Deities and sacred beings
Deities, sages, kings, places and principles compiled from the Puranas. Search, filter and open each profile.
320 beings · page 4 of 16
Prakriti
प्रकृतिPrakriti is primordial nature of the Sankhya-Vedanta tradition: the insentient, three-mode matrix from whose evolution the subtle and gross …
Sattva-guna
सत्त्वगुणSattva-guna is the first and best of prakriti's three modes: luminosity, purity, balance and the inclination to knowledge, rendering the min…
Rajas-guna
रजोगुणRajas-guna is prakriti's second mode: energy, passion and striving, breeding in the mind lust, greed and anger. In the processed verses it c…
Tamas-guna
तमोगुणTamas-guna is prakriti's third mode: darkness, inertia, heedlessness and the propensity to ignorance. In the processed verses rajas arises f…
Maya
मायाMaya is the Lord's own potency (atma-maya): the creative, three-mode power that projects the world as the saguna display of the modeless Bra…
Balarama
बलरामBalarama is Krishna's elder brother: son of Vasudeva and Rohini, the mighty Yadava, bearing the plough (Halayudha) and identified in traditi…
Purusha-avatara (the first cosmic Purusha)
पुरुष अवतारThe Purusha-avatara is the Lord's first cosmic form at creation's dawn: the sixteen-kala purusha composed of mahat and other principles (SB …
Mahat-tattva
महत्तत्त्वMahat-tattva is the first manifest principle of the Sankhya-Vedanta cosmology: the 'great' intellect-stuff from which ego and the entire mat…
Yoga-nidra (the Lord's mystic slumber)
योगनिद्राYoga-nidra is the Lord's mystic slumber: the yogic trance spread by the purusha-avatara reclining on the causal waters (SB 1.3.2), during wh…
Kumaras (the four celibate boy-sages)
कुमारThe Four Kumaras — Sanaka, Sanatana, Sanandana and Sanat-kumara — are Brahma's mind-born sons who remained celibate boys and became first te…
Varaha
वराहVaraha is Vishnu's boar avatara (second in the Bhagavata's list here): assuming the sukara form He raised the earth sunk in rasatala; purani…
Earth (Mahi)
पृथ्वीThe Earth (mahi/bhumi) is revered in Hindu tradition as Mother Earth (Bhudevi), the foundational divinity of India's agrarian civilization. …
Narada
नारदNarada, mind-born son of Brahma, the deva-rishi: inter-celestial messenger, vina-bearing proclaimer of bhakti. SB 1.3.8: the Lord's third av…
Satvata-tantra
सात्वत तन्त्रThe satvata-tantra is the scripture expounded by Narada that teaches naishkarmya — the ending of karma's consequences (SB 1.3.8); tradition …
Kapila
कपिलKapila is the first teacher of the Samkhya system: tradition knows him as Kapiladeva, son of Kardama and Devahuti, who taught his mother the…
Asuri
आसुरिAsuri is an ancient sage, in the Samkhya tradition one of Kapila's chief disciples (from whom the Pancashikha lineage runs). SB 1.3.10: 'pro…
Samkhya (the doctrine)
सांख्यSamkhya is the most ancient of India's six classical systems: the enumeration-doctrine founded by Kapila, teaching liberation through discri…
Dattatreya
दत्तात्रेयDattatreya is the celebrated yogi-deity of Vaishnava tradition: son of Atri and Anasuya, a partial avatara of Vishnu 'given' (datta) as thei…
Atri
अत्रिAtri is a maharshi among the Seven Sages: a mind-born son of Brahma, husband of Anasuya; the rishi-family of the Rigveda's fifth Mandala bea…
Anasuya
अनसूयाAnasuya, wife of Atri, is the celebrated pativrata of tradition, by whose austerity the Trimurti sons (Dattatreya, Durvasa, Soma) are said t…