BRAHMA, a word supposed by some to be from the Sanskrit ' or brih,' to increase. Brahma occurs in a hymn of the Rig-Veda, and, according to Dr. Haug, this word originally meant the strewing of the sacrificial grass on the spot appointed for the immolation. One of the earliest meanings of the word, as used in the Veda, was food,' also riches. In the Rig-Veda, a more frequent meaning is sacrificial food. But in the same work Brahma is repeatedly used to express the-song of the soma singers, a magic spell ; and is applied to ceremonies having a song of praise as their characteristic. In the language of the Zendavesta, baresman,' an absolutely identical word, is found, which the Parsees interpret to mean a bundle of twigs tied together with grass, used in the fire-worship like the bundle of kusa grass used by the Brahmans in the In both worships the bundle is a symbol of 'growing,' increase,' or prosperity ; and the name of the symbol was transferred to the texts, hymns, sacri fices, and ceremonies used in the rites. As sacri fice among the Vedic Hindus was the chief means of obtaining all earthly and spiritual blessings, but was useless without the Brahma, i.e. success, the latter was at last regarded' as the original causes of all being.' The Imperial Gazetteer says Brahma means a prayer ; and Brahman, a praying person.
Brahma, with Siva and Vishnu, form the triad of Hindu deities. There is nothing extant to show either that Brahma ever had much considera tion shown him, or that his worship was over whelmed by the intrusion of the Vaishnava and Saiva religions. Brahma in former times is said to have had temples the same as Siva and Vishnu, and to have been worshipped separately, but the followers of the two last are said to have entirely destroyed the temples and worship of Brahma. Brahma alone of the three is mentioned by Menu (Kennedy's Researches, p. 270). He seems to have had some sort of pre-eminence in ancient times, but there is no evidence that he was ever much worshipped. According to Colonel Tod, he has now but one temple in India (Tod's Rajasthan, vi. p. 774); and though invoked in the daily ritual, his separate worship is almost entirely neglected. His Sakti or consort, Saraswati, has not fallen so completely out of notice. A figure of Brahma is shown in a temple at Gumli, three-faced, seated cross - legged on two hansa, with two female attendants, and to his right is Siva, three-faced, with Nandi below, and two females.
A Saiva legend, in the Tamil book Arunasala Puranam, is to the effect that Brahma and Vishnu endeavoured to overthrow the religion of Siva ; that Vishnu abandoned the attempt, and Brahma was overpowered, and condemned to have neither temple nor worship for evermore. Also the Brahma-koond, in Brindapur, is a little square tank, supposed to be of natural excavation, and regarded as the sacred spot of Vishnu's triumph over Brahma. In Benares they make Vishnu worship Siva. In Brindabun they make Brahma worship Vishnu, to assert the superiority of sect over sect (Tr. of Hind. ii. p. 65). At the present day, Brahma is worshipped or reverenced at Bittur on the Ganges (Oudh Census, p. 114). Ile is particularly reverenced at Pushkara, near Ajntir, as also at I3ittur in the Doab, where, at the Brahmavarta ghat, ho is said to have offered an Aswa Medlin on completing the act of creation. Thu pin of his slipper is still 'worshipped there. On the full of the moon Agraliayana (November and December) a mela or fair, a meeting that mixes piety with profit, is anuually held at that place.— ( Wilson.) There is no doubt that he is the least important, at the present day, of the Hindu deities, though termed the creator, or the ancestor of gods and men. He has been imagined to correspond with the Saturn of the Greeks and Latins. lie is usually represented as a red or golden-coloured figure with four heads. Ile is maid, by the Saiva sect, to have once possessed five ; but as he would not acknowledge the supe riority of Siva, as Vishnu had done, that deity cut off one of them. He has also four arms, in one of which he holds a spoon, in another a string of beads, in the third a water-jug (articles used in worship), and in the fourth the Veda or sacred writings of the Hindus. He is frequently attended by his valian or vehicle, the hansa, a goose or a swan.-3loor's Pantheon ; Tod's Rajasthan, vi. p. 774 ; Sonnerat's Voyage, p.5 ; Kennedy's Researches, p. `270; Hindu Theatre, ii. p. 58; Travels of a Ilindoo, p. 65; Sir G. Campbell, p. 61; Wilson; Ondh Census, p. 114.—Imp. Ga:.