Deities and sacred beings
Deities, sages, kings, places and principles compiled from the Puranas. Search, filter and open each profile.
13 beings · page 1 of 1
Vedas
वेदThe Vedas are Hinduism's oldest scripture: the four collections (Rig, Yajus, Sama, Atharva) with their Brahmana-Aranyaka-Upanishad literatur…
Srimad Bhagavata Purana
श्रीमद्भागवतThe Srimad Bhagavata Purana is the crown of the eighteen Maha-puranas — ascribed to Vyasa and centred wholly on Krishna-bhakti; Vaishnava tr…
Puranas
पुराणThe Puranas are the ancient memorial scriptures of Hinduism treating cosmology, cosmic cycles, genealogies, dynastic history and the glories…
Itihasas
इतिहासThe Itihasas ('thus indeed it happened') are the epic histories — pre-eminently the Ramayana and the Mahabharata — teaching dharma, policy a…
Dharma Shastras
धर्मशास्त्रThe Dharma-shastras are the smriti treatises codifying duties of varna and ashrama, sacraments, law and procedure, penance and statecraft — …
Jaya
जय'Jaya' is the ancient name of the Mahabharata (the 'poem of victory', so cited within the epic itself). SB 1.2.4 enjoins that after bowing t…
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 …
Samkhya (the doctrine)
सांख्यSamkhya is the most ancient of India's six classical systems: the enumeration-doctrine founded by Kapila, teaching liberation through discri…
Rig Veda
ऋग्वेदThe Rig Veda is the first of the four Vedas: a collection of 1,028 hymns across 10 Mandalas, the oldest layer of Vedic literature, its verse…
Yajur Veda
यजुर्वेदThe Yajur Veda is the second Veda: the liturgical formulae (yajus) for sacrificial ritual, in two recensions (Shukla and Krishna). Drawn out…
Sama Veda
सामवेदThe Sama Veda is the third Veda: the musical chanting (sāman) of Rigvedic verses — the fountainhead of Indian music. Drawn out of the one Ve…
Atharva Veda
अथर्ववेदThe Atharva Veda is the fourth Veda, from the lineage of Atharvan and Angiras: mantras for everyday concerns (healing, astrology, protection…
Mahabharata
महाभारतThe Mahabharata is the world's longest epic poem (≈100,000 verses): composed by Vyasa, the history of the Kuru-Pandava war containing the Bh…