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Brahma

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This article is about the Hindu creation god. For the genderless metaphysical concept of Ultimate Reality in Hindu philosophy, see Brahman.
For Buddhist version of Brahma, see Brahma (Buddhism).
For other uses, see Brahma (disambiguation).

Brahma
Creator of the Universe
God of Creation, Knowledge and the Vedas[1]
Member of Trimurti
Painting depicting Brahma on a Hansa, c. 1700 CE
Other namesSvayambhu, Virinchi, Prajapati
Devanagariब्रह्मा
Sanskrit transliterationBrahmā
AffiliationTrideva, Deva
AbodeSatyaloka, Pushkara
Mantraॐ वेदात्मनाय विद्महे हिरण्यगर्भाय धीमही तन्नो ब्रह्मा प्रचोदयात्:
Oṃ vedātmanāya vidmahe hiraṇyagarbhāya dhīmahī tan no brahmā pracodayāt ॐ ब्रह्मणे नम:
Om brahmane namaha
WeaponBrahmastra, Brahmashirsha astra
SymbolLotus, Vedas, Japamala, Kamandalu
MountHamsa
FestivalsKartik Purnima
Genealogy
ConsortSarasvati
ChildrenMind-born children including Agni, Angiras, Atri, Bhrigu, Chitragupta, Daksha, Himavan, Jambavan, Kamadeva, Kratu, Kumaras, Marichi, Narada, Pulaha, Pulastya, Shatarupa, Sindura, Svayambhuva Manu, Vashishtha
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Brahma (Sanskrit: ब्रह्मा, IAST: Brahmā) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the trinity of supreme divinity that includes Vishnu and Shiva.[2][3][4] He is the god of creation, knowledge, Vedas.[5][6][7][8] Brahma is prominently mentioned in creation legends. In some Puranas, he created himself in a golden egg known as the Hiranyagarbha along with Vishnu and Shiva and then created the entire universe along with Indra and all the total other gods then afterwards.

Brahma is the Vedic god Prajapati.[9] During the post-Vedic period, Brahma was a prominent god and his sect existed; however, by the 7th century CE, he had lost his significance. He was also overshadowed by other major deities like Vishnu, Shiva, Tridevi[10] and demoted to the role of a secondary creator, who was created by the major deities.[11][12][13]

Brahma in his true form is a red complexioned god with four heads and hands. His four heads tell the four Vedas and are pointed to the four cardinal directions.[14] He is seated on a lotus and his vahana (mount) is a hamsa (swan). According to the Hindu scriptures, Brahma and Sarasvati created their children from their minds and thus, they are referred to as Manasaputras.[15][16]

In contemporary Hinduism, Brahma does not enjoy popular worship and has substantially less importance than the other two members of the Trimurti. Brahma is revered in the ancient texts, yet rarely worshipped as a primary god in the Indian subcontinent, owing to the absence of any significant sect dedicated to his reverence.[17] Few temples dedicated to him exist in the Indian subcontinent, the most famous being the Brahma Temple, Pushkar in Rajasthan, India.[18] Some Brahma temples are found outside the Indian subcontinent, such as at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, Thailand, which in turn has found immense popularity within the Thai Buddhist community.[19]

Origin and meaning

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The origins of the word Brahma are uncertain, partly because several related words are found in the Vedic literature, such as Brahman for the 'Ultimate Reality' and Brāhmaṇa for 'priest'. A distinction between the spiritual concept of Brahman and the god Brahma is that the former is a genderless abstract metaphysical concept in Hinduism,[20] while the latter is one of the many masculine gods in Hindu tradition.[21] The spiritual concept of Brahman is quite old and some scholars say that the god Brahma may have emerged as a god and visible icon of the impersonal universal principle of Brahman.[22] The existence of a distinct god named Brahma is evidenced in late Vedic texts.[22]

Grammatically, the nominal stem Brahma- has two distinct forms: the neuter noun bráhman, whose nominative singular form is brahma (ब्रह्म); and the masculine noun brahmán, whose nominative singular form is brahmā (ब्रह्मा). The former, the neuter form, has a generalized and abstract meaning[23] while the latter, the masculine form, is used as the proper name of the god Brahma.

However, Brahman was sometimes used as a synonym for Brahma's name during the time the Mahabharata was written.[24]

Literature and legends

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Vedic literature

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An early depiction of Brahma, on the Bimaran casket, early 1st century CE. British Museum.[25][26]
Left: Brahma at the 12th century CE Chennakesava Temple, Somanathapura; Right: Brahma at a 6th century CE Aihole temple.

One of the earliest mentions of Brahma with Vishnu and Shiva is in the fifth Prapathaka (lesson) of the Maitrayaniya Upanishad, probably composed around the late 1st millennium BCE. Brahma is first discussed in verse 5,1, also called the Kutsayana Hymn, and then expounded in verse 5,2.[27]

A sculpture of Brahma in Prambanan, Java, Indonesia

In the pantheistic Kutsayana Hymn[27] of the Kutsayana Upanishad asserts that one's Soul is Brahman, and this Ultimate Reality is within each living being. It equates the atman (Soul) within to be Brahman and various alternate manifestations of Brahman, as follows, "Thou art Brahma, thou art Vishnu, thou art Shiva, thou art Agni, Varuna, Vayu, Indra, thou art All."[27]

In verse (5,2), Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva are mapped into the theory of Guṇas, that is qualities, psyche and innate tendencies the text describes can be found in all living beings.[28][29] This chapter of the Maitrayaniya Upanishad asserts that the universe emerged from darkness (tamas), first as passion characterized by innate quality (rajas), which then refined and differentiated into purity and goodness (sattva).[27][28] Of these three qualities, rajas are then mapped to Brahma, as follows:[30]

Now then, that part of him which belongs to tamas, that, O students of sacred knowledge (Brahmacharins), is this Shiva.
That part of him which belongs to rajas, that O students of sacred knowledge, is this Brahma.
That part of him which belongs to sattva, that O students of sacred knowledge, is this Vishnu.
Verily, that One became threefold, became eightfold, elevenfold, twelvefold, into infinite fold.
This Being (neuter) entered all beings, he became the overlord of all beings.
That is the Atman (Soul, Self) within and without – yea, within and without!

— Maitrayaniya Upanishad, 5.2, [27][28], Maitrayaniya Upanishad

While the Maitrayaniya Upanishad maps Brahma with one of the elements of the guṇas theory of Hinduism, the text does not depict him as one of the trifunctional elements of the Hindu Trimurti idea found in later Puranic literature.[31]

Post-Vedic, Epics and Puranas

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Brahma and Indra, illustrated folio from Razmnama (Persian translation of Mahabharata). 1598 CE

During the post-Vedic period, Brahma was a prominent god and his sect existed during the 2nd century CE to 6th century CE. Early texts like the Brahmanda Purana describe that there was nothing but an eternal ocean. From this, a golden egg called Hiranyagarbha, emerged. The egg broke open and Brahma, who had created himself within it, came into existence (gaining the name Svayambhu). Then, he created the universe, the earth, and other things. He also created people to populate and live on his creation.[32][33][10]

However, by the 7th century CE, Brahma lost his importance. Historians believe that some of the major reasons for Brahma's downfall were the rise of Shaivism and Vaishnavism, their replacement of him with Tridevi in the Smarta tradition, and the frequent attacks by Buddhists, Jains, Hindus who worship Indra and all the other Hindu gods.[10][33]

Various Puranic legends mention various reasons for his decline in worship now. There are primarily two prominent versions of why Brahma lost his ground in worship popularly. The first version refers to the Shiva Purana, where Brahma and Vishnu argued about who was the greatest among them. While they debated, they saw a huge column of fire piercing through the sky which was Shiva as Lingodbhava. They decided to locate the beginning and end of this column of fire which is Shiva. Vishnu assumed the form of a boar as Varaha and journeyed towards the earth and Brahma assumed the form of a swan as Hamsa and journeyed towards the sky. Vishnu found about his defeat, revealing that he had been unable to locate the end, which was at the end of the universe and he got tired before he reached that so he was defeated in it there. However, Brahma had recruited the Ketaki flower which fell from Shiva's head by his powers to end the debate here now with a lie by him now, which was at the beginning of the universe with his beginning at there now and he got tired before he reached that so he was defeated in it there and this came to him and he took him as a false witness to support his lie that he had located the beginning. Shiva then took his true form and cut off one of Brahma's five heads when he was in his true form with his trident for his dishonesty, proclaiming that he would no longer receive an active following to his worship and would get a low status of popularity. Pleased with Vishnu's honesty, he offered him a high status of popularity and an active following dedicated to his worship and took the ketaki flower as an ornament on his head then and fused that head into him then. The second version refers to the Vishnu Purana, where Vishnu created Brahma and Shiva from his navel and forehead respectively, thus making Brahma along with Shiva both as inferior to Vishnu, who created them both as the supreme god above them in all aspects of power in this universe and after that, when the creation of the universe was completed, Brahma lost all of his importance after his role as creator of the universe ended and was removed from worship by everyone in the world, while Shiva was always worshipped as the destroyer of the universe after his role of the destruction of the universe was always happening and Vishnu was always worshipped as he was the preserver of the universe and his preserving role in the universe was always happening and he was the supreme god of this universe.[34]

The post-Vedic texts of Hinduism offer multiple theories of cosmogony, many involving Brahma. These include Sarga (primary creation of the universe) and Visarga (secondary creation), ideas related to the Indian thought that there are two levels of reality, one primary that is unchanging (metaphysical) and other secondary that is always changing (empirical), and that all observed reality of the latter is in an endlessly repeating cycle of existence, that cosmos and life we experience is continually created, evolved, dissolved and then re-created.[35] The primary creators are extensively discussed in Vedic cosmogonies are different gods and goddesses who are called as Brahman, Purusha, Prakrti among the terms used for the primary creators,[35][36] In contrast, the post-Vedic texts name different gods and goddesses as secondary creators (often Brahma in post-Vedic texts), and in some cases, a different god or goddess is the secondary creator at the start of each cosmic cycle (kalpa, that is an aeon).[12][35]

Brahma is a "secondary creator" as described in the Mahabharata and Puranas, and among the most studied and described.[37][38][39] Vishnu-focused Puranas describe that Brahma was born from a lotus emerging from the navel of the god Vishnu and Shiva was born from a fire emerging from the forehead of the god Vishnu.[40][41] In contrast, the Shiva-focused Puranas describe Brahma and Vishnu to be born from Shiva's right and left sides of his waist; and in other Puranas, Shiva and Vishnu were born from Brahma's right and left sides of his waist or Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma creating each other cyclically in different aeons (kalpas).[12][42] Yet others describe that the Tridevi created Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva,[43] and these texts then state that Brahma is a secondary creator of the world working respectively on their behalf.[43][44] Brahma creates all of the things in the universe, but not the primordial universe itself.[45] Thus in most Puranic texts, Brahma's creative activity depends on the presence and power of a higher god or higher goddess.[46] Further, the medieval era texts of these major theistic traditions of Hinduism assert that the saguna (representation with face and attributes)[47] Brahma is Vishnu,[48] Shiva,[49] Tridevi,[50] respectively.

In the post-Vedic Puranic literature,[51] Brahma creates but neither preserves nor destroys anything. He is the creator envisioned in some Hindu texts to have emerged from the metaphysical Brahman along with Vishnu (preserver), Shiva (destroyer), Indra, all the total other gods, matters, organisms in the entire universe. In theistic schools of Hinduism where the god Brahma is described as part of its cosmology, he is a mortal god like all the complete other gods and dissolves into the abstract immortal Brahman when the universe ends, and then a new cosmic cycle (kalpa) restarts and all of them are recreated.[51][52]

A sculpture of Brahma flanked by Yama and Chitragupta, Tamil Nadu, 10th century CE, Melakadambur Amirtakadeshvarar Temple

In the Bhagavata Purana, Brahma is portrayed several times as the one who rises from the "Causal Ocean".[53] Brahma, states this Purana, emerges at the moment when time and universe are born, inside a lotus rooted in the navel of Vishnu, along with Shiva, who emerged inside a fire rooted in the forehead of the god Vishnu. This Purana states that both Brahma and Shiva are drowsy, err, are temporarily incompetent as they put together the universe.[53] They then become aware of their confusion and drowsiness, meditates as two ascetics, then realizes Vishnu in their bodies, see the beginning and end of the universe, and then their creative powers are revived. Brahma and Shiva, states the Bhagavata Purana, thereafter combine Prakriti (nature, matter) and Purusha (spirit, soul) to create a dazzling variety of living creatures, and a tempest of causal nexus.[53] The Bhagavata Purana thus attributes the creation of Maya to Brahma and Shiva,[54] wherein they creates for the sake of creation, imbuing everything with both the good and the evil, the material and the spiritual, a beginning and an end.[55]

The Puranas describe Brahma as the god creating time.[56] They correlate human time to Brahma's time, such as a mahākalpa being a large cosmic period, correlating to one day and one night in Brahma's existence.[46][57]

The stories about Brahma in various Puranas are diverse and inconsistent. In Skanda Purana, for example, the Tridevi are called the "mothers of the universe", and they are credited with creating Brahma, all the complete other gods including Vishnu, Shiva, the three worlds, the entire universe. They are the ones, states Skanda Purana, who combined the three Gunas - Sattva, Rajas, Tamas - into matter (Prakrti) to create the empirically observed world.[58]

The Vedic discussion of Brahma as a Rajas-quality god expands in the Puranic and Tantric literature. However, these texts state that his wife Sarasvati has Sattva (quality of balance, harmony, goodness, purity, holistic, constructive, creative, positive, peaceful, virtuous), thus complementing Brahma's Rajas (quality of passion, activity, neither good nor bad and sometimes either, action qua action, individualizing, driven, dynamic) with her Sattva qualities.[59][60][61]

Sangam literature

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The Sangam literature mentions all Hindu gods and goddesses and Vedic practices in Tamilakam. Tamilians considered the Vedas as books of Hinduism and used it to perform Yajnas.[62][63] Several Tamil Hindu kings and queens have performed Vedic sacrifices and worshipped various gods and goddesses of Hinduism. Several Sangam texts mention that Brahma as a creator god born from the navel of Vishnu along with Shiva as a destroyer god born from his forehead while he was the preserver god. As he is a direct biological ancestor of all royal families, the Cholas said that Brahma and Shiva as their direct biological ancestors and Vishnu as their creator and the creator of this entire universe.[64] Cilappatikaram also has several mentions of Brahma as the creator god.[65]

Iconography

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Left: 19th century CE painting of four-headed Brahma as an aged man, holding lotus, manuscript (Vedas) and a ladle; Right: 6th century CE statue of Brahma as a middle-aged man in Badami cave temples holding a stylus, ladle, mala.

Brahma is traditionally depicted with four faces and four arms.[66] Each face of his points to a cardinal direction. His hands hold no weapons, rather symbols of knowledge and creation. In one hand, he holds the sacred texts of Vedas, in the other hand, he holds a mala, symbolizing the time to create the universe, in the another hand, he holds a shruka, — a ladle symbolizing the means to feed sacrificial fire, and in the even another hand, a kamandalu – a utensil with water symbolizing the means from where all creation emits.[67][68] His four mouths are credited with creating the four Vedas.[7] He is often depicted with a white beard, implying his sage-like experience. He sits on lotus, dressed in white or red or pink, with his vehicle (vahana) – hamsa, which is a swan, nearby.[66][69]

Chapter 51 of the Manasara, an ancient design manual in Sanskrit for making murtis and temples, states that a Brahma statue should be golden yellow in color.[70] The text recommends that the statue have four faces and four arms, have jata-mukuta-mandita (matted hair of an ascetic), and wear a diadem (crown).[70] Two of his hands should be in refuge granting and gift giving mudra, while he should be shown with kundika (water pot), akshamala (rosary), a small shruka and a large shruka (two ladles used in yajna ceremonies).[70] The text details the different proportions of the murti, describes the ornaments, and suggests that the idol wear chira (bark strip) as a lower garment, and either be alone or be accompanied with goddess Sarasvati. Brahma is associated largely with the Vedic culture of yajna and knowledge. In some Vedic yajnas, Brahma is summoned in the ritual to reside and supervise the ritual in the form of Prajapati.

Brahma's wife is the goddess Sarasvati.[71][72] She is the embodiment of his power, the instrument of creation and the energy that drives his actions.

Epochs of Brahma

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Brahma, despite being believed to be the creator, is considered mortal according to scriptures. The age of Brahma, according to Hindu cosmology, spans vast epochs of time. A kalpa is a day of Brahmā, and one day of Brahma consists of a thousand cycles of four yugas, or ages: Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga and Kali Yuga. These four yugas, rotating a thousand times, comprise one day of Brahma, and the same number comprise one night. Brahma lives one hundred of such "years" and then dies. These "hundred years" total 311 trillion 40 billion (311,040,000,000,000) earth years. Brahma's lifespan is 311.04 trillion solar years, and the present day world is in the 28th Kali Yuga of the 51st year of the current Brahma's life.[73][74]

Worship

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India

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Pushkar Brahma Temple in Pushkar, Rajasthan, India

Very few temples in the Indian subcontinent are primarily dedicated to Brahma and his worship.[17] The most prominent Hindu temple for Brahma is the Brahma Temple, Pushkar.[18] Others include:[4]

A 12th century CE statue of Brahma in Chhinch, Banswara, Rajasthan

Brahma is also worshipped in temple complexes dedicated to the Trimurti. Some of these are: Thanumalayan Temple, Sri Purushothaman Temple, Ponmeri Shiva Temple, Thripaya Trimurti Temple, Mithrananthapuram Trimurti Temple, Kodumudi Magudeswarar Temple, Brahmapurishvarar Temple.

In Kandiyur, Tamil Nadu, there is also a shrine for Brahma in Kandishvarar Temple, Kandiyur in a rare sitting posture along with his consort, rhe goddess Sarasvati.[citation needed]

There is a temple dedicated to Brahma in the temple town of Srikalahasti near Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh. There is a Brahma temple in Chebrolu, Andhra Pradesh, and a seven feet tall statue of Brahma at a Brahma temple at Bengaluru, Karnataka. In the coastal state of Goa, a shrine belonging to the fifth century CE, in the small and remote village of Carambolim, Sattari taluka in the northeast region of the state is found.[citation needed]

A famous statue of Brahma exists at Mangalwedha, 52 km from the Solapur district of Maharashtra and in Sopara near Mumbai. Temples exist in Khokhan, Annamputhur, Hosur.

Southeast and East Asia

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Left: The four-faced Brahma (Phra Phrom) statue, Erawan Shrine, Thailand
Center: 12th-century CE Brahma with missing book and water pot, Cambodia
Right: 9th-century CE Brahma Sculpture in Prambanan Java, Indonesia

A shrine of Brahma can be found in Cambodia's Angkor Wat. One of the three largest temples in the 9th-century CE Prambanan temples complex in Yogyakarta, central Java (Indonesia) is dedicated to Brahma, the other two to Shiva (largest of three) and Vishnu respectively.[75] The temple dedicated to Brahma is on the southern side of Shiva temple and Vishnu temple.

A statue of Brahma is present at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, Thailand and continues to be revered in modern times.[19] The golden dome of the Government House of Thailand houses a statue of Phra Phrom (Thai representation of Brahma). An early 18th-century CE painting at Wat Yai Suwannaram in Phetchaburi city of Thailand depicts Brahma.[76]

The another name of the country Myanmar, Burma, is derived from Brahma. In medieval Hindu texts, it is referred to as Brahma-desa.[77][78]

Brahma in Buddhism is known in Chinese as Simianshen (四面神, "Four-Faced God"), Simianfo (四面佛, "Four-Faced Buddha") or Fantian (梵天), Tshangs pa (ཚངས་པ) in Tibetan, Phạm Thiên (梵天) in Vietnamese, Bonten (梵天) in Japanese,[79] and Beomcheon (범천,梵天) in Korean.[80] In Chinese Buddhism, he is regarded as one of the Twenty Devas (二十諸天 Èrshí Zhūtiān) or the Twenty-Four Devas (二十四諸天 Èrshísì zhūtiān), a group of protective dharmapalas.[81]

Hindus in Indonesia still have a high regard for Brahma (Indonesian and Javanese: Batara Brahma and Sanghyang Brahma). In Prambanan there is a special temple made for Brahma, side by side with Vishnu and Shiva, and in Bali there is Andakasa Temple dedicated to Brahma.[82]

In the past, although not as popular as Vishnu and Shiva, the god Brahma appeared on several occasions in the Hindu mythology of Indonesia. For example, the name Brahma is also used as the name of a mountain in the Tengger Mountains range, namely Mount Bromo. Mount Bromo is derived from the word Brahma and the sect of Brahma that exists in Indonesia worships Brahma there as Brahmaloka – the heaven where Brahma resided – was located on both outer space and Mount Bromo.

In the Javanese version of wayang (shadow puppet play), Brahma has a very different role from his initial role. When the Hindu society of Indonesia began to disappear from Java and the era of Wali Sango's wayang kulit began to emerge, Brahma's role as creator in the shadow puppet standard was given to a god named Sang Hyang Wenang, who was Indra, while Brahma himself was renamed to Brama and he was made the patron god of fire. Brahma is the son of Batara Guru (Shiva). The figure of Brahma in Javanese wayang is fused and mixed with the figure of Agni.[83]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Brahma, Brahmā, Brāhma: 66 definitions". Wisdomlib.org. 6 June 2022. Archived from the original on 5 August 2022. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
  2. ^ White, David (2006). Kiss of the Yogini. University of Chicago Press. pp. 4, 29. ISBN 978-0226894843.
  3. ^ Jan Gonda (1969), The Hindu Trinity Archived 25 April 2020 at the Wayback Machine, Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 212–226.
  4. ^ a b Jan Gonda (1969), The Hindu Trinity Archived 25 April 2020 at the Wayback Machine, Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 218–219.
  5. ^ N.A (1960). THE VAYU PURANA PART. 1. MOTILAL BANARSIDASS PUBLISHERS PVT. LTD, DELHI. pp. 174 (26.31).
  6. ^ Coulter, Charles Russell; Turner, Patricia (2013). Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities. Routledge. p. 240. ISBN 978-1-135-96397-2., Quote: "Brahma, a creator god, received the basics of his mythological history from Purusha. During the Brahmanic period, the Hindu Trimurti was represented by Brahma with his attribute of creation, Shiva with his attribute of destruction and Vishnu with his attribute of preservation."
  7. ^ a b Sullivan, Bruce (1999). Seer of the Fifth Veda: Kr̥ṣṇa Dvaipāyana Vyāsa in the Mahābhārata. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 85–86. ISBN 978-8120816763.
  8. ^ Holdrege, Barbara (2012). Veda and Torah: Transcending the Textuality of Scripture. State University of New York Press. pp. 88–89. ISBN 978-1438406954.
  9. ^ Leeming, David (2009). Creation Myths of the World (2nd ed.). p. 146. ISBN 978-1598841749.;
    David Leeming (2005), The Oxford Companion to World Mythology, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195156690, page 54, Quote: "Especially in the Vedanta Hindu Philosophy, Brahman is the Absolute. In the Upanishads, Brahman becomes the eternal first cause, present everywhere and nowhere, always and never. Brahman can be incarnated in Brahma, in Vishnu, in Shiva. To put it another way, everything that is, owes its existence to Brahman. In this sense, Hinduism is ultimately monotheistic or monistic, all gods being aspects of Brahman"; Also see pages 183-184, Quote: "Prajapati, himself the source of creator god Brahma – in a sense, a personification of Brahman (...) Moksha, the connection between the transcendental absolute Brahman and the inner absolute Atman."
  10. ^ a b c Dalal, Roshen (2010). Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide. Penguin Books India. pp. 78–79. ISBN 978-0-14-341421-6.
  11. ^ Achuthananda, Swami (27 August 2018). The Ascent of Vishnu and the Fall of Brahma. Relianz Communications Pty Ltd. ISBN 978-0-9757883-3-2.
  12. ^ a b c Kramrisch, Stella (1994). The Presence of Siva. Princeton University Press. pp. 205–206. ISBN 978-0691019307.
  13. ^ Pattanaik, Devdutt (September 2000). The Goddess in India:The Five Faces of the Eternal Feminine. Inner Traditions / Bear & Co. ISBN 978-0-89281-807-5.
  14. ^ Carrasco, David; Warmind, Morten; Hawley, John Stratton; Reynolds, Frank; Giarardot, Norman; Neusner, Jacob; Pelikan, Jaroslav; Campo, Juan; Penner, Hans; et al. (Authors) (1999). Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions. Edited by Wendy Doniger. United States: Merriam-Webster. p. 140. ISBN 9780877790440.
  15. ^ Dalal, Roshen (18 April 2014). The Religions of India: A Concise Guide to Nine Major Faiths. Penguin UK. ISBN 9788184753967.
  16. ^ Charles Coulter and Patricia Turner (2000), Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities, Routledge, ISBN 978-0786403172, page 258, Quote: "When Brahma is acknowledged as the supreme god, it was said that Kama sprang from his heart."
  17. ^ a b Morris, Brian (2005). Religion and Anthropology: A Critical Introduction. Cambridge University Press. p. 123. ISBN 978-0521852418.
  18. ^ a b Charkravarti, SS (2001). Hinduism, a Way of Life. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 15. ISBN 978-8120808997.
  19. ^ a b London, Ellen (2008). Thailand Condensed: 2,000 Years of History & Culture. Marshall Cavendish. p. 74. ISBN 978-9812615206.
  20. ^ James Lochtefeld, Brahman, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A–M, Rosen Publishing. ISBN 978-0823931798, page 122
  21. ^ James Lochtefeld, Brahma, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A–M, Rosen Publishing. ISBN 978-0823931798, page 119
  22. ^ a b Bruce Sullivan (1999), Seer of the Fifth Veda, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120816763, pages 82-83
  23. ^ Gopal, Madan (1990). K.S. Gautam (ed.). India through the ages. Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. p. 79.
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