A lot of tales and questions circle around the mystic deity, the creator himself: Lord Brahma.
Have you ever thought why your neighbourhood temple has a Shivling and not a Brahma statue? Why are there devotional songs on Durga, Shiva, Vishnu, and yet again not on Brahma? Is there a feud between the celestial beings? Thousands of Shiva and Vishnu temples can be spotted worldwide, but there is only one Brahma temple in Pushkar, Rajasthan Why? It again ignites the question: why Brahma is not worshipped? A lot of your questions will get answered about the heavenly gods and especially about the infamous yet powerful: Brahma.
Emergence and Relevance of “Trimurti”
Let’s start from the very beginning of the tale – The world runs on the mercy of the three celestial powers, combinedly called “Trimurti”. The three energies are associated with the three Hindu mythological deities “Brahma” “Vishnu” and “Mahesh”. Each one of them has a role to play in the functioning of the world. Brahma -The Creator, Vishnu-The Preserver and Mahesh-The Destroyer. It is also believed that the three deities signify the different sides of the same divine power and so are just like the three sides of the same person. The concept of Trimurti is also quite similar to the christian concept of the Holy Trinity (Let’s keep this topic of discussion for some other article).
Reasons For Negligence
Let’s cut to the chase and look at all the prospective reasons for this partial behaviour towards Brahma, the creator himself. A lot of the tales and folklore can give you reasons and explanations for this prejudice but we will also explore the flipside, i.e. the logical and metaphysical reasons. There are a few tales that will attach meaning to the reason as to why Brahma is not worshipped.
Story 1
Legend has it that when Brahma was creating the universe, he created Shatrupa, a female deity to help him with the process of creation. The creator himself was so awed by Satrupa’s beauty that he gazed at her in every direction (modern-day stalking). Embarrassed by the gesture, Satrupa tried to run away from him in every direction possible. Falling head over heels for Satarupa, Brahma developed a head in each direction she went so that he could have an eye on her and so Brahma had 4 heads. Falling out of options, Satarupa decided to leap over Brahma’s head to avoid his gaze, but Brahma, so allured by her beauty developed a head on top as well. Looking at all this, Lord Shiva intervenes and cuts off one of Brahma’s heads (the best kind of punishment for stalking). Shiva also punished Brahma for this unholy act and declared that no worship will be held for Brahma.
This is one of the mythical legends adding meaning to the statement “ Why Brahma Is Not Worshipped?”
Story 2
Brahma and Vishnu had a heated discussion on who is more powerful amongst the Trimurti. The feud escalated to such an extent that Shiva had to intervene. To end the battle, Shiva took the form of a lingam and exuded blazing fire out of the lingam. The one who could find the ending point of the Shiv Lingam would be considered powerful so both contenders started their search. Vishu soon realised that there is no end to the lingam and also that Shiva is the ultimate force. Brahma was not ready to accept the fact and tried to trick Shiva. He asked Ketaki (a flower) to tell Shiva that he had found the end of the flame. Shiva knew this was a false claim so he punished Bramha for this and as a result, we see only one or no Brahma temples at all. This story tells another tale of why Brahma is not worshipped.
A Realistic Turn To The Tales
To some people, all this might appear as another page of a mythological book but to some, it is a true tale.
The human tendency of forgetting what has already happened, pay attention to what is going on, and worrying excessively about the future can help you understand why Shiva is the most famous and Brahma the least worshipped of them all (This can be confirmed by a million Shiva temples all over the globe and just one Brahma temple in Pushkar, Rajasthan). Brahma already created the world, now it’s in the past so it is human tendency to forget about it. Vishnu, associated with preserving and looking after the world will be remembered and Shiva, implying the future, will be revered and prayed for. So it is not only tales but also human psychology which can be one of the reasons attributing to why Brahma is not worshipped.
End Note
There can be two schools of thoughts to put an end to this discussion that why Brahma is not worshipped, one attributing the unholy actions of Brahma that the tales narrate and the second being the realistic explanation that states how humans have the tendency to forget about what has happened in the past. Now the final decision lies with the reader to choose their side of the story.
