Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Rig Veda gods and goddesses

Gods and goddesses from the Rig Veda. But don't look them up! Let the sound of the names inspire you then write in a sentence what aspect of the universe they oversee and a bit about them, eg, Vishnu, god of far-seeing, he can see a person's entire lifespan. (That's the real Vishnu to the right, by the way.)
  • Agni
  • Indra
  • Vrtra
  • Soma
  • Mitra
  • Varuna
  • Ushas
  • Savitar
  • Rudra
  • Pushan
  • Brihaspati
  • Dyaus Pita
  • Prithivi
  • Surya
  • Vayu
  • Prajanya
  • Vac
  • Maruts

1 comment:

Joyce Fetteroll said...

Agni - God of Angst. He watches over those who are filled with anxiety and encourages worry in others. His goal is to have everyone worry because he thinks people take life too lightly and don't worry enough about the dangers that could befall them.

Indra - Goddess of Handwriting. She can supply the worthy with special ink that causes what's written to come true. But what comes true isn't always what people expect!

Vrtra - Goddess of Consonants. Her real name is Vrtr. Much to her annoyance all the gods and goddesses call her Vrtra for they insist all goddesses names must end in "a". Vrtr gets very irritated if mortals call her Vrtra. She's a free spirit and uses vowels whimsically, sometimes using only one vowel in place of all vowels in her speech.

Soma - Goddess of Something. She never could decide. Of all the pantheon she was created third but faced with all the things in the universe to choose as hers to watch over she was overwhelmed. So she waited until the gods and goddess that came after had narrowed the choices down, but there are still too many possibilities for her. She wonders how she can choose just one thing for all eternity? By default she's become the Goddess of Indecision.

Mitra - Goddess of Strength. Pronounced "MIGH trah". Since the Dawn of Comic Books, she has been the butt of god and goddess jokes about her name sounding like a superhero. Going with the flow, she started wearing a cape, mask and spandex with a big "M" across her chest.

Varuna - Goddess of Speed. She has a jetpack on her back. She oversees most forms of racing except for those on a track which she sees as a waste of speed.

Ushas - A position title for those beings who guide the dead to the afterlife.

Savitar - God of Stringed Instruments.

Rudra - God of Giant Monsters. It is through him that the giant monsters, Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, Gamera and so on have amazing regenerative powers.

Pushan - God of Pushing. Twin of the Goddess Pullan.

Brihaspati - God of Elephant Rodeo. 'Nuf said!

Dyaus Pita - Originally the God of Pita Bread, but has expanded his domain to become the God of Strolling Food.

Prithivi - God of Requests. While of course you can make requests of any god or goddess within the realm they oversee, adding in a request to Prithivi is sort of like a power boost to the request.

Surya - Goddess of Lightning. Ever since the beginning of the electric age, she's also been the Goddess of Power Spikes.

Vayu - God of Travel. His mantra is Vaya con Vayu.

Prajanya - Goddess of Transition. She oversees all changes from one form to another since the natural state of matter is either no change or dissolution into chaos.

Vac - God of the Void. Which sounds like a god of nothing but without him watching over the void matter would spread out evenly not clump together which means there wouldn't be suns and worlds and moons. The pantheon tends to forget how important he is. When their disrespect becomes too great he stops watching over the void and the universe falls apart until they beg him to come back and promise to respect him. But eventually they forget again and that's why the universe is cyclic in nature, oscillating between order and chaos.

Maruts - God of Ditches. He is the force that draws animals and wheels and skis to follow similar paths until they wear away the ground or snow into deep tracks.