The Development of Hindu Iconography c19.s1.6

Language: English

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Brahmā appears to have enjoyed no success as a cult god. It is true that he illustrates in a way an aspect of Vedism, one of the constituent elements of the composite Hinduism of the epic and Purāṇic times, but if any attempt was ever made by an orthodox Vedic section of the Hindus to formulate his cult in imitation of those of Viṣṇu and Śiva, it was destined to failure. Reference has already been made in a previous chapter of this book (Ch. VI, p. 230) to Varāhamihira's injunction that Brahmā's images could only be installed by those who were well-versed in the Vedic lore (*Viprān vidur-Brāhmaṇaḥ*). The analogous references by the same author to the Bhāgavatas, the Pāśupatas, the Magas, etc., being only entitled to instal the images of Viṣṇu, Śiva and Sūrya, may suggest that these persons, ‘well-versed in the Vedas’, were the exclusive worshippers of Brahmā. But if there were such a sect at all, they did not enjoy any great importance. This hypothesis is substantiated by the Purāṇic stories connected with such Śaiva icons as the Liṅgodbhavamūrti; Brahmā was cursed by Śiva for telling a lie not to have any cult of his own. Separate temples enshrining Brahmā are very few and far between, and mention may be made here of the early mediaeval and later Brahmā shrines found at Dudahi and Khajuraho (Madhya Bharat), Vasantgaḍh (Rajputana), Unkal (near Hubli, Dharwar district), and Kheḍ Brahmā (Mahi Kantha). The Dudahi temple was well-built having many artistic carvings;

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the presence of a three-headed figure of the bearded Brahmā with his swan mount on the centre of the sanctum doorway and the evidence of an inscription found there recording that the writer paid his adoration to Caturmukha (an appellation of Brahmā) and his wife Sāvitrī, led Cunningham to ascribe this shrine to Brahmā with certainty (A.S.R., Vol. X, pp. 93-4, Pl. XXXI). A small square temple of the god was noticed by the same scholar at Khajuraho, which he thought to have been the oldest of the extant shrines at the place (Ibid., Vol. XXI, p. 57). The Vasantgaḍh (Rajputana) brick temple of the god is as old as the 7th century A.D., which faces east and has a standing life-size image of Brahmā with three faces and a nimbus behind him; the figure is two-armed, the hands holding an akṣamālā and kamaṇḍalu. The interest attaching to the temple of the god at Kheḍ Brahmā (Idar, Mahi Kantha) is great, for it was still functioning in 1906-07, when it was visited by Henry Cousens. Cousens writes that there is a community of Brahmans at the place who have been there for generations, who devote themselves exclusively to the worship of Brahmā; they are Audīcya Brahmans (Brahmans of the north), are followers of the Śukla Yajurveda, and are entrusted with the ritual worship of the shrine deity.

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Another interesting feature of this Brahmā temple is its three Pārśvadevatās which are three images of Brahmā (or three aspects of the god), one placed on each of the three principal niche of the temple. Brahmā on the western niche has the usual symbols in his hands (sruk, pustaka, akṣamālā and kamaṇḍalu), but he has a bull (Nandin) as his mount; a similar figure on the northern face has a horse below him, and the small figure with wings beneath another similar figure on the south side may be Garuḍa. These traits of the Pārśvadevatās would appear to associate Brahmā with Śiva, Sūrya and Viṣṇu, for the mounts are connected with the latter. An interesting exhibit in the collection of the Indian Museum, Calcutta (No. Gr. 18), may be noted in this connection. It is a carved door-lintel in stone (hornblende schist) from Gauḍ, District Malda (Bengal), showing the figure of standing Brahmā, three-faced and four-armed, flanked by his two consorts, Sarasvatī and Sāvitrī, and other attendants dancing and playing on musical instruments. The figure of Brahmā in the centre of the composition proves that the small shrine, over the doorway of which the slab rested, was dedicated to this god. Its size can be guessed from that of the carved lintel which measures 5′ 10″ × 1′ 8″. It is very likely that it originally belonged to a Pañcāyatana temple of about the middle of the tenth century A.D., in which the shrine of Brahmā was a subsidiary one.

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Another temple of Brahmā, that is still functioning, is at Pushkar near Ajmer; the big temple there is linked up with the shrine of his consort Sāvitrī on a hill about a mile distant from it. This sacred Tīrtha is frequented by Hindus of different cult affiliations, and its existence does not necessarily mean the existence of any Brahmā cult there in modern times. The present shrine of the god at the place is not more than 160 years old, for Tod writes in 1806-07 that it was built about four years ago; but it was built on the site of older religious establishments. The temple priests, however, belong to the community of Puri Gosains unlike those at Khed Brahmā.¹ Pushkara is a very old Tīrtha; reference is made to it in the Nasik inscription of Uṣabhadāta, Nahapāna’s son-in-law, but there is no clear proof whether it was associated with Brahmā worship at that early age.²