This Kaveri-delta shrine, though a Vishnu temple, is known locally as the Brahma temple, and its story is a Vaishnava humbling with a happy ending. Brahma, proud of his office, says that creation is his alone. Vishnu answers by sending a demon to terrify him and by taking from him both the Vedas and the power to create. Helpless, Brahma comes to this spot and performs penance until Vishnu and Lakshmi appear together, return the Vedas and restore his office. Vishnu therefore stands here as Veda Narayana, the lord of the Vedas, with Brahma enshrined to his right between Saraswati and Gayatri.
Vedanarayan Perumal Temple / Brahma Temple, Kumbakonam — Trawell; Veda Narayana Perumal (Brahma koil), Kumbakonam — TN Temples Project; Kumbakonam Brahma Temple — Wikipedia
Sources: Vedanarayan Perumal Temple / Brahma Temple, Kumbakonam — Trawell; Veda Narayana Perumal (Brahma koil), Kumbakonam — TN Temples Project; Kumbakonam Brahma Temple — Wikipedia
The Maitri Upanishad names Brahma, Rudra and Vishnu together as portions of one being, matched to the three gunas.
The sage Atri and his wife Anasuya earn great merit through their conduct and austerity.
A seven-metre three-faced bust fills the south wall of Elephanta's Cave 1.
Three Pallava shrines on one platform: Shiva in the centre, Vishnu on the right, and a disputed left shrine read as Brahma by Vogel but as Subrahmanya or Brahmasasta by later scholars; a Durga panel stands beside.
Before the gods there are only the primordial waters.
A golden egg forms in the waters and glows like the sun.
During the dissolution Vishnu lies on the serpent Ananta in the cosmic waters.
Shiva alone exists before the world.