods of
nature,
 For social stability they worship Varuna,
 and in war they worship Indra.

1. Natural Insecurity

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1. Insecurity from natural forces: disease, danger of
injury, and want.
In this area, Vedic worshipers supplemented normal
human efforts by invoking the many nature deities and by
resorting to the Atharvans’ magical rituals.
These gods are invoked when people are in economic
needs (poverty, drought, famine, epidemics, etc)
2. Moral insecurity
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This is caused by destructive individualism within
the community itself.
To overcome this danger, people worship
VARUNA:
As the guardian of rita, Varun punishes antisocial
behavior and supports the authority of kings.
Indra as the personification of Aryan might, is not
moral at all.
3. Military insecurity


Arises in warfare with alien civilizations
Here worshipers call upon the god of unbounded
force, seeking strength and a rallying point in war.
The Aryan gods of the Veda have
varying moral natures.
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Varuna is a highly moral deity.
Nature gods like the solar Savitar are amoral,
Indra as the personification of Aryan might is
not moral at all.
Niels C. Nielsen, ed., Religions of the World (New York: st Martin’s
Press,1993); p.97
INDRA
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In the Rig-Veda, Indra is the creator and ruler of the
universe.
He is the Patriotic God of war par excellence for the
Aryan people
He is a warrior who fights for the Aryans against the
aboriginal Dasas,
He slays demons and hateful forces,
He preserves humans and gods
He quenches his thirst with Soma, an invigorating drink
AGNI

= The Vedic god of Fire

•

•

•
•
SOMA
a deified intoxicating plant.
VARUNA:
God of the high-arched sky.
RITA
God of order and principles.
Rita is the protector of Truth, the principal force of the
universe which orders all things, preventing chaos.
MITRA



was closely allied with Varuna, Truth.
He is the god of faithfulness and keeping
promises;
People invoke his name as they enter binding
agreement.
CHARACTERISTICS OF
OTHER HINDU GODS AND GODS

RAMA


He is often shown carrying a bow and arrow.
He is the embodiment of ideal manhood:

a brave leader,
 a just king,
 a gentle and faithful husband to his wife

RAMA has a wife called SITA, who is herself the
ideal of womanhood.
KALKI
and the notion of the Savior to come



The myth of Kalki is particularly interesting.
Pictured as a swordsman on a white horse (or a horseheaded figure), Kalki is to appear at the end of the present
evil age to unseat from their thrones the wicked barbarian
rulers of the earth and to restore the righteous Brahmanic
order.
This hope in Kalki expresses India's revulsion in the first
three centuries C.E. to the long and often hostile rule of
foreign dynasties and faith in a deity concerned with the
world.
THE SACRED COW
 The

sanctity of the cow is
one of the foremost characteristics of
 Hindu spirituality and devotion.


The sacred cow is largely connected to the
devotion to Krishna
But Indian mythology also says that Lakshmi,
the goddess of wealth, resides in cow's
gobar.
For Hindus, this sacred animal has far deeper
nuances in Indian culture and ethos than is
generally understood.
 For instance, in Sanskrit, the vocabulary used to
mention the cow is indeed staggering, revealing
the extraordinary importance that was once
attached to it.


But for Hindus, the Cow is more than a
sacred animal.
 The cow is the sacred Mother Earth
 The Divine Mother that sustains all
human beings and the life of every
sentient being.
 Gui
as the cow is called in Hindi, is
symbolic of Earth itself (similar to
Gaia, the Greek goddess of earth).
 It follows that the cow represents
the Divine Mother that sustains all
human beings and brings them up
as her very own offspring.

Much as a mother shows the highest
mark of affection for her young, the
passion of the cow for her calf is just
as legendary and often referred to in
Indian literature.
 The ancient texts describe how the
gods run to the succour of a devotee
like a cow hastening to feed her calf.

In fact, the cow is even more than a mother in
the sense that it fulfills all the needs of her
children as well.
 It is in this conception that the cow is
understood as Kakadhenu, the wish filling
mythical cow, abode of the 330 million Indian
gods and goddesses.



But in Indian mythology and legend, it is with the cult of Krishna
that the cow is closely connected.
Among other deeds, Krishna is said to have lifted mount
Govardhan to protect his group of cows, cowboys and
milkmaids.
In popular imagination it is Lord Krishna who symbolized the
relationship man should have for the cow. Hence to take care of
this innocent and self-sacrificing animal is a matter of virtue for
Hindus who identify the act as dharma or moral duty.
THE FIVE GIFTS OF THE COW
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Indian scriptures tell us that the cow is a gift of
the gods to the human race. It is a celestial
being born of the churning of the cosmic
ocean.
it was natural that in a predominantly
agricultural and pastoral country like India,
cows were and to some extent still are,
considered to be the real wealth of the people.
the cow is considered the backbone of rural
society.
Panchgavya (or the five gifts of the cow):
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1. milk,
2. yoghurt,
3. ghee,
4. gohar,
5. and gau mutra.
 1.
it is the cow that gives birth to the
bulls, bulls that are harnessed to
plough the fields and to provide
transportation.
 2. And then there is the mild-milk
that is cultured to become yoghurt 3. yoghurt which is churned to
produce butter-
4. butter which is converted into ghee or
clarified butter that in India is used as
cooking medium.
 5. In addition to this, there is paneer or
cottage cheese and buttermilk.
 6. Indians cannot forget khoya and mana-the other milk derivatives used in
preparation of sweets.

 Paeans
of praise is reserved for
cow's milk and ghee which is
considered to be an elixir.

Dr. D. Bhandari, the former Director of Animal Husbandry in
Rajasthan said,
”It is the wonderful bacterial flora of the cow's stomach that imparts
this matchless quality to its milk ideally balanced for humans.
Buffalo milk may be richer but it is the cow's milk that sharpens intellect,
gives swiftness of body,
stability of emotions
and a serene nature
to the one who drinks it."

Gobar and gau mutra are also mixed with
mud and straw to make dried cakes that
fuel kitchen fires. Traditional wisdom says
that in burning these cow dung cakes, the
temperature never rises beyond a certain
point, ensuring the nutrients in the food
are not destroyed by overheating.
Besides, the smoke of gobar clears the air
of germs.
Gobar has also been successfully used
to produce bio-gas and generate
electricity for consumer use.
 Scientific studies show that gobar has
been found to be resistant to solar
radiation.
 And of course, gobar mixed with gau
mutra makes for excellent manure and
a natural pesticide.

Modern day ecologists are saying that as
compared to chemical fertilizer which damages
the land in the long run, gobar actually
improves the health of the soil.


It isn't hard to see why Indian mythology says
that
 Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth,
resides in cow's gobar.
6 major purposes of life are fulfilled by the cow
 1. Electricity and bio-gas.
 2. Production of food: Energy or Power to plough the
field
 3. Transportation
 4. Leather (clothing)
 5. Good food
 6. Products of various usage
 7. Medicine.
4. Good Food
 1.
Milk
 2. Yoghurt
 3. Butter
 4. Cottage Cheese
 5. Ghee
 6. And other products
5. Other products
the cow’s horns
 and bones
 and other parts of the body like intestines
have various uses.

6. Medicine



Cow milk and other derivative products help
people become healthy physically,
intellectually and psychologically.
The Cow heals the mind and the body.
Cow products provide:…

Cow products provide:
 Sharp intellect
 Swiftness of the body (beauty)
 Mental stability (Stability of emotions)
 Serene nature
In other words the cow helps you be
 a smart person,
 a beautiful person,
 a good and emotionally stable personality (not a
crazy one)


Cow urine or gau mutra (taken in measured
quantities) has a unique place in Ayurveda,
the ancient Indian system of medicine.
Commenting on the chemistry of gau
mutra,Dr. C.H.S. Sastry, Director of the
National Institute of Ayurveda said,
"Cow urine is used to produce a whole range
of ayurvedic drugs, especially to treat skin
diseases like eczema."