|
 In the Pauranic period, Brahma, as befits
a God of Creation, was granted Saraswati the goddess of learning as his wife. (See
our section in Saraswati.)
Brahma survived as an object of some respect by being aligned to Vishnu, albeit with
a distinctively inferior status. He is supposed to perform his manifold
tasks of creation while sitting on a lotus that grows out of Vishnu's navel. This
is a great degradation from his formal status as one of the Great Trinity, but Hinduism
being an instinctual faith rather than an intellectual one, nobody seems to have
realized what has happened. The conflict with the Shiva cult remained and Shiva
is constantly visiting punishment upon the creator. Once he cuts off the fifth head
of Brahma for his disrespectful and lustful behavior. In another version he acts
just in time to prevent Brahma from acquiring supreme status. At one time Brahma
did become the Supreme God. His fifth head began to glow with a luster that proved
unbearably scorching for all the Worlds of Gods and men because it was shining with
the light of understanding of the Vedas that it had heard from the other four heads
of Brahma. Shiva therefore, to save the universe as well as to check such presumption,
cut off this glowing head. Shiva is supposed to have pronounced the final curse that
caused Brahma to fall forever from worship, an indication of the total triumph of
the Shiva faction over the votaries of Brahma.
The story is that Vishnu and Brahma were debating which if them was superior when
Shiva manifested himself as a great pillar of fire with no end in either heaven
or the nether world. Vishnu took the form of a boar and burrowed down for countless
ages to seek the source of this strange fiery pillar. He failed to do so and recognized
that Shiva was not only the pillar, he was superior to him. He gave up the quest
therefore. Brahma however, flew up as a swan and came back many aeons later with
the report that he had seen the summit. An angry Shiva curses him for claiming credit
for achievements not his own. He is cursed with perpetual old age and the total
desertion of all worshippers. That explains why Brahma is always depicted nowadays
as a senile old man who is so decrepit you wonder if he is not going to expire instantaneously.
But as our illustrations show that was not always the case with Indian art.
The furious Shiva is popularly supposed to have relented and allowed Brahma one
spot on all the earth where he has a temple dedicated solely to his worship. This
is the famous Pushkar temple situated in the middle of a lake and an unusually serene
spot. However the common perception of there being only one temple to Brahma is untrue.
There are at least four major temples to him still in use today. They are Pushkar
in Ajmer, Rajasthan; Dudhai in the state of Madhya Pradesh; Khed Brahma at Idar,
also in Madhya Pradesh and Kodakkal in the Malabar region of Kerala-Karnataka. Remember
you heard it here first! I would not be in the least surprised if more temples
came to light tucked away in remote and obscure spots. Brahma worshippers are not
desirous of the limelight. In vindication of this hunch just recently, July 2004,
I came to know of a fifth Brahma temple in the state of Andhra Pradesh. This temple
is part of a group of predominantly Shiva shrines at Kaleshwaram, 130 kilometers
from Karimnagar, and is in the middle of nowhere in particular, so that explains
its anonymity. I am certain more temples exist to Brahma and will be discovered
in due time.
Brahma is depicted as a four or five-faced man with four hands. He is the epitome
of Vedic learning and hence has the Vedas in one hand, prayer beads in another,
the sacred water pot in the third hand and a ladle for the Vedic fire sacrifice
in the fourth hand. In some versions he is depicted with a bow. This would be consistent
with mythology as the supreme weapon is a missile called the Brahmastra, and it
is a much sought after boon of Brahma. His vehicle is the swan, like that of Saraswati,
and his complexion is supposed to be red. The Male Trinity too are a Red, Black
and White (primary colors of spirituality) trio like the goddesses are. A day of
Brahma is a span of creation and lasts for 2,160,000,000 human years! Creation is
in abeyance during the night of Brahma, which lasts for the same length of time
and then the Cycle is repeated. Brahma lives for a hundred years thus, and
then he too dies and all creation is finally dissolved. Only Shiva, Vishnu or the
Goddess, depending upon your cult affiliation are eternal and bring about the next
Cycle of Creation. His various epithets represent his ancient creative role. Amongst
them are Sanat, the Ancient One, Adi-kavi, the first poet and Srashtri, the creator.
|