Brahma, Vishnu, and Maheshwar are the trinity or Trideva, they have utmost respect for each other. The reason why brahma is not worshipped on earth can traced back to the Puranas which talk about the rift between Brahma and Vishnu. And Lord Shiva punished Lord Brahma to break Brahma’s arrogance. Lord Shiva took the form of Bhairav and cut off Brahma’s 5th head with his fingernail. This is the popular story of Lord Brahma and Vishnu trying to find the end of an infinitely long Pillar of Light. Real along to find out what really happened.
VARIOUS REASONS WHY BRAHMA IS NOT WORSHIPPED
There are many variations in different Puranas which correspond to the reason why Brahma is not worshipped
- According to Matsya and Kurma Purana, In a council of sages, Brahma arrogantly declared himself as the supreme god. To which Lord Shiva challenged and broke his arrogance.
- But the most famous and widely believed fact is the challenge that Lord shiva puts forth between Brahma and Vishnu.
- There are also incidents written in some Puranas that Brahma was infatuated with his own daughter which led Lord Shiva to punish Lord Brahma.
- There are also instances which tell us about Rishi Bhrigu who cursed Lord Brahma.
Let’s discuss each of them in detail
BRAHMA AND VISHNU’s ARGUMENT
There are many variations for initiation of this argument as well one of them says,
Brahma was born from Vishnu’s navel in a lotus. Once When Lord Vishnu was in yog nidra, Brahma once by to Vaikunta and saw Vishnu sleeping. Arrogant Brahma asked Lord Vishnu to open his eyes saying he is the creator of the universe and the oldest person of the universe and he deserves to be respected. He stressed upon being theprotector of the world and travel with the speed of time.
To which Vishnu replied, O Brahma, The whole universe is present inside me. You also came from my Navel. Their argument soon turned into a fight. Eventually their fight was stopped by Lord Shiva who was called upon by the afraid Devas.
LORD SHIVA CHALLENGES BRAHMA AND VISHNU TO FIND THE END OF INFINITE LONG SHIVA LINGA
Lord Shiva then turned into an infinitely long pillar called Linga. And sent Brahma and Vishnu in opposite directions to find the end of the pillar in their respective directions. Accepting the challenge both of them set to the journey to find the end of the pillar. Vishnu took the form of Varaha and travelled with utmost velocity to find the end of the pillar but all in vain. He soon realised that the pillar had no end and accepted his defeat in front of Lord Shiva.
BRAHMA TRIES TO TRICK SHIVA
Brahma on the other hand in his own pride, thought to trick Lord Shiva. He brought in the Ketaki Flower and the most holy animal a cow. Brahma made a deal with them both and asked them to act as false witnesses that Brahma actually reached the end of the pillar. Ketaki flower agreed to this and witnessed Brahma reaching the end. The cow agreed to it as well and witnessed Brahma reaching the end, However the tail of the cow started disagreeing to this and tried to tell the truth.
REPERCUSSIONS OF THE CHALLENGE
Lord Shiva who already knew there would be no end to the pillar, realised some of them were lying.
To break the arrogance of Brahma he took the form of Bhairava and cut of Brahma’s head which lied to him with a finger nail. Which immediately killed brahma. However, due to the lifetime of austerity, he came back to life and started living with 4 heads from then on. This is the reason why Brahma is not worshipped in the entire universe as punished by Lord Shiva.
Eventually Brahma apologised and accepted his mistake. Lord Shiva then said that Brahma could be worshipped in the temple which was already present on the Earth by then but there won’t be any other temples constructed by people to worship Brahma.
Lord Shiva cursed the Ketaki Flower that from then on, It will be banned from all religious activities. Due to which worship of Lord Shiva is forbidden with Ketaki flower.
Since the cow was half true, It is said that one should always pray the tail of the cow and not the head. Since lord vishnu told the truth, Shiva realised the actual strength of Lord Vishnu and his truth and gave his respect to Lord Vishnu.
BHIKSHATANA SHIVA
Although what Lord Shiva did was to break the arrogance of Brahma, but Brahma was the most revered Brahmana in the whole universe. And killing him brought upon Brahma hatya sin upon Lord Shiva. Thus it is told that Shiva had to fulfil the vow of kapali to get rid of this sin. He had to go ahead as a naked beggar with the skull as a plate (Bhikshatana Shiva). It is also said that the sin took a form of a ghoulish woman who followed shiva where ever he went for Bhikshatana.
BRAHMA IS INFATUATED BY DEVI SHATARUPA
There is another story which says the first woman that was born from Brahma was called Shatarupa. Brahma immediately got infatuated which embarrassed her and tried to escape. Brahma put each of his four faces in every direction and the fifth head on top to observe her form all directions. This is also the reason for Lord Shiva to cut Brahma’s head and a reason why Brahma is not worshipped on the earth.
