Hindu Deities

The many forms of the divine worshipped across Bharat, each a doorway to the one reality: how each is shown, what they hold, and the stories told of them.

शिव
Shiva
Shaiva
The auspicious one; lord of dissolution, meditation, and transformation.
विष्णु
Vishnu
Vaishnava
The preserver who sustains cosmic order and descends as avatars to restore dharma.
कृष्ण
Krishna
Vaishnava
The beloved eighth avatar of Vishnu and speaker of the Bhagavad Gita.
राम
Rama
Vaishnava
The seventh avatar of Vishnu and the ideal of righteous living.
दुर्गा
Durga
Shakta
The Divine Mother; invincible power that protects and upholds the cosmos.
लक्ष्मी
Lakshmi
Vaishnava
Goddess of wealth, fortune, beauty, and abundance; consort of Vishnu.
सरस्वती
Saraswati
Smarta
Goddess of knowledge, music, art, and speech.
गणेश
Ganesha
Smarta
The elephant-headed lord of beginnings and remover of obstacles.
हनुमान
Hanuman
Vaishnava
The mighty devotee of Rama; embodiment of strength, courage, and surrender.
काली
Kali
Shakta
The fierce, liberating form of the Divine Mother who destroys ego and time.
पार्वती
Parvati
Shakta
Daughter of the Himalaya and consort of Shiva; the gentle form of the Divine Mother.
ब्रह्मा
Brahma
Vedic
The creator within the trimurti, born from the lotus of Vishnu's navel.
सूर्य
Surya
Vedic
The sun god, giver of light, life and the measure of time.
गंगा
Ganga
Smarta
The holy river as a goddess, who came down from heaven to purify the earth.
कार्तिकेय
Kartikeya
Shaiva
Son of Shiva and Parvati, commander of the gods' army; Murugan of the Tamil lands.
अय्यप्पा
Ayyappa
Smarta
Son of Shiva and Vishnu as Mohini, the celibate god of Sabarimala.
वेंकटेश्वर
Venkateshwara
Vaishnava
Vishnu as the lord of the Venkata hill at Tirumala, one of the most visited shrines on earth.
जगन्नाथ
Jagannath
Vaishnava
Lord of the Universe at Puri, worshipped with his brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra.
नृसिंह
Narasimha
Vaishnava
Vishnu's fourth avatar, half man and half lion, protector of his devotee Prahlada.
बलराम
Balarama
Vaishnava
Krishna's elder brother, of great strength, who carries a plough.
राधा
Radha
Vaishnava
Krishna's beloved, the highest image of devotion in the bhakti of Vraja.
सीता
Sita
Vaishnava
Rama's queen, born of the earth, revered for her courage and steadfastness.
अन्नपूर्णा
Annapurna
Shakta
Parvati as the goddess of food and nourishment, queen of Varanasi.
कामाख्या
Kamakhya
Shakta
The goddess of the Nilachal hill in Assam, at the oldest of the Shakti Pithas.
तारा
Tara
Shakta
The second of the ten Mahavidyas, the goddess who carries devotees across.
यम
Yama
Vedic
The first mortal to die, now the lord of death and the judge of the departed.
अग्नि
Agni
Vedic
The god of fire, messenger between people and the gods.
इन्द्र
Indra
Vedic
King of the gods and lord of rain and thunder, hero of the Rigveda.
वायु
Vayu
Vedic
The god of wind and breath, father of Hanuman and Bhima.
शनि
Shani
Smarta
The planet Saturn as a god: slow, stern, and the giver of the results of action.
दत्तात्रेय
Dattatreya
Smarta
The trimurti in one form: Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva as the supreme teacher.
विठोबा
Vithoba
Vaishnava
Krishna standing on a brick at Pandharpur, the god of the Varkari saints.
खंडोबा
Khandoba
Shaiva
Shiva as a warrior king on horseback, family god of the Deccan.
भैरव
Bhairava
Shaiva
Shiva's fierce form, guardian of temples and the protector of Kashi.
कुबेर
Kubera
Vedic
Treasurer of the gods and king of the yakshas, worshipped with Lakshmi at Dhanteras.
धन्वन्तरि
Dhanvantari
Vaishnava
Physician of the gods, a form of Vishnu who rose from the churning ocean carrying the pot of amrita; the patron of Ayurveda.
वराह
Varaha
Vaishnava
Vishnu as the cosmic boar who dived into the ocean and raised the earth on his tusk.
वामन
Vamana
Vaishnava
Vishnu as a dwarf brahmin boy who asked King Bali for three steps of land and measured the universe.
परशुराम
Parashurama
Vaishnava
The warrior-sage with the axe, Vishnu's sixth avatar, one of the seven immortals still said to walk the earth.
गरुड
Garuda
Vaishnava
King of birds and the mount of Vishnu, who stole the amrita from the gods to free his mother.
भूदेवी
Bhudevi
Vaishnava
The earth goddess, Vishnu's second consort beside Lakshmi, the patient mother who bears all beings.
नन्दी
Nandi
Shaiva
Shiva's bull and the gatekeeper of Kailasa, who sits facing every Shiva shrine.
अर्धनारीश्वर
Ardhanarishvara
Shaiva
Shiva and Parvati as a single body, half male and half female: the inseparable union of Shiva and Shakti.
ललिता त्रिपुरसुन्दरी
Lalita Tripurasundari
Shakta
The supreme goddess of the Shri Vidya tradition, the beauty of the three worlds, worshipped in the Shri Yantra.
गायत्री
Gayatri
Vedic
The Gayatri mantra as a goddess: the mother of the Vedas, five-faced and seated on a lotus.
शीतला
Shitala
Shakta
The cooling mother who protects from smallpox, fever and summer sickness; she rides a donkey and carries a broom.
मारियम्मन
Mariamman
Shakta
The Tamil mother of rain, who cools fevers and guards villages; worshipped above all at Samayapuram.
चन्द्र
Chandra
Vedic
The moon god, one of the nine planets, lord of the mind, who waxes and wanes under an old curse.
वरुण
Varuna
Vedic
The Vedic sovereign of the waters and of cosmic order, who sees all truth and guards the west.
कामदेव
Kamadeva
Vedic
The god of love, with a sugarcane bow and flower arrows, burned by Shiva's third eye and reborn without a body.
विश्वकर्मा
Vishvakarma
Vedic
The divine architect and craftsman, who built the cities, chariots and weapons of the gods.