Gods and goddesses of India

The Great Goddess Durga is said to be exquisitely beautiful. Her form is blindingly bright (devi), with three lotus-like eyes, ten powerful hands, lush hair with beautiful curls, a red-golden glow from her skin and a quarter moon on her forehead. She wears a shiny oceanic blue attire emitting fierce rays. Her ornaments were carved beautifully of gold, with ocean pearls and precious stones embedded in it. Each god also gave her their own most powerful weapons, Rudra's trident, Vishnu's discus, Indra's thunderbolt, Brahma's kamandal, Kuber's gada, etc. Himalayas gifted her a fierce whitish golden lion. On the end of the 8th and beginning of the 9th day of waxing moon, Chanda and Munda came to fight the goddess. She turned blue with anger and goddess Chamunda leaped out of her third eye. Her form was the most powerful one with 3 red eyes, blood-filled tongue and dark skin; who finally killed the twin demons with her sword. This form of the divine goddess is worshipped during the sandhikshan of Durga Puja festival, as sandhi/chandi puja. Finally on the tenth day of waxing moon, goddess Durga killed Mahishasura with her trident.

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Kali, also known as Kalika, is a Hindu goddess associated with death and destruction. Despite her negative connotations, she is not actually the goddess of death, but rather of Time and Change. Although sometimes presented as black and violent, her earliest incarnation as a figure of annihilation still has some influence. More complex Tantric beliefs sometimes extend her role so far as to be the "Ultimate Reality" or Brahman. She is also revered as Bhavatarini (lit. "redeemer of the universe"). Comparatively recent devotional movements largely conceive Kali as a benevolent mother-goddess.

Kali is represented as the consort of god Shiva, on whose body she is often seen standing. She is associated with many other Hindu goddesses like Durga, Bhadrakali, Sati, Rudrani, Parvati and Chamunda. She is the foremost among the Dasa-Mahavidyas, ten fierce Tantric goddesses.[1]

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Lakshmi or Mahalakshmi is the Hindu goddess of wealth and prosperity. Representations of Lakshmi (or Shri) are found also in Jain and Buddhist monuments, with the earliest archeological representation found in Buddhist monuments.

Lakshmi in Sanskrit is derived from its elemental form "lakS," meaning to perceive or observe. This is synonymous with "lakSya," meaning aim or objective. Lakshmi is thus goddess of the means to achieving objectives, including prosperity in the lives of mankind.

She is the consort of Vishnu and married Rama (in her incarnation as Sita) and Krishna (as Rukmini and Radha).

Physically, goddess Lakshmi is described as a fair lady, with four arms, seated on a lotus, dressed in fine garments and precious jewels. Her expression is always calm and loving. The most striking feature of the iconography of Lakshmi is her persistent association with the lotus. The meaning of the lotus in relation to Shri-Lakshmi refers to purity and spiritual power. Rooted in the mud but blossoming above the water, completely uncontaminated by the mud, the lotus represents spiritual perfection and authority. Furthermore, the lotus seat is a common motif in Hindu iconography.

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Sarasvati is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music and the arts. Saraswati has been identified with the Vedic Saraswati River. She is considered as consort of Brahma, the Hindu god of creation. Thus, with the goddesses Lakshmi and Parvati or Durga, she forms the Tridevi ("three goddesses"), who are consorts of the male trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, respectively. Saraswati's children are the Vedas[citation needed], which are the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism.
The Goddess Saraswati is often depicted as a beautiful, white-skinned woman dressed in pure white often seated on a white Nelumbo nucifera lotus (although Her actual vahana is believed to be a swan), which symbolizes that she is founded in the experience of the Absolute Truth. Thus, she not only has the knowledge but also the experience of the Highest Reality. She is mainly associated with the color white, which signifies the purity of true knowledge. Occasionally, however, she is also associated with the colour yellow, the colour of the flowers of the mustard plant that bloom at the time of her festival in the spring. She is not adorned heavily with jewels and gold, unlike the goddess Lakshmi, but is dressed modestly ??” perhaps representing her preference of knowledge over worldly material things.

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Mahavidyas (Great Wisdoms) are aspects of Devi in Hinduism. The Ten Mahavidyas are known as Wisdom Goddesses. The spectrum of these ten goddesses covers the whole range of feminine divinity, encompassing horrific goddesses at one end, to the ravishingly beautiful at the other. The name Mahavidyas comes from the roots maha (great) and vidya (revelation, manifestation, knowledge, wisdom).

In the Tantric tradition, these are identified as:

Kali
Tara
Tripura Sundari
Bhuvaneshvari
Bhairavi
Chhinnamasta
Dhumavati
Bagalamukhi
Matangi
Kamalatmika

The Mahabhagavata-purana and Brhaddharma-purana provide a slightly different list of the Mahavidyas: Kali, Tara, Chinnamasta, Bhuvanesvari, Bagala, Dumavati, Kamala, Matangi, Sodasi, and Bhairavi.

The Guhyatiguyha-tantra associates the Mahavidyas with the ten avatars of Vishnu, and states that the Mahavidyas are the source from which the avatars of Vishnu arose.

All ten forms of the Goddess, whether gentle or terrifying, are worshiped as the universal Mother.

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Maithuna is a Sanskrit term used in Tantra most often translated as sexual union in a ritual context. It is the most important of the five makara and constitutes the main part of the Grand Ritual of Tantra variously known as Panchamakara, Panchatattva, and Tattva Chakra.

Although some writers, sects and schools consider this to be a purely mental and symbolical act, a look at different variations (and translations) of the word maithuna clearly shows that it refers to male-female couples and their union in the physical, sexual sense and is synonymous with kriya nishpatti (mature cleansing).

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Shiva is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. Within Shaivism he is viewed as the Supreme deity, whereas in other branches of Hinduism such as the Smarta tradition he is worshipped as one of the six manifestations of the Divine. Followers of Hinduism who focus their worship upon Shiva are called Shaivites or Shaivas (Sanskrit ??aiva).

Shiva is one of the six primary forms of the Divine in Smartism, a denomination of Hinduism that puts particular emphasis on six deities, the other five being Vishnu, Shakti, Ganesha, Kartikkeya and Surya.[9] In some other Hindu denominations, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva represent the three primary aspects of the divine in Hinduism and are collectively known as the Trimurti. In this school of religious thought, Brahma is the creator, Vishnu is the maintainer or preserver, and Shiva is the destroyer or transformer.[10]

Shiva is usually worshipped as the Shiva linga. In images, he is generally represented as immersed in deep meditation or dancing the Tandava upon the demon of ignorance in his manifestation of Nataraja, the lord of the dance.

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Ganesha, also spelled Ganesa or Ganesh and also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon.[5] His image is found throughout India.[6] Hindu sects worship him regardless of other affiliations.[7] Devotion to Ganesha is widely diffused and extends to Jains, Buddhists, and beyond India.

Ganesha is a popular figure in Indian art.[32] Unlike those of some deities, representations of Ganesha show wide variations and distinct patterns changing over time.[33] He may be portrayed standing, dancing, heroically taking action against demons, playing with his family as a boy, sitting down, or engaging in a range of contemporary situations.

Ganesha images were prevalent in many parts of India by the 6th century.[34] The figure shown to the right is typical of Ganesha statuary from 900?????1200, after Ganesha had been well-established as an independent deity with his own sect. This example features some of Ganesha's common iconographic elements. A virtually identical statue has been dated between 973?????1200 by Paul Martin-Dubost,[35] and another similar statue is dated c. 12th century by Pratapaditya Pal.[36] Ganesha has the head of an elephant and a big belly. This statue has four arms, which is common in depictions of Ganesha. He holds his own broken tusk in his lower-right hand and holds a delicacy, which he samples with his trunk, in his lower-left hand. The motif of Ganesha turning his trunk sharply to his left to taste a sweet in his lower-left hand is a particularly archaic feature.[37] A more primitive statue in one of the Ellora Caves with this general form has been dated to the 7th century.[38] Details of the other hands are difficult to make out on the statue shown. In the standard configuration, Ganesha typically holds an axe or a goad in one upper arm and a noose in the other upper arm.

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Murugan is a popular Hindu deity among Tamil Hindus, and is worshipped primarily in areas with Tamil influence, especially South India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. But in Sri Lanka Hindus as well as Buddhists worshipping him together, a highly sacred Buddhist and Hindu shrine Katharagama temple (also in Sinhala "Katharagama Devalaya") dedicated to him and situated deep south in the country[1]. He is not quite so well-known in other parts of India. Like most Hindu deities, He is known by many other names, including Senthil, Sarava??‡a, K??rttikeya (meaning 'son of Krittika' ), Arumugam or Shanmukha (meaning 'one with six faces'), Kum??ra (meaning 'child or son'), Guha, Skanda (meaning 'that which is spilled or oozed, namely seed' in Sanskrit)[2], Subrahma??‡ya, V?“la??‡ and Swaminatha[3]. He is the God of war and the patron deity of the Tamil land (Tamil Nadu). According to the Tamil devotional work, Thiruppugazh, "Murugan never hesitates to come to the aid of a devotee when called upon in piety or distress".
Kartikeya symbols are based on the weapons - Vel, the Divine Lance that He carries and His mount the peacock. He is sometimes depicted with many weapons including: a sword, a javelin, a mace, a discus and a bow although more usually he is depicted wielding a sakti or spear. This symbolizes His purification of human ills. His javelin is used to symbolize His far reaching protection, His discus symbolizes His knowledge of the truth, His mace represents His strength and His bow shows His ability to defeat all ills. His peacock mount symbolizes his destruction of the ego.

His six heads represent the six siddhis bestowed upon yogis over the course of their spiritual development. This corresponds to his role as the bestower of siddhis.

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Krishna is a deity worshiped across many traditions of Hinduism. Krishna is perceived differently within different traditions of Hinduism. While all Vaishnava groups recognize him as an avatar of Vishnu, some consider him to be svayam bhagavan, or the original form of the Lord.

Krishna is often depicted as a baby, as a young boy playing a flute as in the Bhagavata Purana,[1] or as a youthful prince giving philosophical direction and guidance as in the Bhagavad Gita.[2]

The stories of Krishna appear across a broad spectrum of Hindu philosophical and theological traditions.[3][4] Though they sometimes differ in details reflecting the concerns of a particular tradition, some core features are shared by all.[5] These include a divine incarnation, a pastoral childhood and youth, and life as a heroic warrior and teacher.

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