Stories 26
A day of Brahma
One day of Brahma is a kalpa of 4.32 billion human years, and his night is as long.
Brahma born from Shiva's right side
Shiva alone exists before the world.
Brahma is born in the golden egg
A golden egg forms in the waters and glows like the sun.
How Shiva became half woman
Brahma makes a world of male beings that cannot multiply.
How Shri became Vishnu's inseparable consort
The Vedic Shri of prosperity rises from the churned ocean as Lakshmi, surveys every being and chooses Vishnu as her husband.
Jagannath and the Sabara chief
Tradition says Vishnu was first worshipped in the Odisha forest as the blue stone Nilamadhava by the Sabara chief Viswavasu, before returning as the wooden Jagannath; scholars argue over what that means.
Lingo frees the gods from Mahadeo's cave
Shiva as Mahadeo seals the Gond gods in a cave; Parvati searches for them; the hero Lingo lifts the stone, frees them and founds Gond society.
Nanga Baigin nails down the earth
The new earth wobbles like mud until Bhagavan sends for Nanga Baiga, whose wife drives nails into its four corners.
Purusha and Narayana on the waters
The cosmic person of the Purusha Sukta and the Narayana who rests on the waters are fused into Vishnu's cosmic identity, pictured as Anantashayana.
Rudra becomes the one Lord
A late Upanishad of the Black Yajurveda, in six chapters, takes up Rudra.
Rudra, the howling archer of the Rigveda
The Rigveda addresses Rudra in three whole hymns and mentions him about seventy-five times.
Saraswati: daughter, consort, or both
Brahma's body splits into a male and a female half.
Singbonga and the clay-divers
The Munda sun god sends a tortoise, a crab and an earthworm to fetch clay from under the waters; the smallest succeeds and the earth is made.
Thakur Jiu and the two birds
The Santal creator makes two water-birds over the primal sea; from their eggs come the first man and woman, and no Puranic god appears.
The birth of Ganesha
Parvati wants a guard of her own and shapes a boy from the paste on her body.
The birth of Kartikeya
Taraka can be killed only by a son of Shiva.
The fish that warned the Bhils
A fish warns a brother and sister of a flood; afterwards Bhagwan, or in one telling Rama, sends them to repeople the world.
The golden womb and Prajapati
Before the gods there are only the primordial waters.
The lotus from Vishnu's navel
During the dissolution Vishnu lies on the serpent Ananta in the cosmic waters.
The lotus from Vishnu's navel
Vishnu enters the cosmic egg on the causal ocean and a lotus grows from his navel bearing Brahma, who will create the worlds.
The mind-born sons, Narada and Daksha
Brahma wishes for children and brings them out of his own mind.
The pillar of light
Brahma and Vishnu quarrel over who is greater; Shiva appears as a column of fire without end; Brahma flies up as a gander and Vishnu digs down as a boar; Vishnu admits failure, Brahma lies with the ketaki as witness and is cursed. Tamil tradition roots the pillar at Tiruvannamalai.
The sacrifice in dwarf form wins the earth
In the Shatapatha Brahmana Vishnu, as the sacrifice itself, takes dwarf form and strides the earth back from the asuras for the gods.
The three strides of the Vedic Vishnu
In the Rigveda Vishnu is a minor companion of Indra whose one great act is to pace out the cosmos in three steps.
Vaikuntha, the abode without care
Vishnu's heavenly abode, its gatekeepers and general, and the two answers to where it lies.
Why Brahma has four heads
Brahma's four heads face the four directions and stand for the four Vedas.