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Tvashtri

Also called: Tvashtar, Tvashta, Tvastr

The craftsman of the Vedic gods. The Rigveda names him about sixty-five times without giving him a hymn: he forges Indra's thunderbolt, sharpens Brahmanaspati's axe, makes the gods' drinking cup, keeps the Soma in his house and shapes every living form in the womb. He is father of Saranyu, who marries the Sun, and of three-headed Vishvarupa, whom Indra kills. The Yajurveda and the Mahabharata make him the father who raises Vritra in revenge; the Puranas hand his workshop to Vishvakarma and list him among the Rudras or the Adityas.

craft creation revenge

Sources: Hymns of the Rigveda, tr. R. T. H. Griffith (1896), hymns read for the Vedic layer; Vedic Mythology, A. A. Macdonell (1897) · see Tvashtri's web

Relations 13

Tvashtri parent of

  • Vishvarupa Trishiras (Sage) · Tvashtri, his three-headed son and the word said wrong
    Vishvarupa is 'the son of Tvashtri' from the Rigveda onward.
  • Saranyu (God)
    Tvashtri arranges the wedding of his daughter, who is Yama's mother and the wife of Vivasvat.
  • Vishvarupa Trishiras (Sage)
    Vishvarupa, the three-headed one killed by Trita and by Indra, is the son of Tvashtri (RV 10.8.8-9).
  • Indra (God)
    Macdonell infers from RV 4.18 and 3.48 that the father in whose house Indra drinks Soma, and whom he seizes by the foot and kills, is Tvashtri. The hymn does not name him as father; Griffith's note takes the slain father to be Vyamsa.
  • Agni (God)
    Agni is the offspring of Tvashtri (RV 1.95.2), who with Heaven, Earth and the Waters begot him (RV 10.2.7, 10.46.9).
  • Brihaspati (God)
    Tvashtri brought Brihaspati to life (RV 2.23.17). RV 7.97.8 names Heaven and Earth as his parents.

Tvashtri rival of

  • The Ribhus (God)
    When the Ribhus made four cups out of his one, Tvashtri hid among the goddesses and wished to kill them (RV 1.161.4-5).
  • The Ribhus (God) · The Ribhus make four cups from one
    They make his one cup into four; he hides and threatens them in RV 1.161.
  • Indra (God)
    Indra drinks, and by Macdonell's reading steals, the Soma in Tvashtri's house, and strikes at his son Vishvarupa for the cows.

Tvashtri child of

  • Aditi (God)
    Tvashtri is one of the twelve Adityas in later mythology. The Rigveda does not call him a son of Aditi.

Tvashtri cursed

Tvashtri form of

  • Vishvakarma (God)
    The Markandeya Purana identifies Tvashtri with Vishvakarman and Prajapati, says Macdonell. The Vishnu Purana (1.15) keeps Tvashtri apart as an Aditya and Vishvakarma as a Vasu's son, so the two are not everywhere one.

Tvashtri teacher of

Stories 7

Cited