Tuesday 30 August 2011

Lack of Brahma worship in India


Although Brahma is one of the three major gods in Hinduism, few Hindus actually worship him. Today, India today has very few temples dedicated to Brahma, as opposed to the tens of thousands of temples dedicated to the other deities in the Trimurti, namely Vishnu and Shiva. Among the few that exist today, the most famous is in Pushkar in Rajasthan.

Others include one in Thirunavaya in Kerala; one in the temple town of Kumbakonam, (Thanjavur District) in Tamil Nadu; Nerur village in Kudal taluka of SindhudurgMaharashtra ; one in Asotra village in Balotra Taluka of Barmer district in Rajasthan known as Kheteshwar Brahmadham Tirtha; one in Brahma-Karmali village in Sattari Taluka in Goa; one in Khedbrahma in Gujarat; and one in the village of Khokhan in the Kullu Valley, 4 km from Bhuntar. Regular pujas are held for Lord Brahma at the temple in Thirunavaya, and during Navrathris this temple comes to life with colourful festivities.

district of Another temple for Lord Brahma is located at Thirupattur, near Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, South India. This temple also has the Samadhi for Sage Vyakrapatha.


Various stories in Hindu mythology talk about curses that have supposedly prevented Brahma from being worshiped on Earth.


According to a story in the Shiva Purana (dedicated to Lord Shiva), at the beginning of time in Cosmos, Vishnu and Brahma approached a huge Shiva linga and set out to find its beginning and end. Vishnu was appointed to seek the end and Brahma the beginning. Taking the form of a boar, Vishnu began digging downwards into the earth, while Brahma took the form of a swan and began flying upwards. However, neither could find His appointed destination. Vishnu, satisfied, came up to Shiva and bowed down to him as a swarupa of Brahman. Brahma did not give up so easily. As He was going up, he saw a ketaki (Sanskrit - Kaetakee) flower, dear to Shiva. His ego forced him to ask the flower to bear false witness about Brahma's discovery of Shiva's beginning. When Brahma told his tale, Shiva, the all-knowing, was angered by the former's ego. Shiva thus cursed him that no being in the three worlds will worship him.


According to another legend, Brahma is not worshiped because of a curse by the great sage BrahmarishiBhrigu. The high priest Bhrigu was organising a great fire-sacrifice (yajna) on Earth. 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 Trimurti. When he went to Brahma, the god 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.


In the Brahma Purana and Hindu cosmology, Brahma is regarded as the creator but not necessarily as God. Rather, He is regarded as a creation of God / Brahman. The lifespan of Brahma is 100 Brahma years, equivalent to 311,040,000,000,000 solar years. At the end of His lifespan, there will be a gap of 100 Brahma years, after which another Brahma or creator will begin the process of creation anew. This cycle is thought to repeat without end.

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