Lord Brahma,Vishnu and Shiva are known as the ‘Trimoorthis’ of Hindu religion. Brahma is the God of creator and is revered on par with the other two Gods, but interestingly has very few temples in India dedicated for him. Why is that so? Why is that the creator of the Universe, according to Hindu mythology, getting hardly a few worship centres? Here are the answers.
see also: Sri Govindajee Temple, Manipur – One of the largest Hindu Vaishnavite temple
The Lying Episode
Once it was decided that Brahma would go up(towards the sky) in search of the head of the pillar of light(Shiva) and that Vishnu would go down(under the earth) to find the feet of the Shiva. Vishnu transformed himself in to a wild boar(Varaha) and Brahma in to a swan and embarked on their journey in opposite direction to meet their targets. Their journey took thousands of years and still couldn’t find anything as they returned back to earth.
But Brahma found a ‘Ketaki’ flower falling from top and when asked where it came from , the flower replied that it was placed at the top of the pillar of the light and fallen from there. Brahma soon decided to use the flower as a fake evidence to prove that he had reached the target and also to establish his superiority over Vishnu, who also wasn’t able to find the foot of the Shiva.
The false claim put forward by Brahma angered Shiva and he cursed Brahma to have no temple dedicated to his worship. The Ketaki flower was also cursed that henceforth it won’t be used in the worship of Shiva(as the flower gave a false testimony when questioned).
Brahmarishi Bhrigu Episode
Once a great fire sacrifice was conducted on Earth with Bhrigu being the high priest. He wanted the greatest among Gods to be the presiding deity of the Yajna and he soon went to bring Brahma. But Brahma was so immersed in the music played by Saraswathi that he didn’t hear the call of Bhrigu and he cursed Brahma that no person on Earth would ever invoke or worship him again
Shatarupa- The Reason Why Brahma has Five Heads
Brahma had created a female diety known as Shatarupa(hundred forms) .But soon after he had made his creation, the lord was infatuated with her. Shatarupa moved in various directions to avoid the gaze of Brahma, but wherever she went Brahma developed a head and thus he ended up having five heads. Shiva was infuriated by this and he cut off one of the heads of Brahma and cursed that there would be no proper worship on earth for ‘unholy’ brahma. (Shiva felt that Shatarupa was like Brahma’s daughter as he had created her and therefore it was wrong for him to be obsessed with her)
So does all these legends mean Brahma has no temples at all? No, there are a few. Pushkar Temple of Brahma in Rajasthan is the most famous one perhaps. There are other Brahma temples in Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu, Thirunavaya in Kerala, Brahma-Karmali Village in Goa etc
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