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Hindu Pantheon - Popular Gods and Goddesses of Hinduism





Jayaram V

Hindu pantheon is very complex and very structured. Overtime, the pantheon underwent many changes, additions and deletions. In the early Vedic period, the Vedic gods occupied a place of prominence, with Agni, Indra, Vayu, Soma, Varuna, Adityas, Maruts, Visvadevas, Brahma, Prajapati, Pusan, Asvins etc. playing a central role in the sacrificial rituals. Later they were replaced by Vishnu, Siva, Shakti and their attendant deities. Presently we have many gods and goddesses. Although numerically they were said to be hundreds and thousands, Hindus worship chiefly a few gods namely Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, Sarasvathi, Lakshmi, Parvathi, their manifestations, incarnations and emanations. Chief among the incarnations of Vishnu are Rama, Krishna, Narasimha. His prominent emanations are Lord Venkateswara, Ranganatha, Pandarinatha, Vittalnatha and Jagannatha. Prominent manifestations of Siva are Dakshinamurthy and nine Jyotirlingas. The goddesses also have various aspects. Prominent among the attendant deities are Lord Ganesha, Kumara, Nandi, Hanuman, Garuda. Apart from them, Hindus also worship many saintly persons such as Dattatreya, Chaitanya, Mantralaya Raghavendra Swami and Shirid Baba.

Although Hindus worship many gods and goddess, strictly speaking Hinduism is not a polytheistic religion. Hinduism has elements of both monotheism, polytheism and sometimes classified as "henotheism or kathenotheism - a belief in single gods, each in turn standing out as the highest."1 The highest God of Hinduism is known as Brahman who is extolled in the Vedas as the Supreme Universal Self. He is both manifested and unmanifested, Being and Non-Being, Existence (sat) and non-existence (asat). His reflection in the quality of sattva is considered Isvara, in Rajas is considered Hiranyagarbha and in tamas is considered Viraj. These three aspects are also identified with Vishnu, Brahma and Siva respectively in their roles as the preserver, creator and destroyer respectively. All the numerous gods and goddesses are the eyes, ears, hands and feet of Brahman only. In their individual aspects they represent diversity and His numerous duties (dharmas); but in their unified and highest aspect they represent Brahman, the Supreme Self. Thus Hinduism is neither monotheistic nor polytheistic, but represents elements of both. The following internal links provide information on various popular gods and goddess of Hinduism. The articles on Vishnu and avataras explain the significance of reincarnation of gods and why gods reincarnates upon earth from time to time. The article on Vedic pantheon provide brief descriptions of popular Vedic gods and goddesses such as Indra, Varuna, Agni, mitra and Soma. In the Hindu pantheon FAQ you will find the reasons why Hindus worship popular gods and goddesses, how they are worshipped and whether idol worship, which a popular practice among the Hindus, is justified.

1. An Advanced History of India, by R.C.Majumdar, H.C.RayChaudhuri, Kalikinkar Datta

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