# Hindu Mythology

Agni
Agni is the Hindu god of fire, the guardian of homes, and the protector of humans against evil.

Annapurna
In Hindu mythology, Annapurna is a goddess of foodstuff. She who causes the continual transformation of substance into energy.

Aum
Aum is the sacred mystical syllable representing the Hindu trinity.

Avatar
Avatar (Avatara) in Hindu mythology is an incarnation of a deity.

Brahma
Brahma is the Hindu supreme god and creator of the cosmos.

Chaya
In Hindu mythology, Chaya is the goddess of the beneficial effects of muted and dappled sunlight. She is the matron of metal-workers.

Durga
Durga is a Hindu deity. She is depicted as having ten arms. Her most famous exploit was slaying Mahisha. The festival of Durga puja is celebrated annually in her honour.

Dyaus
In Hindu mythology, Dyaus is the god of the sky.

Ganesa
Ganesa is an elephant headed Hindu god. He is the son of Siva and Parvati.

Hanuman
In Hindu mythology, Hanuman is the monkey god and King of Hindustan. He assisted Rama in the recovery of his wife, Sita, from Ravana of Lanka.

Hindu
see "Hinduism"

Hinduism
Hinduism is a religion that originated in India.

Ida
In Hindu mythology, Ida is a goddess of earth, abundant food and nourishment. She is the granter of any blessings invoked through her.

Indra
Indra is the Hindu sky god. He is depicted as a four-armed man on a white elephant carrying a thunderbolt. It is he who slashes the clouds with his thunderbolt to release the rain.

Indrani
In Hindu mythology, Indrani is a voluptuously beautiful goddess. She who makes possible the perception of form through the eye.

Jagadhamba
In Hindu mythology, Jagadhamba was the goddess of the cosmic energy which motivates evolution, She Who dances the dance of life. Equivalent to the Dravidian goddess Jyestha.

Jaganath
In Hindu mythology, Jaganath was a hideously ugly god made from Krishna's bones after the god's spirit returned to heaven.

Jara
In Hindu mythology, Jara is the goddess of the household, domestic health, happiness and prosperity. The night-eater of corpses.

Kali
Kali is the Hindu goddess of destruction and death. She is the wife of Siva.

Krishna
In Hindu mythology Krishna is the supreme god, or to some people the only god. He was the eighth avatar of Vishnu and was sent into the world to kill the demon-king Kansa who had outlawed Vishnu-worship and upset the universal balance between good and evil.

Lakshami
Lakshami is the Hindu goddess of wealth and beauty.

Lakshmi
Lakshmi is the Hindu goddess of wealth and beauty. She is the consort of Vishnu and is celebrated during Diwali.

Mahisha
Mahisha was chief of the demons in Hindu mythology. He was killed by Durga.

Manu
In Hindu mythology, Manu was the founder of the human race. He was saved by Brahma from a deluge.

Mara
In Hindu mythology, Mara is a goddess of death.

Maruts
In Hindu mythology, the Maruts are the fierce storm-beings who toss the sea into foam.

Meru
In Hindu mythology, Meru is a mountain at the North Pole, supposed to be an abode of the gods.

Parashurama
In Hindu mythology, Parashurama was the sixth avatar of Vishnu. He was the youngest son of a forest dwelling hermit with a family of sons. He was both a devout servant of the gods and a keen huntsman. In return for his prayers the gods gave him unerring skill with a bow, but demons afraid that he would use his archery against them stole his bow. Vishnu answered his prayers and entered him and gave him a battle-axe and told him to use it to fight the enemies of the gods. While Parashurama was praying on a mountain, his mother coming home saw two people making love in a forest pool and became sexually excited. Returning home her husband detected her impure thoughts and ordered each of his sons in turn to behead her, each refused and their father punished them by making them as stupid as the cattle they looked after. When Parashurama arrived home with the battle-axe he understood his father's request, and cut off his mothers head. Immediately her head touched the floor she was restored to life cleansed of her impure thoughts, and Parashurama's father rewarded him with immunity from death in war.

Radha
In Hindu mythology, Radha is the creative, life-sustaining, auspicious, benevolent, loving and redemptive goddess of the Gopis.

Rajarajesvari
In Hindu mythology, Rajarajesvari is a goddess of world sustaining transcendental knowledge. She whose glances delight the universe.

Rakshasa
In Hindu mythology, the Rakshasa are male demons capabale of assuming the form of animals or humans they are completely evil, powerful creatures that delight in spreading fear, confusion, chaos, and destruction among human families and communities, finishing the trouble they cause in a murderous, ghoulish feast upon human flesh. They are among the most feared of all creatures, for they delight in mental torture of their victims.

Rakshasi
In Hindu mythology, a Rakshasi is the female form of a Rakshasa.

Ravana
In Hindu mythology, Ravana is the demon King of Lanka who abducted Sita, the wife of Rama.

Rohini
In Hindu mythology, Rohini (Red-One) is a fine-eyed goddess of stars and the rising sun. Ruler of the annual cycle and the light of knowledge.

Sakti
In Hindu mythology, Sakti is the goddess of cosmic energy, the will of evolution. It is she who gives birth to all force and all form.

Sarasvati
In Hindu mythology, Sarasvati (She-who-flows-eloquently-onward), is a young and beautiful four-armed goddess of fertility, procreation, purification and literature.

Savitar
In Hindu mythology, Savitar is an all-powerful sun god. He cut off one hand at a sacrifice, and priests gave him a golden hand to replace it.

Sita
In Hindu mythology, Sita is a goddess of spring, agriculture and the earth. She is the Corn Mother, the field which brings forth bounteously.

Uma
In Hindu mythology, Uma is a name of the goddess Kali.

Urmya
In Hindu and Vedic mythology, Urmya is a goddess of night and the celestial order. Protectress of sleep and she who guards against thieves.

Vac
In Hindu and Vedic mythology, Vac is the goddess of language, writing and writing-systems. She is the matron of mental endeavours and the source of voice.

Vajravarahi
In Hindu mythology, Vajravarahi (Strength-of-the-Sow) is the goddess of wisdom through experience who drives away evil spirits such as depression.

Varuna
In Hindu mythology, Varuna is a thousand-eyed god who sees all that happens in the world.

Varuni
In Hindu and Vedic mythology, Varuni was originally the waters of origin, she became the goddess of golden liquor, wine and intoxication.

Vayu
In Hindu mythology, Vayu is the god of the winds.

Visahari
In Hindu mythology, Visahari is a shape-shifting goddess of earth, uberty and the underworld. She is the controller of snakes and the spirit of mind.

Vritra
In Hindu mythology, Vritra is the snake of darkness. Enemy of Indra.

Yama
In Hindu mythology, Yama is the god of the dead, who judges and punishes souls. He is represented as of a green colour, four-armed, clad in garments of fire, crowned and seated on a buffalo. He holds a mace and noose, and drags the souls of the condemned out of the bodies to the judgement-seat.

Copyright 1997,1998 Servile Software Enquiries to Matthew Probert

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