Everyone and everything
Shiva
Mahadeva · Maheshvara · Parameshvara · Shankara · Neelakantha · Gangadhara · Pashupati · Adiyogi
The great god of the Shaiva traditions and one of the three of the Puranic Trimurti, where he is assigned dissolution…
Vishnu
Narayana · Hari · Perumal · Mayon · Trivikrama · Srinivasa
Vishnu begins as a minor god of the Rigveda, addressed in only a handful of hymns and remembered for pacing out the…
Brahma
Prajapati · Pitamaha · Svayambhu · Hiranyagarbha · Chaturmukha · Vidhi · Vethan (Ayyavazhi) · Phra Phrom (Thailand)
The creator of the Puranic triad, grandfather of the worlds, father of the mind-born sages and the giver of boons that…
Krishna
Vasudeva · Gopala · Govinda · Dwarkadhish
Born in Kamsa's prison at Mathura and carried across the Yamuna to Gokul; the cowherd of Braj, the king of Dwarka, the…
Rama
Ramachandra · Raghava
Prince of Ayodhya and hero of the Ramayana; born to Dasharatha and Kausalya on Chaitra shukla navami, exiled for…
Parvati
Uma · Gauri · Aparna · Shailaputri · Bhavani · Haimavati
Daughter of the mountain Himavat and Mena, the rebirth of Sati, who won Shiva as her husband by long austerity after…
Dattatreya
Datta · Avadhuta · Digambara
The son of the sage Atri and Anasuya in whom the natures of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are combined — the one widely…
Bhrigu
Bhrigu Maharishi
One of the great seers and a son of Brahma. In the Bhagavata he is chosen by the sages on the Sarasvati to find out…
Jagannath
Nila Madhava · Purushottama · Darubrahma
The wooden lord of Puri, worshipped with Balabhadra and Subhadra, whose bodies are carved anew from chosen neem trees…
Venkateswara
Srinivasa · Balaji · Venkatachalapati · Govinda
Vishnu as the lord of the Venkata hill, the temple tradition's answer to why the god left Vaikuntha: after Bhrigu's…
Mahadevi
Devi · Yoganidra · Mahamaya · Bhuvaneshvari · Adi Shakti
The Great Goddess of the Shakta frame. In the Devi Mahatmya she is the sleep in which Vishnu lies and must leave his…
Anasuya
Anusuya
Wife of the sage Atri, held up as the model of a chaste and austere wife. When the three gods come to her hermitage as…
Bali
Mahabali · Bali Chakravarti
Grandson of Prahlada, the generous asura king who gave Vamana three paces despite Shukra's warning and offered his own…
Ravana
The ten-headed king of Lanka and a great devotee of Shiva: he tried to lift Kailash and was pinned under Shiva's toe…
Harihara
Shankaranarayana · Hari-Hara
Vishnu (Hari) and Shiva (Hara) as one body split down the middle, the ascetic Shiva half on the right and the crowned…
Kartikeya
Skanda · Murugan · Kumara · Subrahmanya · Shanmukha · Mahasena
The six-headed war-god born to slay Taraka, who could die only to Shiva's son. In the Mahabharata Shiva's fiery seed is…
Lakshmi
Shri · Padma · Kamala · Mahalakshmi
Goddess of fortune and radiance. The Rigveda speaks of Shri as prosperity and the Shri Sukta hymns her; the Shatapatha…
Ayyappa
Ayyappan · Manikandan · Manikantha · Dharma Shasta · Hariharaputra · Hariharasuta
The god of Sabarimala, held in Kerala to be the son of Shiva and Vishnu-as-Mohini, born to kill the buffalo-demoness…
Ganesha
Ganapati · Vinayaka · Gajanana · Vighneshvara
The elephant-headed son of Shiva and Parvati, remover of obstacles, worshipped first in every rite. The Puranas give at…
Ranganatha
Sri Ranganathaswamy · Arangan · Periya Perumal
The reclining Vishnu of the Kaveri island, whose image faces south because it refused to move on from Srirangam when…
Vithoba
Vitthala · Panduranga · Pandharinath
The god who stands arms-akimbo on a brick at Pandharpur because the devotee Pundalik, busy serving his parents, tossed…
Hiranyakashipu
Asura king armed with a boon that no man or beast, weapon, day or night, indoors or outdoors, could kill him; father…
Narasimha
Nrisimha · the man-lion
The man-lion who bursts from a pillar to kill Hiranyakashipu in a way that slips past every clause of the king's boon…
Prahlada
Boy devotee of Vishnu taught by Narada in the womb, who survived every attempt of his father Hiranyakashipu to kill him…
Savitri
Brahma's wife in the Pushkar cycle. She arrives late to his yajna, finds he has married Gayatri to complete the rite…
The Tripura demons
Tarakaksha · Kamalaksha · Vidyunmali · Tripurasura
The three sons of Taraka who won from Brahma three flying cities of iron, silver and gold, built by the architect Maya…
Andhaka
The blind demon born of the sweat of Parvati's hands when she covered Shiva's eyes, adopted by Hiranyaksha, who lusted…
Bhairava
Kala Bhairava · Mahakala Bhairava
Shiva's terrifying form. In the Lingodbhava cycle he cuts off Brahma's fifth head and wanders with the skull until…
Chandra
Soma
The moon god. In the Bhagavata's telling of Anasuya's sons he is Soma, the son who carries Brahma's portion.
Jaya and Vijaya
Jaya-Vijaya · dvarapalas of Vaikuntha
The two gatekeepers of Vaikuntha who barred the child-like Kumaras and were cursed to be born away from Vishnu; they…
Kaitabha
Twin of Madhu, born from Vishnu's ear-wax. Deluded by the Goddess in the Devi Mahatmya, the pair grant Vishnu a boon…
Kamadeva
Kama · Manmatha · Ananga · Madana
The god of desire, sent by the gods to make the mourning ascetic Shiva love Parvati so that a son could be born to kill…
Madhu
One of the twin demons born from the wax of Vishnu's ears while he sleeps on the cosmic waters. With Kaitabha he…
Meenakshi
Angayarkanni · Tadatagai
The fish-eyed goddess of Madurai, born with three breasts to the Pandya king Malayadhwaja and queen Kanchanamalai from…
Mohini
Mohini-avatara
The enchantress form Vishnu takes: in the Bhagavata to hand the nectar of the churning to the gods, and later to be…
Narada
A mind-born son of Brahma, the wandering divine sage and musician who carries news between the worlds. His best-known…
Padmanabhaswamy
Ananta Padmanabha · Sree Padmanabha
The reclining Vishnu of Travancore, seen through three doors as face, body and feet. Two origin accounts: the Kerala…
Rudra
Rudra-Shiva · Kapardin
The Vedic layer of Shiva: a fierce, howling storm-god of the Rigveda with matted hair, tawny colour, bow and arrows…
Shrinathji
Nathji · Govardhannathji
The Pushtimarg's child Krishna lifting Govardhan, an image held to have emerged of itself from the hill near Mathura —…
Trimurti cave, Mahabalipuram
Mamallapuram Trimurti cave temple
A Pallava rock-cut group of three shrines on one platform, dated by its 'Malla' inscription to Narasimhavarman I…
Tulsi
Vrinda · Tulasi
Vrinda, wife of the asura Jalandhara, whose chastity shielded him until Vishnu deceived her in his form; she cursed…
Udupi Krishna
Udupi Sri Krishna · Kadagolu Krishna
The child Krishna with a churning rod, found by Madhvacharya inside a lump of gopichandana clay from a ship he had…
Vamana
Trivikrama · Vamanamoorthy
The dwarf brahmin who asks King Bali for three paces of land and then grows to cover heaven and earth in two strides…
Vrikasura
Vrika · Vrikasura son of Sakuni
The demon of Bhagavata 10.88. On Narada's advice he worships Shiva at Kedara with his own flesh, wins the boon that…
Atri
One of the seven great seers, husband of Anasuya and father of Dattatreya. In the Bhagavata he prays to the three gods…
Balabhadra (of Puri)
Jagannath's elder brother in the Puri triad, worshipped as Balarama; his chariot Taladhwaja leads the Rath Yatra, and…
Bhagavata Purana
Srimad Bhagavatam
The central Vaishnava Purana; cantos cited here: 3.20 (navel lotus), 7.4–10 (Prahlada), 8.5–12 (churning, Lakshmi's…
Daksha
Daksha Prajapati
A Rigvedic aditya later made a Prajapati under Brahma; the Mahabharata has him and his wife emerge from Brahma's two…
Diwali
Deepavali
The autumn festival of lamps that carries four Vishnu stories by region: Rama's homecoming, Krishna's killing of…
Gajendra
The elephant king seized by a crocodile who, exhausted, raised a lotus and called on Vishnu; in his previous life the…
Guruvayur
Kerala temple town named for Guru (Brihaspati) and Vayu, who installed its Krishna image; the adjacent Mammiyoor temple…
Hanuman
Rama's monkey companion who fetched the Vishvalingam from Kailash for Rameswaram and returned with Rama to Ayodhya.
Kannappa
Thinnan · Kannappa Nayanar · Bhakta Kannappa
The hunter Thinnan who worshipped the Kalahasti linga with meat and water carried in his mouth and, when the linga's…
Narayana (Anantashayana)
Anantashayana · Padmanabha · Garbhodakashayi Vishnu · Sheshashayi
Vishnu as the cosmic being who rests on the waters. Manusmriti derives the name from the waters (nara) that were his…
Padmavati
Alamelu Manga · Alarmelmangai
Daughter of Akasha Raja and an incarnation of Lakshmi, married to Srinivasa at Narayanavanam; her shrine is at…
Phra Phrom
Thai Brahma · Four-faced Buddha
Thailand's four-faced Brahma, worshipped as a guardian spirit in Thai Buddhist and animist practice; the Erawan Shrine…
Saraswati
Vac · Sharada · Brahmani · Vagdevi
Goddess of speech, learning and the arts, and the most sensitive figure in Brahma's cycle: the Puranas make her his…
Sundareswarar
Sokkanathar · Chokkanathar
Shiva as the handsome lord of Madurai, Meenakshi's husband, who in the Tiruvilaiyadal Puranam walks into the city in…
Aiyanar
Ayyanar · Shasta · Hariharaputra · Ayyanayake
Guardian god of the Tamil village boundary, shown on horseback with a sword, with a shrine outside almost every…
Amarnath cave
The cave where an ice linga forms each summer, believed to wax and wane with the moon, held to be the place where Shiva…
Atmalinga
Shiva's own linga, granted to Ravana after his penance on the condition that it never touch the ground before Lanka…
Badrinarayan
Badri Vishal · Badrinath (deity)
The small black stone Vishnu of Badrinath, held to be self-manifested and, by tradition, recovered from the Tapt Kund…
Badrinath
Badrika Ashrama · Badarikashrama
Himalayan Char Dham shrine on the Alaknanda, with the Tapt Kund hot spring below it; documented history is clear only…
Bhadrachalam
Rama temple on the Godavari built in 1674 by the tax officer Ramadasu after a tribal woman found the images in an…
Bhagiratha
The Ikshvaku king whose austerities won Brahma's leave for Ganga to descend and Shiva's consent to catch her, so that…
Bhasmasura
Bhasmasur · the ash demon
A demon who wins from Shiva the power to burn to ash whoever he touches on the head, and turns it on the giver. Vishnu…
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
Gauranga · Nimai
Bengali saint (1486–1534) who taught the Hare Krishna mantra and congregational chanting, spent his last two decades at…
Dakshinamurthy
Dakshinamurti · Adiyogi · Adinath (Nath usage)
Shiva as the silent teacher, seated under a banyan tree facing south, surrounded by sages, teaching yoga, music and the…
Durvasa
The quick-tempered sage whose curse, after Indra's elephant trampled his garland, drained the gods of strength and…
Ekadashi (Yogamaya)
The female power that rose from Vishnu while he slept and killed Murasura; he named her Ekadashi and blessed those who…
Guruvayurappan
Guruvayoorappan · Unnikrishnan
The four-armed Vishnu-Krishna of Guruvayur, whose image temple lore traces from Vishnu's own hands in Vaikuntha through…
Indra
King of the gods and Vishnu's partner in the Rigveda; in the churning story his slight to Durvasa's garland brings the…
Kanakadasa
Sixteenth-century Haridasa poet-saint of a herding caste, barred from the Udupi temple, for whom the Krishna image is…
Karthigai Deepam
The lamp festival on the Karthigai full moon with the Krittika star (November–December), mentioned already in the…
Markandeya
The sage born to Mrikandu as a virtuous son fated to die at sixteen, who embraced the linga when Yama came; Shiva as…
Nandi
Nandikeshvara · Vrishabha
Shiva's bull, his mount and the gatekeeper who faces the linga in every Shiva temple. In the Ravana story he is mocked…
Nataraja
Adavallan · Koothan · Sabesan
Shiva as lord of the dance, performing the Ananda Tandava, the dance of bliss, in the Tillai forest for the sages…
Parashurama
The axe-bearing brahmin warrior who humbles the kshatriya kings; Kerala and Konkan tradition credit him with raising…
Phnom Bok
A hilltop temple of Yasovarman I (late ninth to early tenth century) with three sanctuary towers dedicated to Shiva…
Puri
Purushottama Kshetra · Jagannath Puri
Seat of Jagannath, one of the four Char Dham; the present temple was founded by Anantavarman Chodaganga in the early…
Rath Yatra (Puri)
The chariot festival of Ashadha's bright half in which Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra ride to the Gundicha temple…
Sang Hyang Widhi Wasa
Acintya · Sang Hyang Tunggal · Ida Sang Hyang Widhi
The one supreme being of Balinese Hinduism, described as an absolute source rather than a personal god, of whom Brahma…
Sankaranarayana
Sankara Narayanar · Shankaranarayana
The Tamil name and temple form of Harihara at Sankarankovil: Shiva as the right half and Vishnu as the left, appearing…
Sati
Dakshayani · Adi Shakti (in the yogic-fire telling)
Daksha's daughter and Shiva's first wife, who went uninvited to her father's sacrifice, was insulted, and gave up her…
Shatarupa
She of a hundred forms
The daughter of Brahma and, in the Brahma Purana, the first woman and the wife of Svayambhuva Manu; their children…
Sita
Rama's wife, found in a furrow and taken to Lanka by Ravana; returns with Rama to Ayodhya on the night the north keeps…
Skanda Purana
The largest Purana; its Purushottama Kshetra Mahatmya is the founding story of Puri and its Panduranga Mahatmya one of…
Subhadra (of Puri)
The sister in the Puri triad, riding the chariot Darpadalana between her brothers; her Nabakalebara tree is chosen by a…
Tirumala
Tirupati · Venkata hill · Seshachalam
The seven-hilled seat of Venkateswara above Tirupati; the temple's nine-day Brahmotsavam in October and the Vaikunta…
Vaikuntha
Vishnuloka · Parama Padam · Paramapadam
Vishnu's abode, whose name is read as the place without care or flaw. Ramanuja calls it the highest station; the…
Vaikuntha Ekadashi
Mukkoti Ekadashi · Swargavathil Ekadashi · Mokshada Ekadashi
The bright-fortnight eleventh day of solar Dhanu (mid-December to mid-January) when the gate of Vaikuntha is believed…
Virabhadra
Veerabhadra
The warrior born from a lock of Shiva's hair dashed on the ground when Sati died; with Bhadrakali he wrecked Daksha's…
Adi Shankara
The 8th–9th-century Advaita teacher whom tradition credits with recovering the Badrinarayan image from the Tapt Kund…
Agni
The Vedic fire god, present at Brahma's Pushkar sacrifice; in the temple telling Savitri's anger falls on him too…
Ardhanarishvara
Shiva as half woman: right half male, left half Parvati, stating that the two principles cannot be separated. The…
Arjuna
The third Pandava, whose austerity in the Himalaya for divine weapons was tested by Shiva disguised as a hunter; he…
Arudra Darshan / Thiruvathira
The Margazhi full-moon night with the Thiruvathirai star, the year's longest night: at Chidambaram a ten-day festival…
Balarama
Balabhadra · Baladeva
Krishna's elder brother, the plough-bearer, who takes the Buddha's place in the southern Sri Vaishnava and Smarta…
Basavanna
Basava · Basaveshwara
Twelfth-century minister of the Kalachuri king Bijjala II and the guiding figure of the Lingayats: founder of the…
Brahma Temple, Bindusagar
A fifteenth-century Gajapati-period temple in late Kalingan style beside the Bindusagar tank, housing a four-armed…
Brahmotsavam
The great annual temple festival of South India, named for Brahma because he is held to have been its first officiant…
Dnyaneshwar
Jnaneshwar · Jnanadeva
The 13th-century Marathi saint whose verse commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, the Dnyaneshwari, is the scripture of the…
Dushana
Dushan
The demon of the Ujjain temple legend who joined two hostile kings against the city of the Shiva-devotee king…
Erawan Shrine
San Phra Phrom
The Bangkok shrine of Phra Phrom consecrated on 9 November 1956 on an astrologer's advice after accidents during the…
Ganga
Bhagirathi · Jahnavi · Tripathaga · Vishnupadi
The river goddess who fell from heaven at Bhagiratha's plea to redeem Sagara's sixty thousand sons and was caught in…
Gangaur
Sixteen days from the day after Holi to Chaitra Shukla Tritiya in which women worship clay images of Isar and Gauri…
Gautama Buddha
Shakyamuni · the Buddha
The awakened teacher of Buddhism, declared here as a stub for the Pali records in which Brahmas appear as his pupils…
Ghushma
Kusuma
The devotee who made a hundred and one clay lingas every day, kept worshipping when her jealous sister killed her son…
Guhasura
Guha
The demon of the Harihar charter, who ruled the country between Uchchangi Durga and Airani and won from Brahma the boon…
Jalandhara
The ocean-born asura whose wife Vrinda's fidelity made him invincible until Vishnu broke it; killed by Shiva.
Jambavati
Krishna's queen, daughter of the bear-king Jambavan, whose wish for a son like Pradyumna sent Krishna to Upamanyu's…
Kabisthalam
Kapisthalam
Divya Desam on the Kaveri held to be where Gajendra bathed and was freed; the Gajendra Varadha temple shows Vishnu on…
Kailasa temple, Ellora (Cave 16)
Kailash temple · Ellora Cave 16
The rock-cut Shiva temple begun under the Rashtrakuta king Krishna I (757–772). Its galleries carry the genuine…
Kalantaka
Kalasamhara · Mrityunjaya
Shiva as the ender of death, the form that burst from the linga to strike down Yama when his noose fell on the boy…
Kashi (Varanasi)
Varanasi · Benares · Avimukta
Shiva's city on the Ganga, where Vishwanath is held to be king over every other deity and where death is believed to…
Kirata
Kiratamurti
Shiva disguised as a mountain hunter to test Arjuna, in the Mahabharata's Vana Parva and Bharavi's court epic…
Kolhapur
Karavirapura · Karavira
Seat of the Mahalakshmi (Ambabai) temple, one of the Shakti Peethas, and in the Tirumala telling the place Lakshmi…
Kubera
Lord of wealth; in the Tirumala telling he lends Srinivasa the money for his wedding to Padmavati, a debt pilgrims are…
Kurma
The tortoise avatar whose shell holds up Mount Mandara while gods and demons churn the ocean of milk. Its own cycle…
Lingo
Pahandi Kupar Lingo · Pari Kupar Lingo
The culture hero and first priest of the Gonds, who freed the Gond gods from the cave where Mahadeo had sealed them…
Madurai
The Pandya capital of Meenakshi and Sundareswarar, whose temple was sacked by Malik Kafur in 1311, reopened under…
Mahabali
Maveli · Bali (Kerala telling)
The asura king remembered in Kerala as a just and equal-handed ruler whose reign was a golden age, pushed down to the…
Mahakala
Mahakaleshwar · Kala
Shiva as great time and death, beyond time, with Mahakali as consort; the Shaktisamgama Tantra describes him and…
Mahishasura
Mahisha
The buffalo demon whose boon of near-invulnerability, granted by Brahma in most tellings, is undone by the goddess…
Mahishi
The buffalo-demoness of the Sabarimala tradition, born of a curse on the celestials Datta and Leela, who won from…
Manasa
Manasa Devi · Bishahari
The snake goddess of Bengal, called in the mangalkavya a neglected daughter of Shiva, who wins worship by force from…
Mrikandu
Markandeya's father, who chose from Shiva a short-lived virtuous son over a long-lived dull one. Stub entity.
Nilamadhava
Nila Madhava
The blue-stone image of Vishnu that tradition says the Sabara chief Viswavasu worshipped in secret in the forest before…
Onam
Kerala's ten-day harvest festival from Atham to Thiruvonam in Chingam, remembering King Mahabali's yearly visit home…
Padman
Serpent king and Vishnu devotee of the Sankarankovil sthala puranam, the other party in the quarrel that Gomathi's…
Purandara Dasa
Purandaradasa · Srinivasa Nayaka
A Haridasa composer of the late 15th and 16th centuries, initiated by Vyasatirtha at Hampi, who wrote Kannada keertanas…
Pushkar
Pushkar Lake · Brahma Temple, Pushkar
The lake town where Brahma's lotus fell and where he held his sacrifice; home of his best-known temple…
Rajasekhara of Pandalam
King Rajashekhara Pandian
The childless king who found the infant Ayyappa by the Pamba, named him Manikandan for the bell at his neck, and after…
Rigveda
The oldest Vedic collection; Vishnu has five of its 1,028 hymns and appears as the three-striding friend of Indra; the…
Sadashiva
Panchamukha · Maheshamurti (Elephanta)
Shiva with five faces and ten arms: Sadyojata (west, creation), Vamadeva (north, preservation), Aghora (south…
Sagara
The king whose sixty thousand sons were burned by Kapila's glance while searching for the sacrificial horse. Stub…
Samba
Son of Krishna and Jambavati, granted by Shiva after Krishna's six-month penance and named after the Ardhanarishvara…
Sandhya
Arundhati (in a later birth, per the Shiva Purana)
Twilight personified, born of Brahma's mind; the Shiva Purana's Sati-khanda has her draw her father's and brothers'…
Sangan
Serpent king and Shiva devotee of the Sankarankovil sthala puranam, whose quarrel with the Vishnu-devoted Padman over…
Sankardev
Srimanta Sankardev
Assamese saint-poet (1449–1568 by tradition; some historians place the birth 1479–84) who founded Ekasarana Dharma —…
Sudarshana Chakra
Sudarshan · Chakraperumal · Chakrattalvar
Vishnu's spinning discus. The Ramayana credits Vishvakarma with making it; the Puranas add that it was shaped from the…
Svayambhuva Manu
The first Manu, born of Brahma and his female half in the Matsya account and married to Shatarupa; the human line…
Tiruvannamalai (Arunachala)
Arunachala · Annamalai
The hill that the Tamil tradition identifies with Shiva's pillar of fire, the fire element among the five element…
Tukaram
Sant Tukaram
A 17th-century Marathi poet-saint of Dehu whose abhangas to Vitthal and whose community kirtans shaped the Varkari…
Tulsi Vivah
The ceremonial wedding of the tulsi plant to Vishnu (as a shaligrama or an amla branch) between Prabodhini Ekadashi and…
Udupi
Madhvacharya's temple town on the Karnataka coast, where eight mathas rotate charge of the Krishna shrine every two…
Vaikuntha Chaturdashi
Kartik bright fourteenth, when at Kashi Vishwanath Vishnu is said to offer tulsi to Shiva and Shiva bael to Vishnu…
Vasishtha
Vashishtha
A mind-born son of Brahma and one of the great seers; in the Shiva Purana's Sandhya story the reborn Arundhati becomes…
Vayu
The wind god who helped Brihaspati install the Guruvayur image, giving the town the second half of its name.
Vyasatirtha
Vyasaraja
The Madhva scholar-saint of Vijayanagara who initiated Purandara Dasa and Kanakadasa and gave the Haridasa movement its…
Agastya
The southern sage; in the Gajendra story his curse turns the proud Pandya king Indradyumna into an elephant.
Ahobilam
Nine-shrine Narasimha pilgrimage centre in the Nallamala hills, held to be where the man-lion tore open the pillar and…
Akasha Raja
The king of the Tirupati region who found Padmavati and gave her in marriage to Srinivasa, in the Venkatachala…
Akka Mahadevi
A 12th-century Kannada woman poet-saint of the Sharana movement whose vachanas address Shiva as Chennamallikarjuna, her…
Alandi
Town on the Indrayani river where Dnyaneshwar took samadhi; the starting point of the Varkari palkhi procession to…
Allama Prabhu
A 12th-century Kannada mystic and vachana poet, presiding figure of the Anubhava Mantapa at Kalyana, whose signature is…
Amogha
Wife of the sage Shantanu in the Kalika Purana; Brahma desires her, is refused, and the son that results, Lauhitya…
Andal
Kodhai · Goda Devi
The only woman among the twelve Alvars, whose Thiruppavai is sung every Margazhi; tradition says she merged into…
Angkor Wat
Vrah Vishnuloka
The great temple of Suryavarman II (reigned 1113 to about 1150), dedicated to Vishnu and laid out as Mount Meru in a…
Annamacharya
Tallapaka Annamacharya · Annamayya
A 15th-century Telugu poet-composer, the earliest known writer of sankirtanas in the south, who addressed more than…
Ayodhya
Rama's birthplace on the Sarayu; pilgrims bathe in the river on Rama Navami, and the Ram Mandir enshrines the infant…
Baka Brahma
A Brahma of the form realm in the Pali canon who believes his world eternal and himself deathless until the Buddha…
Bali Padyami
Balipratipada
The third day of Diwali in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Telangana and Andhra, marking King Bali's yearly return…
Bhadrachala Ramadasu
Kancharla Gopanna · Ramadasu
A 17th-century revenue official under the Golconda sultanate who built the Bhadrachalam Rama temple with state money…
Bhakta Ramadasu
Kancharla Gopanna
The Golconda revenue officer who built the Bhadrachalam temple in 1674 with state money and was jailed for it…
Bhikshatana
The wandering mendicant
Shiva as the naked wandering beggar who carries Brahma's skull as his bowl to atone for cutting the fifth head. The…
Bhimashankar
Jyotirlinga in the Sahyadri forest at the source of the Bhima river, built up by Nana Phadnavis; both its legend and…
Bhimasura
In popular temple tellings, a son of Kumbhakarna who imprisoned the devotee Kamarupa and was struck down by Shiva's…
Bhringi
The sage who vowed to circle and honour Shiva alone, ignoring Parvati; her austerities won her union with Shiva's body…
Brahm Baba
Baraham Baba · Brahma Sthan
A village-protector deity of Mithila who lives in a peepal or banyan west of the village and is honoured with earthen…
Brahma Sahampati
The most senior of the great Brahmas in the Pali canon, who comes down to beg the newly awakened Buddha to teach the…
Brahma Temple, Asotra (Shri Kheteshwar Brahmadham Teerth)
A modern Brahma temple built by Sant Khetaram Ji Maharaj and promoted as India's second Brahma temple after Pushkar.
Brahma Temple, Khedbrahma
A late-eleventh-century temple dedicated to Brahma, one of the few in India.
Brahmapureeswarar Temple, Tirupattur
A Shiva temple with a self-manifest linga, a Brahma shrine in meditative lotus pose, twelve lingas installed by Brahma…
Brahmaputra river
Lauhitya · Son of Brahma
The great river of Assam, named as Brahma's son: in the Kalika Purana the child Lauhitya takes the form of water.
Brahmavaivarta Purana
Purana whose Ganesha birth has Vishnu promise to be born as Parvati's son, Shani's glance take the child's head and…
Brihaspati
Guru
Preceptor of the gods who, with Vayu, installed the Krishna image at Guruvayur, giving the town the first half of its…
Buddha (as avatar)
The Buddha was drawn into the Vaishnava avatar list by about the 8th century, usually in the ninth place. Sri Vaishnava…
Chand Sadagar
The proud Shaiva merchant of the Manasamangal who refuses to worship Manasa, loses six sons and his ships to her, and…
Chidambaram
Tillai · Thillai
The temple of Nataraja in the old Tillai forest, the ether shrine among the five element temples and one of the five…
Dehu
Tukaram's home town on the Indrayani, from which his palkhi sets out each year on the Wari to Pandharpur.
Deoghar (Baidyanath)
Baba Baidyanath Dham · Baiju-nath
The Vaidyanath jyotirlinga of Jharkhand, which also claims Ravana's atmalinga set down by Vishnu as the shepherd Baiju…
Dhanvantari
The physician of the gods who rose from the churned ocean carrying the pot of nectar; the Bhagavata calls him a partial…
Dharumi
The poor poet to whom Shiva gave a verse answering the Pandya king's question, so that he might win the prize. Stub…
Durga
The warrior goddess of the Devi Mahatmya who slays the buffalo demon Mahishasura, the demon whose boon that no man…
Dwarka
Krishna's royal city on the Gujarat coast; the Dwarkadhish temple, a Char Dham and the 98th Divya Desam, was destroyed…
Ekamra Purana
Thirteenth-century Sanskrit treatise that is the charter of Bhubaneswar as Ekamra Kshetra. Stub entity.
Elephanta Caves
Gharapuri
Fifth- to sixth-century rock-cut Shiva temple, probably Kalachuri, whose Cave 1 carries the great three-faced Sadashiva…
Ganagapur
Ganagapura · Gangapur
The chief Dattatreya centre of the Guru Charitra tradition, where Narasimha Saraswati established his monastery; the…
Garuda
Garutman · Periya Thiruvadi
Vishnu's eagle mount, on whom he flies to rescue the elephant Gajendra. Every Vishnu temple places a Garuda shrine…
Gautama
The sage whose long penance on Brahmagiri during a drought brought Shiva to release the Ganga there as the Godavari…
Gayatri
The woman Brahma marries at Pushkar so that his yajna can go ahead when Savitri is late. In the temple telling she is a…
Gokarna
The Mahabaleshwar temple on the Karnataka coast that holds Ravana's atmalinga; the name (cow's ear) comes from the…
Govardhan
The hill Krishna lifted to shelter Braj; the Shrinathji image is held to have emerged from it and was first worshipped…
Grishneshwar
Jyotirlinga near the Ellora caves, rooted in the story of the devotee Ghushma; rebuilt by Maloji Bhosale and by Gautama…
Guru Purnima
Vyasa Purnima
The Ashadha full moon honouring teachers, traditionally Veda Vyasa's birthday and for Buddhists the day of the first…
Harihar
Harihareshwara temple · Kudalur
Hoysala-period temple town whose Harihareshwara shrine (built about 1223–24 by the minister Polalva) enshrines the…
Harivamsa Purana (Jinasena)
Jain Harivamsa
Jinasena's Sanskrit poem of 783 CE in 66 cantos, centred on the Tirthankara Neminatha with Krishna as his cousin and a…
Hayagriva
The horse-headed form of Vishnu who, in the Mahabharata's Shanti Parva and the Bhagavata line, kills Madhu and Kaitabha…
Hiranyaksha
The demon king who adopted the blind child Andhaka. Stub entity for that story; the Vishnu cycle (Varaha) owns his full…
Holi
The spring festival of colours whose eve bonfire re-enacts the burning of Holika while Prahlada survives.
Huhu (the crocodile)
The gandharva Huhu, cursed by the sage Devala into a crocodile, who seized Gajendra and was freed from his form when…
Indradyumna (of Avanti)
The king of Avanti in the Skanda Purana who sent his priest to find Nila Madhava and built the first temple of…
Kali
Kalika · Dakshina Kali
The fierce goddess of Bengal, shown standing on a prostrate Shiva; declared here only as a stub for the folk record in…
Kalika Purana
Shakta Purana of the east that tells Ardhanarishvara's origin through Parvati's jealousy of her own reflection. Stub…
Kalki
The future avatar on a white horse who closes the Kali Yuga; the thinnest of the ten in the sources, with the Kalki…
Kamarupa
The Shiva devotee imprisoned by Bhimasura in the popular Bhimashankar legend, whose worship brought Shiva to the…
Kamba Ramayanam
Ramavataram · Kamban's Ramayana
Kamban's 12th-century Tamil epic of Rama, in which Rama is divine from the start yet never claims to be Vishnu's…
Kanda Puranam
Kachiyappa Sivachariar's Tamil Skanda epic (given as seventeenth century on the fetched page), in which Kartikeya is…
Kanwar Yatra
Shravani Mela · Bol Bam
The Shravan pilgrimage in which devotees carry Ganga water on shoulder-poles on foot to Shiva shrines (Pura Mahadev…
Kapalamochana tirtha
Kapala-mochana · Kapalmochan
The bathing place in Kashi where Brahma's skull finally dropped from Bhairava's hand and the sin of killing a brahmin…
Kapila
The sage whose glance burned Sagara's sixty thousand sons to ash when they accused him of stealing the sacrificial…
Kartik Purnima at Pushkar
Pushkar Fair · Pushkar Mela
Brahma's one large public festival: the full-moon bathing day of the month of Kartik at Pushkar lake, which closes the…
Kedarnath
The northernmost jyotirlinga, a three-sided rock worshipped as the hump of the bull-Shiva that the Pandavas chased; the…
Ketaki flower
screwpine · kewda · Pandanus odorifer
The fragrant screwpine blossom that, in the Shiva Purana line of the pillar-of-light story, falls from the top of the…
Kiratarjuniya
Bharavi's sixth-century Sanskrit court epic in eighteen cantos on Arjuna's duel with Shiva the hunter. Stub entity.
Kirtan Ghosha
Sankardev's collection of Krishna songs in the Brajavali literary language, arranged in 26 sections, sung in the…
Kudalasangama
Kappadisangama
The meeting place of the Krishna and Malaprabha rivers where Basavanna grew up and whose Shiva, 'lord of the meeting…
Kumarasambhava
Kalidasa's fifth-century court epic on Parvati's austerity, Kama's burning, the wedding and the conception of Kumara…
Kumbakonam Brahma Temple (Vedanarayana Perumal)
A Vishnu temple popularly called the Brahma temple: Vedanarayana Perumal with Vedavalli in the sanctum, Brahma flanked…
Kumbh Mela
The great bathing fair rotating between four river cities, explained by the story that drops of the churning's nectar…
Lakshmana
Rama's younger brother; declared here as a stub because the Jain Ramayana makes him, not Rama, the killer of Ravana, as…
Linga Purana
Shaiva Purana that ties the pillar of light to Maha Shivaratri and gives its own accounts of Ganesha's making and…
Lingaraj Temple
Ekamra Kshetra
Bhubaneswar's 55 m Somavamsi temple, whose deity was first under a mango tree (hence Ekamra) and whose underground…
Madhvacharya
Thirteenth-century founder of Dvaita Vedanta who established the Udupi Krishna shrine and its eight mathas after…
Maha Shivaratri
Herath (Kashmir) · Siwa Ratri (Bali)
The great night of Shiva on the dark fourteenth of Magha or Phalguna, kept with a vigil, fasting and bilva leaves. The…
Mahabharata
The great epic; its Vana, Shalya and Anushasana Parvas tell Kartikeya's birth, the Vana Parva the hunter's duel with…
Mahur
Mahurgad · Matapur
Hill town held locally to be Dattatreya's birthplace, with temples to Renuka (one of Maharashtra's three-and-a-half…
Malayadhwaja Pandya
The Pandya king who, with queen Kanchanamalai, performed a sacrifice for an heir and received the three-breasted girl…
Malini
An elephant-headed goddess named in one Puranic account as Ganesha's birth-mother. Stub entity for that variant.
Manasamangal Kavya
Manasa Mangal
The oldest of the Bengali mangalkavya poems, composed in several recensions from the 13th century on, telling how…
Manasaputras, the mind-born sons of Brahma
The children Brahma produced from his mind rather than by birth. Lists differ by text but include Narada, Daksha…
Mandar Parvat
Mandar hill · Bounsi
A granite hill near Bhagalpur that local belief identifies with the Mandara used as the churning rod; it carries a…
Manikarnika Ghat
The cremation ghat and well at Kashi where, per the Kashi Khanda, Vishnu dug with his discus and filled the pit with…
Manikkavacakar
The Pandya minister sent to buy horses who met Shiva as an ascetic at Tirupperunturai and spent the king's money on a…
Mathura
Krishna's birthplace, where the Janmasthan complex marks Kamsa's prison; a Gupta-era temple stood here around 400 CE…
Matsya
The fish avatar who warns Manu of the deluge and tows his boat to safety; rooted in the Shatapatha Brahmana flood story…
Matsya Purana
Purana holding the earliest developed form of Kama's burning (chapters 227–255 per Wikipedia), a Ganesha birth from…
Matsyendranath
Macchindranath · Luipa (Tibet)
The ninth- to tenth-century founder-figure of the Naths, said to have overheard Shiva teaching Parvati while hidden as…
Maya Danava
Maya
The architect of the demons who built the three cities for Taraka's sons and, in the Bhagavata, revived the slain…
Meenakshi Tirukalyanam
Chithirai festival
The Chithirai (April–May) festival at Madurai that re-enacts the wedding of Meenakshi and Sundareswarar, with Vishnu…
Mount Kailash
Kailasa · Gang Rinpoche
The 6,638 m peak that Hindus hold to be Shiva's home with Parvati, Ganesha and Kartikeya, identified with Meru; never…
Murasura
Mura
The demon of the Padma Purana slain with the help of the power Vishnu named Ekadashi, the legend behind Vaikuntha…
Naalayira Divya Prabandham
Tamil Veda · Divya Prabandham
The four thousand Tamil verses of the Alvars, compiled by Nathamuni; 247 of them praise Srirangam, more than any other…
Nakkeerar
Nakkirar
The Sangam-academy poet who found fault with a poem that Shiva had given the poor poet Dharumi, held his ground even…
Nanda Devi
Nanda · Gaura
The mountain goddess of Garhwal and Kumaon, honoured as the Himalaya's daughter and as a young bride leaving her…
Nara and Narayana
The twin sages of the Vishnu Purana who chose the Badrinath site for their austerities; Narayana is read as Vishnu…
Narakasura
The demon of Pragjyotisha killed by Krishna (with Satyabhama) on the day South and West India keep as Naraka…
Narasimha Saraswati
The 15th-century ascetic whose life is told in the Guru Charitra and who is honoured in Maharashtra as an incarnation…
Narasimhavarman I
Mamalla
Pallava king (seventh century) whose title Malla appears in the inscription of the Trimurti cave at Mahabalipuram.
Narsobawadi
Narasobawadi · Nrusinhawadi
Dattatreya pilgrimage town where Narasimha Saraswati is said to have lived for twelve years; his sandals (padukas), not…
Nathdwara
The Pushtimarg town in Mewar that grew where Shrinathji's cart sank into the mud in 1672 under Maharana Raj Singh.
Neelkanth Mahadev
The temple at the meeting of the Pankaja and Madhumati streams, 32 km from Rishikesh, that claims the spot where Shiva…
Nepal Mahatmya
Section of the Skanda Purana that tells Pashupatinath's deer and bull legends together with the Himavat Khanda. Stub…
Nilamata Purana
Sixth- to seventh-century Kashmiri text that names Amareshvara, the earliest reference to the Amarnath shrine. Stub…
Padma Purana
A large Vaishnava Purana cited here for the Vrinda-Tulsi story, the Murasura legend behind Vaikuntha Ekadashi and one…
Pandalam
Seat of the royal house that, in the Sabarimala tradition, found the infant Ayyappa by the Pamba and raised him as…
Pandharpur
Vithoba's town on the Bhima river, goal of the Varkari pilgrimage; worship attested by 1189, the present shrine most…
Pashupatastra
Shiva's own missile, granted to Arjuna after the hunter's duel in the Mahabharata's Vana Parva. Stub entity.
Pashupatinath
Nepal's great Shiva temple on the Bagmati, with a four-faced mukhalinga that only its four Bhatta priests may touch…
Paumachariya
Jain Ramayana · Paumacariya · Padmacharita
Vimalasuri's Jain Ramayana in Maharashtri Prakrit, the earliest surviving Jain telling of Rama, in which Rama is the…
Periya Puranam
Sekkizhar's twelfth-century Tamil lives of the sixty-three Nayanars, the source for Kannappa. Stub entity.
Pinaka
Shiva's bow, the weapon of the Vedic archer Rudra and of the Tripura story, where Mount Meru serves as the bow and…
Pokala Dhammakka
Dammakka
A tribal woman of the Bhadragiri hills who, in the local telling, was led by a dream to find self-formed images of…
Pokala Dhammakka
The tribal woman of the Bhadrachalam hills who found the images of Rama, Sita and Lakshmana in an anthill and began…
Prajapati
Hiranyagarbha · Lord of creatures
The Vedic creator figure that later tradition equates with Brahma. In the Rigveda the name is applied to several gods…
Pundalik
The devoted son who, busy serving his parents when Krishna called, threw a brick out for the god to stand on; the…
Rahu
Svarbhanu · Ketu
The asura Svarbhanu who drank the nectar in a god's disguise, was exposed by the sun and moon and beheaded by Mohini's…
Ramakien
Thailand's national Rama epic, compiled under King Rama I between 1799 and 1807, in which Phra Ram is an incarnation of…
Rameswaram
The southernmost jyotirlinga and a Char Dham site, where Rama is said to have worshipped Shiva before or after the war…
Rati
Kama's wife, who mourned his burning and smeared his ashes on herself; the Puranas promise her his return as Pradyumna…
Reamker
Ramakerti
The Khmer Rama epic in Middle Khmer verse (16th–18th c.), which keeps Preah Ream as Vishnu's incarnation but treats him…
Sabarimala
Sabarimalai · Sabari hill
Hill shrine of Ayyappa as Dharma Shasta in the Western Ghats of Kerala. Tradition says the king of Pandalam built the…
Sankarankovil
Sankaran Koil · Sankarankoil
Tenth-century Pandya temple of Sankaralinga, Gomathi Amman and Sankaranarayana. Its sthala puranam tells of Gomathi's…
Shatapatha Brahmana
Ritual exegesis of the White Yajurveda; its 1.2.5 tells of Vishnu as the sacrifice in dwarf form winning the earth for…
Shesha
Adishesha · Ananta · Adisesha
The many-hooded cosmic serpent on whom Vishnu-Narayana reclines in the ocean of milk; read as time itself, and as the…
Shiber Gajan
Gajan · Charak
A pre-harvest festival of Chaitra in western Bengal, kept mainly by agricultural communities with Brahmins excluded…
Shiva Purana
The great Shaiva Purana in the printed seven-samhita recension (Vidyeshvara, Rudra with its Srishti, Sati, Parvati…
Shiva linga
Lingam · Jyotirlinga · Mukhalinga · Ishtalinga
The aniconic pillar in which Shiva is worshipped in almost every temple, read by the tradition as the formless taking a…
Shivayan
Shibayan · Shivayana
Rameswar Bhattacharya's mid-18th-century Bengali poem on Shiva as a poor rural householder, with the stock episode of…
Shravan Mondays
Shravana Somvar · Solah Somvar
The month of Shravan is given to Shiva across north and east India: Monday fasts, water and bilva on the linga, Naga…
Shrikhar
The boy of Ujjain who, with the priest Vridhi, prayed to Shiva when rival kings and the demon Dushana attacked the…
Shukra
Shukracharya
Preceptor of the asuras who warned Bali that the dwarf was Vishnu and that the gift would cost him everything.
Shvetashvatara Upanishad
Krishna Yajurveda Upanishad of six chapters, dated by Olivelle to the last centuries BCE, where Rudra is first raised…
Simhachalam
Hill temple of Varaha-Narasimha, a Prahlada pilgrimage centre where the image is kept under sandal paste all year.
Sivadol, Sivasagar
The 1734 Ahom temple of queen Ambika on the Borpukhuri tank, 104 ft high and said to be India's tallest Shiva temple…
Somnath
Prabhas Patan
Traditionally the first jyotirlinga, built by the moon-god after Shiva eased Daksha's curse; tradition says the temple…
Srikalahasti
The air-element linga, named for a spider, a serpent and an elephant that each worshipped it and won release; the site…
Srirangam
Island in the Kaveri holding the Ranganathaswamy temple — 63 hectares, 81 shrines, the largest functioning temple…
Surya
The sun god; in the Puranic account of the discus, radiance shaved from him so that his wife Sanjna could bear his…
Taraka
Tarakasura
The demon whose boon made him killable only by a son of Shiva, the reason the gods sent Kama and the reason Kartikeya…
Tarakeswar (Taraknath)
Bengal's Shiva shrine founded around 1634 after a cow poured milk on a stone; pilgrims come on Mondays, at Shivaratri…
Teej
Hariyali Teej · Kajari Teej · Hartalika Teej
Parvati's monsoon festivals for women: Hariyali Teej in Shravan, Kajari and Hartalika Teej in Bhadrapada. They…
Tevaram
The Tamil hymns of Sambandar, Appar and Sundarar, the first seven Tirumurai, which sing Ravana's music under Kailash…
The Alvars
Azhwars · Naalayira Divya Prabandham
Twelve Tamil poet-saints — Poigai, Bhutha, Pey, Tirumalisai, Nammalvar, Madhurakavi, Kulasekhara, Periyalvar, Andal…
The Indus 'Pashupati' seal
Mohenjo-daro seal 420
A steatite seal found by Ernest Mackay at Mohenjo-daro in 1928–29, dated about 2350–2000 BCE, showing a horned seated…
The Kumaras
Sanaka · Sanandana · Sanatana · Sanat Kumara
Brahma's four mind-born sons who look like children forever; turned away at Vaikuntha's gate, they cursed Jaya and…
The Shakti Peethas
The shrines where parts of Sati's body fell as Shiva carried her corpse after Daksha's sacrifice; strongest in Bengal…
The four Kumaras
Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatana, Sanatkumara
Brahma's mind-born sons who refuse to procreate; in the Bhagavata their refusal provokes the anger from which Rudra is…
The twelve Jyotirlingas
Dvadasha Jyotirlinga
The twelve shrines where, after the pillar of light between Brahma and Vishnu, Shiva's radiance is said to have…
Thirukkadaiyur
Temple of Amritaghateswarar and Abirami where Shiva is worshipped as the conqueror of death for Markandeya. Stub entity.
Thiruvananthapuram
Trivandrum · Ananthapuri
Capital of Travancore and of Kerala, named for Ananta, the serpent of the reclining Padmanabhaswamy; the Ananthankadu…
Thiruvilaiyadal Puranam
Tiruvilaiyatal Puranam · The 64 sacred games
Paranjothi Munivar's Tamil Shaiva text narrating sixty-four playful miracles of Shiva as Sundareswarar in Madurai…
Thrikkakara
The Vamanamoorthy temple near Kochi, the focal shrine of Onam, where the festival flag is raised on Atham day and the…
Thuluka Nachiyar
Bibi Nachiyar
The Delhi Sultan's daughter who, in Srirangam tradition, loved the processional icon carried off in the 1311 raid and…
Tiruvilaiyadal Puranam
Thiruvilaiyadal Puranam
Paranjothi Munivar's Tamil account of Shiva's sixty-four sacred games at Madurai in three cantos, revered with the…
Trimbakeshwar
The jyotirlinga at the source of the Godavari on Brahmagiri, with a three-faced linga read as Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva…
Trishula
Trident
Shiva's three-pronged spear, the weapon on which Andhaka was impaled and, in the popular Bhimashankar telling, that…
Uddhava
Krishna's friend and disciple who retrieved the Guruvayur image as Dwarka sank and handed it to Brihaspati and Vayu.
Ujjain (Mahakaleshwar)
Seat of the Mahakaleshwar jyotirlinga, named by Kalidasa, where the dawn bhasma aarti uses cremation ash; the legend of…
Upamanyu
The Shaiva sage in whose Himalayan hermitage Krishna performed six months of austerities for a son; in the…
Vadakkunnathan Temple
Kerala's Shiva temple where a sixteen-foot linga stands under a mound of ghee said never to melt; its legend has Shiva…
Vajranabha
The demon Brahma kills with his lotus-weapon before the Pushkar sacrifice; where the petals fall the three Pushkar…
Vakula Devi
The foster mother of Srinivasa on the Venkata hill, held to be Yashoda reborn so that she could see Krishna married.
Vallabhacharya
Founder of the Pushtimarg who, by tradition in 1493, recognised the Shrinathji image at Govardhan; his son…
Valmiki Ramayana
The epic whose Bala Kanda tells Ganga's descent and makes her Himavat's daughter, whose Uttara Kanda has Ravana lift…
Vamana Purana
Purana giving a softer Shiva in the Kama story, Parvati's hundred forms and the Matrikas' names in the Andhaka story…
Vanthi
Chemmanachelvi
The old puttu-seller of Madurai for whom Shiva worked as a labourer on the Vaigai bund, paid in puttu; her name is…
Varaha
The boar avatar who lifts the earth goddess Bhumi from the cosmic waters and slays Hiranyaksha, the first hostile birth…
Vavar
Vavar Swami
Ayyappa's companion in Sabarimala tradition, honoured with a mosque at Erumeli that pilgrims visit on the way. Sources…
Vibhishana
Ravana's brother who sided with Rama and became king of Lanka; Rama gave him the Ranga Vimana, which he could not carry…
Vilwamangalam Swamiyar
Divakara Muni
The Kerala ascetic to whom Vishnu appeared as a boy and then as a falling tree that became the reclining Ananta…
Vishnumoorthi Theyyam
Vishnumoorthy · Vishnumurti Theyyam
The most popular Vaishnava Theyyam of north Malabar: a possession-performance in which Vishnu's man-lion form and the…
Vishvakarma
The divine architect: maker of the Sudarshana in the Ramayana, builder of Sutala for Bali, and the carver of Puri's…
Vishvaksena
Vishnu's gatekeeper and commander. In the Shaiva Bhikshatana cycle he bars the skull-bearing Shiva from Vaikuntha, is…
Vishvavasu
The Sabara chief who worshipped Nila Madhava in secret in the forest before the deity was carried into Puri's temple…
Viswavasu
Vishvavasu
The Sabara chief of the Jagannath origin story who worshipped Nilamadhava hidden in the forest and whose daughter…
Vrindavan
Braj · Vraja
The forest town of Krishna's childhood — the Rasa lila, Kaliya's pool, Govardhan nearby; Chaitanya's 1515 visit sought…
Yadagirigutta
Hill shrine of Narasimha in Telangana, the third of the Narasimha–Prahlada centres named with Ahobilam and Simhachalam.
Yama
Kala · Dharmaraja
God of death, whose noose fell on the linga together with the boy Markandeya; Shiva burst from the linga as Kalantaka…
Bali
The Indonesian island whose Hinduism keeps Brahma, Wisnu and Siwa within a framework of one supreme Widhi and…
Bar Raja Ambika
The Ahom queen, consort of Siva Singha, who built the Sivadol in 1734 beside the Borpukhuri tank. Stub entity.
Behula
Chand Sadagar's daughter-in-law, who floats her dead husband Lakhindar down the river on a raft to the gods' court and…
Bhagavan (Baiga)
The high god of the Baiga tellings Elwin collected, who sends for Nanga Baiga to fix the earth; the name is the Hindi…
Bhagwan (Bhil)
The supreme deity of the Bhils as documented by Wilhelm Koppers, who in the flood tale makes the earth and the first…
Bhima
The second Pandava, who recognised Shiva in the bull near Guptakashi and seized it by the tail and hind legs, so that…
Brahmahatya
The sin of killing a brahmin, personified in the beheading story as the force that clings to Shiva or Bhairava…
Buta Malik
The Muslim shepherd who, in the Shrine Board's telling, was given a bag of coal by a saint, found it full of gold, and…
Chandrasena
The Shiva-devoted king of Ujjain in the Mahakal legend, attacked by the rival kings Ripudamana and Singhaditya with the…
Dattatreya as the three gods in one
The one widely worshipped image in which Brahma is a full third of the god: Dattatreya, son of the sage Atri and…
Dharmavarma
The Chola king of the Kaveri island who had long prayed for the Ranga Vimana and kept it at Srirangam on condition the…
Elephanta Caves
Gharapuri
Rock-cut Shaiva caves whose Cave 1 holds the seven-metre three-faced bust popularly called Trimurti and read by most…
Gajasura
The elephant-demon whose head, in the Shiva Purana's telling as summarised, replaced the head of Parvati's son. Stub…
Harihara, the Vishnu-Shiva composite
A two-god synthesis in which Vishnu (Hari) and Shiva (Hara) share one body split vertically, an ascetic half and a…
Holika
Hiranyakashipu's sister, immune to fire, who sat in a pyre with Prahlada on her lap and burned while he lived; the Holi…
Ikshvaku
Founder of the solar dynasty of Ayodhya who, in the Sriranga Mahatmyam, brought the Ranga Vimana from Satyaloka to…
Jahnu
The sage who drank the descending Ganga when she flooded his hermitage and released her from his ear, giving her the…
Kalidasa
The Sanskrit poet (c. fourth to fifth century CE) whose Kumarasambhava already treats Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva as one…
Karuppasamy
Karuppu · Karuppanna Swamy
A dark-skinned Tamil village guardian who is worshipped beside Aiyanar and, in the Sanskritised telling, folded in as…
Madurai Veeran
Veeran
A deified Tamil folk hero of the Madurai region, worshipped as a guardian and counted among Aiyanar's attendants in the…
Mahamaya (Yoganidra)
Yoganidra · Devi
The Goddess as the sleep that holds Vishnu on the cosmic waters in the Devi Mahatmya; Brahma must praise her and ask…
Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram)
The Pallava port whose so-called Trimurti cave holds three shrines cut under Narasimhavarman I; the identity of the…
Marang Buru
Great Mountain
'Great mountain', the Santal deity closest to people and leader of the bongas (spirits), invoked in the sacred grove.
Medhatithi
The sage whose sacrificial fire Sandhya enters after her penance; she rises from it as Arundhati in the Shiva Purana…
Muka
The demon who charged Arjuna as a wild boar and was shot at once by Arjuna and by Shiva the hunter. Stub entity.
Mukunda Ghosh
The milkman whose cow poured milk on a stone every day, leading to the discovery of the Tarakeswar linga. Stub entity.
Nanga Baiga
The first Baiga man of the tradition Verrier Elwin recorded, born with his wife Nanga Baigin from drops of a sage's…
Nanga Baigin
Nanga Baiga's wife, who in the Baiga telling drove the nails into the four corners of the world and made the slippery…
Neminatha
Arishtanemi
The twenty-second Tirthankara of Jainism, cousin of Krishna in Jinasena's Harivamsa Purana.
Panch Kedar
The five Garhwal shrines where the bull-Shiva's body re-emerged: hump at Kedarnath, arms at Tungnath, face at…
Panjurli
Panjurli Daiva
A boar-spirit guardian of the Tulu-speaking coast, worshipped in Bhuta Kola; the paddanas tell how a piglet raised by…
Patanjali
The sage whose living tomb (jeeva samadhi) lies at the Brahmapureeswarar temple beside the Brahma shrine.
Persa Pen
Bara Deo · Great God
The 'great god' of the Gond clans, established as an object of worship by Lingo after the gods were freed from the cave.
Pilchu Budhi
The first woman of Santal tradition, partner of Pilchu Haram, from whom the Santal clans descend.
Pilchu Haram
The first man of Santal tradition, hatched with Pilchu Budhi from the eggs of the birds Thakur Jiu made.
Purusha (the cosmic person)
Purusha Sukta
The thousand-headed being of Rigveda 10.90 whose sacrifice by the gods yields the social orders, the Vedas, the moon…
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
The 19th-century priest of the Dakshineswar Kali temple whose practice presented Kali as the universal Mother and…
Rao Bharamalla
The zamindar of Rajput stock who built the Tarakeswar temple after Shiva appeared in his dream. Stub entity.
Sabara
Savara · Saora
A forest-dwelling tribal community of Odisha named in the Jagannath origin tradition as the first worshippers of the…
Shani
The planet-god Saturn whose sidelong glance, in the Brahmavaivarta Purana's telling, made the head of Parvati's newborn…
Shantanu (sage of the Kalika Purana)
The sage husband of Amogha in the Brahmaputra origin story, not the Kuru king of the Mahabharata; he brings the child…
Singbonga
Sing Bonga · Sun God
The sun god and creator of Munda and Ho tradition, who brooded over the first waters, sent creatures diving for clay…
Srisailam
Mallikarjuna
Hill shrine of Mallikarjuna, one of the jyotirlingas, whose temple legend is Puranic; the Chenchu tribe's claimed link…
Sudeha
Ghushma's elder sister and co-wife of the brahmin Sudharma, who out of jealousy killed Ghushma's son and was forgiven…
Sutapas
The king who with his wife Prishni received the Guruvayur image from Brahma after long austerities, in the Narada…
Thakur Jiu
Thakur · Marang Buru (leader of the bongas, distinct)
The creator in Santal tradition, who made the first water-birds over the primal ocean and, through their eggs, the…
The Krittikas
Pleiades · Karthigai stars
The six star-mothers who nursed the six infants that became Kartikeya, giving him his name; their star marks the day of…
The Matrikas
Saptamatrika · Carcika · Mangala
The mother-goddesses who drank the blood of Andhaka so that no new demon could spring from each fallen drop; the Vamana…
The Shaiva schools
Pashupata · Shaiva Siddhanta · Kashmir Shaivism (Trika) · Lingayat / Veerashaiva · Nath
Five living or historical ways of framing Shiva that disagree at the root and are described, never harmonised: the…
Theyyam
Theyyattam · Kaliyattam
A ritual performance tradition of north Kerala and neighbouring Karnataka in which a costumed dancer from a hereditary…
Tiruchengode
Hill temple of Ardhanareeswarar, where an image of the half-woman form is taken in procession on Karthigai Deepam day…
Trimurti
Trinity · Trimurthi
The idea that Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva (Rudra) are three faces of one divine reality, charged with creation…
Varuna
God of the waters. In the Deoghar atmalinga legend Vishnu has him enter Ravana's stomach so that Ravana must stop on…
Vasuki
The serpent king used as the churning rope around Mount Mandara.
Vidyapati
Indradyumna's brahmin envoy who married the Sabara chief's daughter Lalita and scattered mustard seeds to mark the…
Vishnu Purana
Six books, about 7,000 surviving verses, a dialogue of Parashara and Maitreya, dated anywhere from 400 BCE to 900 CE…
Vyaghrapada
The tiger-footed sage who, with Patanjali, watched the Ananda Tandava in the Tillai forest. Stub entity.
Yakshagana
A dusk-to-dawn folk theatre of coastal Karnataka that stages episodes from the epics and Puranas as prasangas, with…