Brahmā

Brahmā is the Creator in the Purāṇas. Each kalpa (cosmic day), he is born from the lotus that grows from the navel of Bhagavān Vishṇu, who rests as Nārāyaṇa on the serpent Ādiśesha in the milk-ocean. Brahmā brings forth the Prajāpatis (the fathers of living beings), the ṛshis (seers), the Manus and all beings. He has four faces, and his realm is Brahmaloka.

The Purāṇas and the Mahābhārata tell many episodes about him. Here is what the Varāha, Mārkaṇḍeya, Liṅga, Bhāgavata, Brahma Vaivarta, Padma and Vāmana Purāṇas say, and what the Mahābhārata says in the Anuśāsana Parva.

Names and epithets

• Brahmā — the Creator
• Prajāpati — the master of progeny
• Svayambhū — self-born (born from the lotus of Nārāyaṇa’s navel)
• Catur-mukha — four-faced
• Parameshṭhin — the highest station
• Hiraṇyagarbha — golden-wombed

Birth

Each kalpa, Brahmā is born anew from the lotus that grows from Nārāyaṇa’s navel while Nārāyaṇa sleeps on Ādiśesha in the milk-ocean. Nārāyaṇa commands him:

“O great-minded one — create the people.”

Then Nārāyaṇa becomes invisible. Brahmā cannot find his own origin. He falls into great distress and anger, and from this anger Rudra is born.

The nine forms of Brahmā

The Varāha Mahā Purāṇa says that at the first creation Brahmā appeared in nine forms (nava-brahma). Marīci was the most exalted of these nine (Chapter 20).

Brahmā’s creations in the Varāha Purāṇa

In Chapter 2, the Varāha Mahā Purāṇa lists Brahmā’s creations in this order:

1. Rudra — from his anger (krodha)
2. The first Prajāpati — from his right big toe, and the Prajāpati’s wife from his left big toe
3. Svāyambhuva Manu — from the Prajāpati and his wife
4. Tapasdhanāḥ (Rudra, Sanaka and the others)
5. The Saptarshis (Marīci and the other mind-born sons)

Brahmā then gave out the paths. Sanaka and the others received nivṛtti (the path of turning away from the world, which leads to liberation). Nārada received a role of his own. Marīci and the others received pravṛtti (the worldly path).

Brahmā as Rudra’s charioteer

When Daksha’s yajña (fire ritual) was destroyed, Brahmā himself served as Rudra’s charioteer. He drove the Vedic chariot, whose horses were the Ṛg, Yajur and Sāman Vedas (Varāha Purāṇa, Chapter 21).

Brahmā and Agni

In Chapter 18, the Varāha Purāṇa shows Brahmā as Prajāpati giving duties to Agni, after Agni rises from the flame of Brahmā’s anger. Agni receives twelve names and roles. Brahmā appoints Agni as: dakshiṇāgni, āhavana-agni, gārhapatya, vaiśvānara, draviṇoda, tanūnapāt, jātaveda, idma and nārāśaṃsa.

In Chapter 9, the same Purāṇa names Brahmā as the Yajurveda in person, housed in the heart of Ṛgveda-Nārāyaṇa.

Brahmā’s lifespan

Brahmā lives for 100 Brahmā-years:

• 1 Brahmā-day = 14 manvantaras = 1000 mahāyugas = 1 kalpa
• 1 Brahmā-night is the same length
• 30 days and nights = 1 Brahmā-month
• 12 months = 1 Brahmā-year
• 100 Brahmā-years = Brahmā’s full life

After 100 Brahmā-years even Brahmā dissolves, and a new creation begins.

Brahmā and the tithis

In the Mahātapa and Prajāpāla dialogue (Chapters 18–35), the Varāha Purāṇa says Brahmā gives a tithi (sacred lunar day) to each deva who came out of the body:

Brahmaloka

Brahmā’s realm is called Satyaloka or Brahmaloka. It is the highest of the seven lokas. Devotees who keep the Dharaṇī Vrata reach Brahmaloka and stay there for one full kalpa before they attain moksha (liberation).

Time and dissolution in the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa

The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa speaks of Brahmā’s full lifespan as dvipararādha, two parārdhas. This is the highest countable number. At the end of this time a pralaya (dissolution) comes that is total, not cyclical. The worlds dissolve in stages. First the three lower lokas are taken back into Brahmā. Then Brahmā dissolves into Prakṛti. Prakṛti in turn lies hidden within Purusha, the Paramātmā, with no activity showing. This last dissolution is the Prākṛta-pralaya, the final return into the unmanifest.

The Purāṇa shows the Trimūrti as the threefold form of one Paramātmā through the three guṇas (qualities). Brahmā has rajas and presides over creation. Vishṇu has sattva and sustains. Rudra has tamas and dissolves. These three are not truly separate, because the three guṇas always rest within one another, as oil rests in the sesame seed and ghee rests in milk. Even during pralaya, rajas lies still within the meeting of sattva and tamas, waiting for the next creation. The three are three aspects of the one, not three separate principles (Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Chapter 43).

The nine mānasa-putras and the first creations in the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa

Brahmā’s nine mānasa-putras are sons born of mind and will, not of the body. They are Bhṛgu, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Aṅgiras, Marīci, Daksha, Atri and Vasishṭha. These ṛshis became the fathers of all later lineages.

To fill the world with people, Brahmā divided his own first body, which was both male and female, into two. From one half rose the man Svāyambhuva Manu. From the other half rose the woman Śatarūpā. Their children were Priyavrata, Uttānapāda, Ākūti and Prasūti. Ākūti was given in marriage to the ṛshi Ruci. Prasūti was given in marriage to Daksha, one of Brahmā’s own mind-born sons.

Daksha and Prasūti had twenty-four daughters. Their names and marriages became the base of the lineages of the cosmos and of dharma. Among them were Śraddhā, Lakshmī, Satī, Svāhā and Svadhā. They were given in marriage to Dharma, the great ṛshis, Rudra, Agni and the Pitṛs, in that order. Through these marriages, dharma, nourishment, devotion and the rites for the ancestors were set up in the cosmos (Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Chapter 47).

The fifth head and Kapāla-mocana

In the Varāha Purāṇa (Book 2, Chapter 96), Brahmā had five heads (pañcamukha). The fifth head recited the Ātharvaṇa mantras. Its words were so strong that anyone who heard them reached liberation at once.

Brahmā once placed the infant Rudra on his shoulder and spoke Rudra’s future names, among them Kapālī (skull-bearer). Rudra took offence at the name Kapālī. In righteous anger (krodha), Rudra cut off Brahmā’s fifth head with the nail of a finger of his left hand. The cut skull (kapāla) clung to Rudra’s hand at once, and he could not shake it off.

Rudra’s wandering

Rudra went to Brahmā with humility, holding the skull in his hand. He asked: “O Deva, how shall this skull fall from my hand? How shall this pāpa (sin) of mine perish? Tell me without delay.”

Brahmā told him to take up the Kāpālika vrata, a hard course of atonement, using Brahmā’s own tejas (radiance) as its driving power.

Rudra then travelled to all the sacred tīrthas of the earth with its seven dvīpas (continents). He bathed in turn in the ocean, the Gaṅgā, the Sarasvatī, the Yamunā-saṅgama, the Śatadrū, the Devikā, the Mahānadī, the Vitastā, the Candrabhāgā, the Gomatī, the Sindhu, the Tuṅgabhadrā, the Godāvarī and the Gaṇḍakī. He also visited the Rudra-mahālaya, Dāravana and Kedāra. At each tīrtha he bathed and sought release, but the skull stayed fixed to his hand.

Release at Kāśī

In the twelfth year of his wandering, Rudra came to Vārāṇasī (Kāśī). The moment he bathed in the Gaṅgā there, Brahmā’s skull fell from his hand. That place in Kāśī became famous as Kapāla-mocana-tīrtha, the tīrtha of the skull’s release.

Brahmā came down with the devas to see this. He said to Rudra:

“O Bhava! Rudra! Virūpāksha! With the world’s well-being in mind, observe the vratas. These vratas will serve the world.”

Brahmā then set apart the practices Rudra had gone through:

These four ways of tapas became the base patterns of Śaiva renunciation. Brahmā declared that whoever keeps these vratas as laid down, even one guilty of brahma-hatyā (the killing of a brāhmaṇa), is fully purified by Rudra’s grace.

The Varāha Mahā Purāṇa gives this account as the sacred base of the Kāpālika tradition and of the holiness of Kapāla-mocana-tīrtha at Kāśī.

Brahmā in the Liṅga Purāṇa

The Trimūrti arises from Parameśvara (Chapters 37–38)

The Liṅga Purāṇa tells how the Trimūrti came from one source. Vishṇu says to Brahmā: “I arose from Maheśvara’s left half (vāmāṅga), and so the ṛshis call me Pradhāna or Prakṛti. You arose from the right half (dakshiṇāṅga), and so you are called Avyakta or Purusha.” Brahmā was born from the lotus of Vishṇu’s navel. So Brahmā’s first source is the body of Parameśvara, through Vishṇu.

In the Megha-Vāhana kalpa (one particular cosmic cycle), Vishṇu took the form of a cloud and carried Maheśvara for a thousand divine years. Maheśvara was pleased. He gave both Vishṇu and Brahmā the power to create the whole world, moving and unmoving.

In one account, at the time of the mahā-pralaya (great dissolution), Brahmā entered Vishṇu’s body. Vishṇu let him out from between his eyebrows (bhrūmadhya). Then Parameśvara appeared before them both. Hari and Brahmā together praised Maheśvara, and he vanished again, after giving them the power to sustain and to create. Vishṇu then took the form of Varāha and lifted the earth from the first waters, and set all creation right. Brahmā brought forth the Prajāpatis, Sanaka and the others, Marīci and the other ṛshis, Dharma, Adharma and Saṃkalpa (Liṅga Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha).

Creation through meditation on Śiva (Chapter 5)

The Liṅga Purāṇa says Brahmā carried out the nine-fold creation through the power of his Śiva-dhyāna-yoga, his meditation on Parameśvara. All of Brahmā’s power to create is shown as coming from Maheśvara’s grace.

Brahmā first tried the avidyā-sarga, a creation rooted in ignorance (delusion, confusion, blindness and the like), and found it not enough. He then turned to the main creation. In order he made trees (beings that stand still), tiryak-jantus (creatures that move sideways), sāttvika devas (who move upward), and last humans. Humans alone can receive Śiva’s grace and attain moksha.

The nine Prajāpatis were brought forth through Brahmā’s Śiva-dhyāna. They are Marīci, Bhṛgu, Aṅgiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Daksha, Atri and Vasishṭha. The Purāṇa calls them equal to Brahmā and fully trained in the Vedas and Vedāṅgas.

The Liṅga Purāṇa also tells how Satī came through Brahmā. At the start of creation, Brahmā saw Parameśvara in the form of Ardhanārīśvara (half man, half woman). He asked that the male and female halves be separated so that creation could go on. The female half became Satī, who came into the care of Daksha as his mānasa-kanyā (mind-born daughter). The text says: “All women in the three worlds are aṃśas (portions) of Satī; all men are aṃśas of Parameśvara.” Satī chose Parameśvara (Rudra) as her husband. In her next birth she became Pārvatī and again chose Bhava as her husband (Liṅga Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha).

Boons after the Jyotirliṅga stotra (Chapter 22)

Hari and Brahmā together sang a stotra (hymn of praise) to Parameśvara when the Jyotirliṅga appeared. After it, Maheśvara appeared before them, golden-eyed (with yellow-tinged, lotus-coloured eyes) and very pleased. He knew them both, yet he asked as a divine play: “Who are you?” They answered: “You yourself made us. Do you not know us?” Maheśvara said that their heartfelt, truthful praise had entered his heart (hṛdaya). He asked them to choose varas (boons).

Vishṇu asked for only one thing, firm bhakti (devotion) at Śiva’s lotus feet for all time. Maheśvara gave it and added: “You will be worshipped throughout the brahmāṇḍa (cosmic egg) as my representative; I bless you with welfare.” Maheśvara touched Brahmā’s body and told him: “You will be honoured in the world equally with me; may firm Śiva-jñāna-bhakti stay in you always.” Then Parameśvara vanished (Liṅga Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha).

Brahmā’s death and the Eleven Rudras (Chapter 22)

Brahmā took up the work of creation with zeal, inspired by the words of Govinda, and began tapas. But his hard tapas gave wrong results. From his tears fell great serpents, huge and fierce, with svastika marks on their heads and deadly poison. Brahmā was horrified and blamed himself. He had made harmful creatures instead of the good people he wanted. In grief and shame he fell unconscious, and his prāṇas (life breaths) left his body.

The Eleven Rudras came out of Brahmā’s lifeless body. They saw his sad state and wept. From this weeping (rodana) they got the name “Rudra”. Parameśvara, the bearer of the trident, was merciful and gave Brahmā’s prāṇas back by his grace.

Brahmā, now alive again, is called Pankajāsana (the lotus-seated). He bowed to Parameśvara. He saw the cosmic Gāyatrī and asked Parameśvara to explain the forms of the Pañcabrahma, Sadyojāta and the rest (Liṅga Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha).

Maheśvara as the knot of life (Chapter 41)

In another kalpa, Brahmā’s tapas again gave no fruit. He was overcome with grief and wept, and from his tears were born bhūta, preta and piśāca beings. Brahmā saw them, blamed himself and gave up his prāṇas.

At that moment Maheśvara came out of Brahmā’s own face (mukha) as prāṇa-granthi-rūpa (the form that is the knot of life). He appeared as Ardhanārīśvara and then spread himself into eleven forms. From his half-aṃśa came Umādevī. She went on to create Durgādevī, Lakshmīdevī, Sarasvatīdevī and countless śaktis.

Maheśvara then brought Brahmā back to life. He said:

māṃ viddhi paramātmānam — enāṃ māyām ajām iti

The meaning: “Know me as the Paramātmā; know her (Umā) as Māyā, unborn and eternal.” He added: “These Eleven Rudras will protect you.” Brahmā, restored, bowed again and prayed: “O Deva! Free me from the bonds of saṃsāra!” Maheśvara smiled gently and vanished with the Eleven Rudras and Umādevī.

The Liṅga Purāṇa gives this round — Brahmā’s death through failure, Maheśvara’s rising as the life-force, and Brahmā’s return to life — as its account of the bond between the Creator and the Supreme (Liṅga Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha).

Brahmā’s lifespan and death

The Liṅga Purāṇa gives Indra’s words in the Śilāda account (Chapter 37). Brahmā was born from the lotus of Vishṇu’s navel, and that lotus came from Maheśvara’s right half. Yet even with this high birth, Brahmā lives only two parārdhas. After that even Brahmā must die. So the Purāṇa shows Brahmā as a being of very long but limited life. His power to create is given to him by Parameśvara, and his very breath depends on Parameśvara’s grace. The text states: “Even Brahmā cannot give a deathless son.” This is said to show that only Parameśvara can give deathlessness (Liṅga Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha).

Brahmā in the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Third Skandha

The opening chapters of the Third Skandha tell main episodes about Brahmā in the history of the present kalpa.

Brahmā’s tapas and the vision of Vaikuṇṭha (Chapters 8–9)

Brahmā rose from the lotus of the navel of Bhagavān Vishṇu. He went down the lotus stalk to find its root, searched without success, and came up again. In stillness he heard the words “tapaḥ tapaḥ” (do tapas), and he obeyed. After a thousand divine years of tapas, Bhagavān Vishṇu appeared to Brahmā and showed him Vaikuṇṭha. Brahmā saw that highest realm and sang the stotra now kept in the Bhāgavata. He then received Bhagavān Vishṇu’s upadeśa (teaching) and the authority to begin creation.

The Bhāgavata teaching passes on (Chapter 9)

After the vision, Bhagavān Vishṇu gave Brahmā the knowledge of the Bhāgavata, the ten-lakshaṇa (ten marks) plan by which the whole Purāṇa is arranged. Brahmā then gave this knowledge to Maitreya Maharshi, through Sanatkumāra and a chain of teachers. This chain reaches Vidura in the setting of the Third Skandha.

The ten kinds of creation (Chapter 10)

In the Third Skandha, Maitreya teaches Vidura the plan of the daśa-vidha sarga, the ten kinds of creation that Brahmā carries out:

1. Mahat-sarga — the creation of the mahat-tattva (cosmic intelligence)
2. Bhūta-sarga — the creation of the subtle elements (tanmātras)
3. Indriya-sarga — the creation of the ten senses
4. Mukhya-sarga — the creation of beings that cannot move (plants and trees)
5. Tiryak-sarga — the creation of animals and birds
6. Deva-sarga — the creation of the devas
7. Manushya-sarga — the creation of humans
8. Anugraha-sarga — the creation of Sanaka and the others (the perfected ṛshis)
9. Kaumāra-sarga — the creation connected with the Kumāras
10. Vaikṛta-sarga — the secondary creation done by Brahmā (visarga), as different from the first creation (sarga) done by the śakti of Bhagavān Vishṇu

These ten kinds are the plan by which all beings come to be (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Third Skandha, Chapter 10).

Brahmā at the birth of Kapila (Chapter 24)

Bhagavān Kapila was born to Kardama and Devahūti at Bindu-sara. Brahmā came there with Marīci and the great ṛshis to honour the birth. He named Kapila as an avatāra of Bhagavān Vishṇu himself. He told the purpose of the descent, which was to set up the Sāṃkhya teaching again. He told Kardama to arrange the marriages of his nine daughters before he left for sannyāsa (renunciation) (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Third Skandha, Chapter 24).

Brahmā in the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa

Birth from Kṛshṇa’s navel-lotus

The Brahma Khaṇḍa of the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa gives Brahmā’s birth as part of the first creation from the body of Śrī Kṛshṇa. Nārāyaṇa arose from Kṛshṇa’s right side and Śiva from his left. Brahmā arose from Kṛshṇa’s navel-lotus at the dawn of creation. In this account, Brahmā is the mano-rūpa (the form of mind) of Parabrahman, the one highest reality. The Liṅga Purāṇa traces Brahmā’s birth to the navel-lotus of Vishṇu. The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa shows Kṛshṇa himself as the first source of the whole Trimūrti.

Brahmā’s stotra to Kṛshṇa

When he came forth, Brahmā bowed before Kṛshṇa and sang a stotra in his praise. Its names for Kṛshṇa include guṇātīta (beyond the three guṇas), rāseśvara (master of the Rāsa), rāsavāsa (dwelling in the Rāsamaṇḍala) and go-ānanda-kārika (the one who brings joy to the cows). The fruit (phala) of the stotra is the removal of pāpas, good dreams, plenty of wealth (sampadas), the rise of devotion to Govinda, and good fame (satkīrti) (Brahma Vaivarta Mahā Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa).

Brahmā’s sons (Chapter 22)

Chapter 22 of the Brahma Khaṇḍa lists Brahmā’s sons in full and gives the meaning of each name. They include Nārada, Marīci, Daksha, Kardama, Kratu, Aṅgiras, Bhṛgu, Vasishṭha, Haṃsa, Yati, Pulaha, Atri and others. The chapter also tells of the birth of the eleven Rudras from Brahmā’s grief and anger. It describes the four Kumāras (Sanaka, Sananda, Sanātana and Sanatkumāra) and their qualities (Brahma Vaivarta Mahā Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa).

Brahmā’s command to Nārada

The Brahma Khaṇḍa tells in detail how Brahmā again and again told Nārada to marry and carry on creation. It tells of Nārada’s refusals, which rest on philosophy, and of the hard talks that followed (Brahma Vaivarta Mahā Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa).

Brahmā in the Padma Mahā Purāṇa

The start of creation and the great yajña at Pushkara (Chapters 1–2, 16–17)

The Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa of the Padma Mahā Purāṇa begins with the Purāṇa passing from Brahmā through Pulastya to Bhīshma. In this account Brahmā carried out the great nine-fold creation (nava-vidha-sṛshṭi), which covers mahat, ahaṃkāra, the five tanmātras and all the living orders. He made the seven dvīpas, the varṇas and all dynasties, and set the ṛshis in their duties. Then Brahmā began a great yajña at the tīrtha of Pushkara. This is the place where the first lotus fell from Vishṇu’s navel at the start of creation, and so it is the highest tīrtha of all (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Chapters 2 and 16).

The fifth head cut off (Chapter 14)

Brahmā’s fifth head faced upward and shone with great radiance. It recited Ātharvaṇa mantras. When it called out to Śiva with the name “Kapālī”, Śiva was enraged and cut it off with the nail of his left hand. From Brahmā’s sweat of anguish at that moment rose the Sveda-ja, a being who wore Sahasrakavaca (a thousand armours) and carried weapons. He became the first form of Karṇa in the cosmos (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 14).

Brahmā sets up Vārāṇasī (Chapter 14)

Śiva wandered doing the Kāpālika vrata, with Brahmā’s skull stuck to his hand. Brahmā appeared to him and sent him to the place called Avimukta (Vārāṇasī). Brahmā said: “This ancient place is a divine abode. Go there and the kapāla will be set free. I, you and Vishṇu will all live here. The region of five krośas here is your kshetra (sacred ground). Brahma-hatyā cannot enter between these rivers. Whoever only sees this tīrtha is purified. Whoever dies here reaches Rudraloka.”

Brahmā then set up the divine tīrtha at Vārāṇasī and gave Śiva the brahmasthāna, the place of highest honour in the Vedas. He declared that all devas, ṛshis and those who meditate on the ātmā would honour Rudra as the highest deva after Nārāyaṇa (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 14).

The Sāvitrī episode at the great yajña (Chapters 16–17)

Sāvitrī, Brahmā’s wife by dharma (dharmapatnī), came late to the great yajña. The good hour (muhūrta) was passing. Brahmā told Indra to find an unmarried woman anywhere on earth. Indra found a beautiful gopikā (cowherd woman) selling milk and curd and brought her to the yajña. Vishṇu named her Gāyatrī. Brahmā married Gāyatrī by gāndharva vivāha so that the yajña could go on.

When Sāvitrī at last arrived and saw Gāyatrī in her place, she gave five great śāpas (curses), against Brahmā, Indra, Vishṇu, Agni and the brāhmaṇas. Her śāpa on Brahmā was: “In all assemblies of brahmās, people will never offer you pūjā except one yearly pūjā in Kārtika.” The Purāṇa gives this śāpa as the reason Brahmā is rarely worshipped and his one great tīrtha is Pushkara. Gāyatrī Devī softened the śāpa with a vara (boon) of her own: those who worship Brahmā by the right vidhāna (rule) will have all well-being and reach moksha (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Chapters 16–17).

The skulls at the yajña (Chapter 17)

During the great yajña, Śiva came in the dress of a bhikshu (beggar) carrying a kapāla. The brāhmaṇas insulted him. When Śiva left his kapāla in the sadas (the sacrificial hall), it began to multiply until the whole hall was full of skulls. The brāhmaṇas ran to the forest and chanted the Śatarudrīya. Śiva appeared and gave them varas. Brahmā then gave Śiva the brahmasthāna, the place of highest honour in the Vedas, as Śiva himself had asked. The skulls vanished and the yajña went on (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 17).

Brahmā and the Kālakeyas (Chapter 19)

The Kālakeya asuras began to destroy the āśramas (hermitages) of the ṛshis by hiding in the ocean. Brahmā allowed the bones of Dadhīci to be used to make the Vajra. Brahmā himself shaped it and gave it to Indra to kill Vṛtrāsura. Agastya then drank the ocean, and the Kālakeyas were destroyed. Brahmā could not refill the ocean. He calmly declared that Bhagīratha would one day bring the Gaṅgā to fill it again. Brahmā also blessed Agastya’s āśrama at Pushkara as the foremost of all āśramas (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 19).

Brahmā in the Anuśāsana Parva of the Mahābhārata

Brahmā and Bhagīratha: the secret of anaśana (Chapter 103)

Bhagīratha reaches Brahmaloka, after crossing the lokas of the devas, of the cows and of the ṛshis. Brahmā asks how he came to so hard a place to reach. Bhagīratha answers by naming the dāna (gifts) and yajñas of his whole life. These are huge gifts of gold, cows, horses, elephants and land, eight rājasūyas, ten vājapeyas, and thirty years of carrying the Gaṅgā on his head. After each one he says that it was not the reason he arrived.

The true reason, he says, was anaśana (fasting, giving up food). Indra hid this secret in a cave, and only Śukra (Uśanas Bhārgava) won it, through tapas. A thousand ṛshis and brāhmaṇas, pleased with Bhagīratha’s keeping of this discipline, told him to go on to Brahmaloka. Brahmā then honoured Bhagīratha with the rites laid down in the śāstra (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 103).

The Vishṇu-Dvādaśaka: Brahmā’s own gīta (Chapter 109)

Bhīshma tells Yudhishṭhira a gīta (song) “sung by Brahmā himself”. It sets out twelve monthly dvādaśī observances. Each is given to one name of Bhagavān Vishṇu, and each is made equal in fruit to a great yajña, from the aśvamedha down to the gift of a thousand cows (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 109).

Tilottamā and the bull for Śiva (Chapter 141)

In the Umā-Maheśvara Saṃvāda, Śiva tells Umā that Brahmā once gathered the finest particle (tila) of every precious and beautiful thing in creation and made from it the apsarā Tilottamā. In this telling, this is how Śiva got his four faces. A face appeared toward whichever direction Tilottamā passed as she walked around him in devotion.

Later in the same chapter, Śiva “burned” the cows in anger at the foam from the calf of Surabhī. This gave cattle their dappled colours. Brahmā, the teacher of the worlds (lokaguru) and knower of truth (tattva-jña), calmed Śiva and gave him the bull as his vāhana (mount) and dhvaja (banner) (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 141).

Brahmā’s answer to the seven ṛshis (Chapter 126)

In the Rahasya-Dharma cycle, the seven great ṛshis, led by Vasishṭha, walk around Brahmā with folded hands. They ask how the poor, who have no wealth, can still gain the fruit of a yajña. Brahmā answers: lie in the open, wear a single garment, and be pure and undistracted. Drink the moon’s rays directly when the moon stands with Rohiṇī-nakshatra in the month of Pausha, in the bright half (śukla-paksha). This alone gives the fruit of a great yajña (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 126).

Reṇuka sent to the Diggajas (Chapter 132)

In the Diggaja-Rahasya, Brahmā speaks to the devas and Indra about a mighty nāga or gaja named Reṇuka, who moves through Rasātala. He is a different being from Reṇukā, the wife of Jamadagni. With the approval of the devas, Brahmā tells them to send Reṇuka to the Diggajas, the great elephants who carry the whole earth. Reṇuka is to learn the secret of dharma that only they know. It is a rite for the eighth day (ashṭamī) of the dark half (kṛshṇa-paksha) of Kārtika, under Āśleshā-nakshatra. It eases the Diggajas’ endless burden. It gives the one who keeps it puṇya (merit) equal to a hundred years of hospitality to the elephants of all three worlds (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 132).

Brahmā in the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Fourth Skandha

Daksha’s yajña and its restoration (Chapters 6–7)

Vīrabhadra destroyed Daksha’s yajña on Śiva’s command, and the whole gathering of devas was driven off. Brahmā led the devas and ṛshis who were left to Kailāsa. There he composed a great stuti (hymn of praise) to please Śiva. In this stuti Brahmā named Śiva as the highest base (adhishṭhāna) of creation, upkeep and dissolution, beyond even the work of the Trimūrti. Through this stuti Śiva agreed to restore the yajña and to heal the wounded devas. Daksha was given a goat’s head in place of his cut-off head, and the yajña was finished (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Fourth Skandha, Chapters 6–7).

Pṛthu’s ninety-nine aśvamedha yajñas (Chapter 19)

Brahmā also acted at the time of Pṛthu’s ninety-nine aśvamedha yajñas. Indra again and again stole the yajña horse, and the ṛtviks (priests) were getting ready to destroy Indra by a new yajña. Brahmā came down and stopped them. He said: “Indra’s name is Yajña. He is the body of Bhagavān Vishṇu. Also, the pāshaṇḍa disguises that Indra took on to steal the horse are now spreading among the people and spoiling dharma. Stop the yajña here. Ninety-nine is already glory beyond measure. You are both aṃśas of Śrī Hari. Do not set yourselves against each other.”

Brahmā then told Pṛthu to make peace with Indra, and Pṛthu did so (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Fourth Skandha, Chapter 19).

At Pṛthu’s birth (Chapter 15)

Pṛthu came forth from the churned arms of Vena. Brahmā came down with all the devas. He saw on Pṛthu’s right palm the mark of the cakra of Śrī Hari, the bearer of the mace, and on his feet the mark of the lotus. This showed that Pṛthu was a true divine aṃśa. Brahmā took part in Pṛthu’s great coronation, where all the devas brought gifts. Brahmā’s gift was a Vedic armour (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Fourth Skandha, Chapter 15).

Stopping the Pracetasas (Chapter 30)

The ten Pracetasas finished their tapas in the ocean and came out. They saw the world overgrown with trees, which Daksha’s descendants had planted and which had spread so far that they hid the sky and the sun. The Pracetasas began to destroy the trees with fire and wind.

Brahmā came down and stopped them. He said: “These trees are not your enemies. They are the children of Daksha Prajāpati and are needed for creation. Make peace with Soma, the king of trees. He will give you his daughter Mārishā in marriage, and through her your line will go on.” Brahmā also foretold the future glory of Daksha, the descendant of the Pracetasas (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Fourth Skandha, Chapter 30).

Brahmā in the Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya

The fifth head and Sannihita Sarovara (Chapter 28)

The last chapter of the Saro Māhātmya gives its own account of Brahmā’s fifth head, tied to Sannihita Sarovara. At the start of creation, Brahmā made a very beautiful young woman, with lotus-petal eyes and a slender form, and he was overcome with desire for the one he had made. This wrong, a creator desiring his own creation, led at once to the cutting off of his fifth head, as the fruit of his karma. The Saro Māhātmya does not say who cut it off. The cutting is given as the fruit of the pāpa itself.

Brahmā carried the weight of this pāpa to the Sannihita Saras at Kurukshetra, which the text calls sarva-tīrthottama, the best of all tīrthas. He set up a Caturmukha liṅga on the northern bank of the Sarasvatī. Each day he did strict pūjā with dhūpa (incense), dīpa (lamp), gandha (scent) and naivedya (food offering), and he recited the Rudrasūkta daily. This went on until Nīlalohita (Bhagavān Śiva in his blue-throated form) appeared before him.

Śiva said to Brahmā: “In the Varāha Kalpa I myself destroyed one of your heads. At that time four heads were left. They will never fall again.” Śiva then told how the Sthāṇu-liṅga at Sannihita arose. This included Brahmā’s part in asking Śiva to begin creation, and the long wait while Śiva did tapas in the sarovara (sacred lake).

After this telling, and after his freedom from the pāpa, Brahmā set up four more liṅgas at four places around Sannihita, one for each yuga:

1. Brahmasaras (beside Vishṇu, called Hari) — for Kṛtayuga
2. Brahmasadana (in Brahmā’s āśrama) — for Tretāyuga
3. The eastern liṅga (east of Brahmasadana) — for Dvāparayuga
4. The Brahma-liṅga on the bank of the Sarasvatī (the same as the Caturmukha-liṅga) — for Kaliyuga

The Caturmukha-liṅga, which Brahmā worshipped at the very start of creation, has the name Caturmukha (“four-faced”) after the four-faced Brahmā who set it up. A bow to this liṅga with śraddhā (faith) destroys all pāpas, including the faults (doshas) of mixed unions between varṇas (varṇāntara-saṅgama) and the pāpa of eating polluted food (dūshitānna-pāpa) (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 28).

Brahmā and the Sthāṇuvaṭa (Chapters 21 and 28)

In Chapter 21, Sanatkumāra’s teaching places Brahmā in the order of the cosmos. After the pralaya, Nārāyaṇa rested on the first waters. The brahmāṇḍa (cosmic egg) formed and came to rest at the spot that would become the Sthāṇuvaṭa. Brahmā’s part in creation was to receive Śiva’s help. At Brahmā’s request, Śiva agreed to enter the waters of Sannihita and do tapas to give strength to creation. While Śiva meditated in the sarovara, Brahmā waited. In the end a creator-being born of Brahmā’s saṅkalpa (resolve) arranged the feeding of all the newly made life (Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 21 and 28).

Sources

• Varāha Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 2, 9, 10, 18–35, 96
• Mārkaṇḍeya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 42–47
• Liṅga Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha (Chapters 5, 22, 37–38, 41)
• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Third Skandha, Chapters 8–10 and 24; Fourth Skandha, Chapters 6–7, 15, 19 and 30
• Brahma Vaivarta Mahā Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa, including Chapter 22
• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Chapters 1–2, 14, 16–17 and 19
• Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 21 and 28
• Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapters 103, 109, 126, 132 and 141