The Hindu Pantheon

The creator; four-faced, born of the lotus rising from Vishnu’s navel.

The preserver; sustainer of dharma, reclining on the serpent Ananta.

The destroyer and transformer; the auspicious ascetic-lord of Kailāsa.

Mahādeva · Śaṅkara · Maheśvara

Goddess of knowledge, speech, music and the arts; consort of Brahma.

Goddess of fortune, wealth and beauty; consort of Vishnu.

Śrī · Kamalā

Goddess of power and devotion; the Mountain’s Daughter, consort of Shiva.

Umā · Gaurī · Śakti

Elephant-headed remover of obstacles; lord of beginnings and wisdom.

Gaṇapati · Vināyaka · Vighneśvara

Six-faced god of war and victory; commander of the divine army.

Skanda · Murugan · Subrahmaṇya

Born of Shiva and Mohini; celibate warrior-lord of Sabarimala.

Dharmaśāsta · Hariharaputra

Daughter of Shiva and Parvati in Purāṇic lore.

The bull; Shiva’s mount and chief attendant, guardian of Kailāsa.

The fish; saved Manu and the Vedas from the great flood.

The tortoise; bore Mount Mandara for the churning of the ocean.

The boar; lifted the earth from the cosmic waters.

The man-lion; slew the tyrant Hiraṇyakaśipu to save Prahlāda.

The dwarf brahmin; reclaimed the three worlds in three strides.

The axe-wielding warrior-sage who humbled the unrighteous kings.

Prince of Ayodhyā; the ideal king, hero of the Rāmāyaṇa.

The complete avatar; cowherd, statesman and teacher of the Gītā.

Counted as an avatar in many lists (Balarāma replaces him in others).

The future avatar on a white horse, to end the Kali age.

Krishna’s elder brother; plough-bearer, embodiment of Ananta-Śeṣa.

Horse-headed restorer of the stolen Vedas; lord of knowledge.

Vishnu’s female form; enchantress who shared out the nectar of immortality.

Physician of the gods; bearer of amṛta, patron of Āyurveda.

The twin sages; eternal companions of devotion and the divine.

Sage-avatar; founder of the Sāṃkhya philosophy.

Combined avatar of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva; lord of yogis.

The first sovereign king, who “milked” the earth to abundance.

Ascetic king-avatar; forefather of renunciation.

Compiler of the Vedas and author of the Mahābhārata.

Commander of Vishnu’s forces; the Vaiṣṇava counterpart of Gaṇeśa.

The swan avatar who imparted supreme knowledge to the sages.

The cosmic Vishnu reclining on the causal waters, source of all.

The supreme indwelling Vishnu; the Krishna of the Vṛṣṇis.

Lord of the Seven Hills at Tirupati; the most-visited form of Vishnu.

Bālājī · Śrīnivāsa

“Lord of the Universe”; the wooden form of Puri, with Balabhadra and Subhadrā.

The arms-akimbo Krishna of Pandharpur; heart of the Vārkarī faith.

Viṭṭhal · Pāṇḍuraṅga

The reclining Vishnu of Srirangam; foremost of the divya-deśams.

The lotus-naveled reclining Vishnu of Thiruvananthapuram.

Krishna lifting Govardhana; central icon of the Puṣṭimārga at Nathdwara.

Krishna as king of Dwārka.

The child-Krishna form enshrined at Guruvayur.

The “true lord”; Vishnu of the popular vrata worship.

Krishna the cowherd; the child and youth of Vṛndāvana.

Bāla Kṛṣṇa

The united divine couple; the supreme embodiment of love.

Krishna as Arjuna’s charioteer at Kurukṣetra.

The Great God; the supreme, all-encompassing Shiva.

The fierce, howling Vedic storm-god from whom Shiva emerges.

Lord of the cosmic dance (tāṇḍava), dancing creation and destruction.

The silent guru facing south; teacher of yoga and jñāna.

Half Shiva, half Parvati; the union of the male and female principles.

The terrifying guardian of sacred sites; lord of time and dissolution.

Kāla Bhairava

Great Time and Death; the form enshrined at Ujjain.

Lord of animals and all souls; the ancient form of Kathmandu.

The blue-throated one, who held the world-poison in his throat.

Destroyer of the three demon-cities with a single arrow.

Bearer of the river Gaṅgā in his matted locks.

The infinite pillar of fire whose ends the gods could not find.

The five-faced supreme Shiva of the Āgamas.

The naked wandering mendicant form.

The part-lion, part-bird form that subdued Narasiṃha’s fury.

The towering warrior born of Shiva’s wrath at Dakṣa’s sacrifice.

The aniconic pillar; the primary form in which Shiva is worshipped.

The primordial supreme power; the Goddess as ultimate reality.

Mahādevī

The invincible warrior-goddess, lion-riding, wielder of every divine weapon.

The dark, fierce goddess of time; destroyer of ego and evil.

Durga as slayer of the buffalo-demon Mahiṣāsura.

The fierce goddess of the Devī Māhātmya.

Caṇḍikā

The gaunt, terrible goddess who slew Caṇḍa and Muṇḍa.

Shiva’s first consort, who immolated herself at Dakṣa’s sacrifice.

The radiant, golden form of Parvati.

Goddess of food and nourishment, who fed even Shiva.

The life-giving goddess; tutelary form of the Marathas.

The beautiful supreme goddess of Śrī Vidyā and the Śrī Yantra.

Rājarājeśvarī

The goddess of Kanchipuram, eyes full of desire and grace.

The fish-eyed warrior-queen goddess of Madurai.

The virgin goddess at India’s southern tip.

The mountain goddess of the Trikūṭa hills, worshipped as three piṇḍis.

Queen and mother of the manifest universe.

The Mother; a common name of the supreme Devī.

Jagadambā

The warrior form born of the gods’ combined fury.

The first Mahāvidyā; timeless, formless dissolution.

The star; guide across the ocean of existence, goddess of the saving word.

The beautiful one of the three worlds; supreme beauty.

Ṣoḍaśī

Mistress of the cosmos; space itself as the Goddess.

The fierce goddess of decay and transformative power.

The self-decapitated goddess; radical self-sacrifice and life-force.

The widow-goddess of smoke, void and the unmanifest.

The paralysing goddess who stills speech and enemies.

The outcaste goddess of speech, music and forbidden knowledge.

The lotus goddess; the tantric Lakṣmī of abundance.

Daughter of the mountain; the first night.

The ascetic seeker; devotion and penance.

Bearer of the crescent bell; courage and grace.

Creator of the cosmic egg; the smiling source of the sun.

Mother of Skanda (Kārttikeya).

The warrior-slayer of Mahiṣāsura.

The dark night; destroyer of ignorance and fear.

The radiantly pure; serenity and grace.

Bestower of perfections and spiritual powers.

Power of Brahma; four-faced, on a swan.

Power of Vishnu; on Garuḍa, with discus and conch.

Power of Shiva; on the bull, with the trident.

Power of Kārttikeya; on a peacock, with the spear.

Power of Varāha; boar-faced, terrible and protective.

Power of Indra; on the elephant, with the thunderbolt.

Aindrī

Power of the Devī’s own wrath; gaunt and fearsome.

The primeval Lakṣmī; the source-goddess.

Goddess of monetary wealth.

Goddess of grain and the harvest.

Lakṣmī flanked by elephants; royal and elemental power.

Goddess of progeny and family.

Goddess of valour and courage.

Dhairya Lakṣmī

Goddess of victory.

Goddess of knowledge and learning.

King of the devas; wielder of the thunderbolt, slayer of Vṛtra.

Fire; priest of the gods and mouth that bears offerings to heaven.

Guardian of cosmic order (ṛta) and the waters; the all-seeing sovereign.

The wind; breath of the cosmos, swift and life-giving.

Vāta

The sun; the visible eye of the divine crossing the sky.

Vivasvān

The sacred draught and the moon; ecstasy and immortality.

First mortal and lord of the dead; judge of the departed.

God of friendship, contracts and the light of day.

The solar impeller; invoked in the Gāyatrī mantra.

Nourisher and guardian of roads, herds and travellers.

The radiant goddess of dawn.

The goddess of night.

The earth goddess; the broad, all-bearing mother.

Bhūmi

The sky father; primordial, paired with Pṛthvī.

The boundless; mother of the Ādityas and the gods.

Lord of creatures; the creator-progenitor of the late Ṛgveda.

The divine architect and craftsman of the gods.

The heavenly artisan who forged Indra’s thunderbolt.

Preceptor of the gods; lord of prayer and eloquence.

The goddess of sacred speech and the creative word.

Āditya of customs, hospitality and marriage.

Āditya of fortune, wealth and just apportionment.

The rain-cloud god; bringer of the fertilising showers.

The storm-troop; radiant sons of Rudra, companions of Indra.

Twin horsemen; physicians of the gods, saviours at dawn.

Nāsatyas

Goddess of the forest and its wild solitude.

Mother of the Daityas; counterpart of Aditi.

Solar sovereigns — Mitra, Varuṇa, Aryaman, Bhaga, Dhātṛ, Aṃśa, Vivasvān, Savitṛ, Tvaṣṭṛ, Pūṣan, Indra, Viṣṇu.

Āditya of health, domestic ritual and creation.

Āditya of the share due to gods and worshippers.

The elemental spheres — Dhara, Anala, Anila, Apa, Soma, Dhruva, Prabhāsa, Pratyūṣa.

Vasu of the earth.

Vasu of fire.

Vasu of wind.

Vasu of the pole star; steadfastness.

Vasu of dawn-light and splendour.

The vital forces / howlers; names vary — Kapālī, Piṅgala, Bhīma, Virūpākṣa, Śambhu, Bhava, Ugra and others.

The Sun; soul, vitality, sovereignty.

The Moon; mind, emotion, nourishment.

Soma

Mars; energy, courage, conflict.

Kuja · Aṅgāraka

Mercury; intellect, speech, commerce.

Jupiter; wisdom, expansion, the guru.

Guru

Venus; love, art, prosperity; guru of the asuras.

Saturn; discipline, karma, hard justice.

The severed head; the ascending lunar node, eclipse-demon.

The severed tail; the descending node, mokṣa and mystery.

Guardian of the East.

Guardian of the Southeast.

Guardian of the South.

Guardian of the Southwest; deity of decay and dissolution.

Guardian of the West.

Guardian of the Northwest.

Guardian of the North; lord of wealth and the yakṣas.

Guardian of the Northeast; a form of Shiva.

Guardian of the zenith (in the tenfold scheme).

Guardian of the nadir; the cosmic serpent below.

Śeṣa

The Ganges; purifier who descended from heaven through Shiva’s locks.

The dark river of Vṛndāvana; sister of Yama, beloved of Krishna.

The self-born river of central India, holy to Shiva.

The mighty vanished river of the Ṛgveda, now flowing unseen.

The “Ganges of the South”; great river of the Deccan.

Life-giving river-goddess of the Tamil country.

The Earth goddess; consort of Vishnu, rescued by Varāha.

Pṛthvī

The sacred basil deified; devoted consort of Vishnu.

Goddess of the ritual twilight junctures.

Krishna’s beloved; the supreme embodiment of longing and devotion.

Rama’s queen; daughter of the earth, ideal of steadfast virtue.

Krishna’s chief queen at Dwārka; a form of Lakṣmī.

Krishna’s warrior-queen; fierce and proud.

Queen of the Pāṇḍavas; worshipped as a goddess in her own cults.

Draupadī Ammaṉ

Goddess of desire and pleasure; consort of Kāmadeva.

The oblation-cry personified; consort of Agni.

Queen of heaven; consort of Indra.

Indrāṇī

Wife of Vasiṣṭha; the faint star, ideal of devotion.

Who won her husband back from Yama through devotion.

The mighty monkey-god; Rama’s supreme devotee, strength wed to bhakti.

Añjaneya · Māruti

The divine eagle; mount of Vishnu, enemy of serpents.

The thousand-headed cosmic serpent on whom Vishnu reclines.

Ananta

King of the nāgas; the rope of the cosmic churning.

The wish-fulfilling cow, mother of all cattle.

The white four-tusked elephant; Indra’s mount.

The seven-headed white horse of the gods.

The noble vulture-king who died defending Sītā.

The wise king of bears; ally of Rama and Krishna.

The monkey-king restored to his throne by Rama.

The god of love, who looses flower-arrows of desire.

Manmatha · Madana

Lord of wealth and treasures; king of the yakṣas.

The scribe of Yama who records every deed of every soul.

The divine physician; lord of healing and Āyurveda.

Lord of death and dharma; the righteous judge of the dead.

Dharmarāja

The twin divine healers and surgeons.

Architect of the gods; patron of every craftsman.

First of the three earliest Ālvārs; held to embody Vishnu’s conch.

One of the first three; born, by tradition, of a madhavi flower.

The third of the earliest three; embodiment of the Nandaka sword.

Poet-saint of Tirumazhisai; once a yogi, turned to Vishnu.

The foremost Ālvār; “who rendered the Veda into Tamil,” author of the Tiruvāymoli.

Devoted disciple of Nammālvar, whose praise he sang above all.

A Chera king who renounced his throne for Vishnu.

The “great Ālvār”; foster-father of Āṇḍāl, garland-maker of Srivilliputhur.

The only woman among the Ālvārs; bridal mystic who wed only Vishnu.

“Dust of the devotees’ feet”; tender of the temple garden at Srirangam.

Of the lowest caste, carried into the sanctum on a priest’s shoulders; a bard-saint.

A chieftain and reformed brigand turned prolific poet-saint.

The last of the three foremost; Shiva’s “close comrade,” poet of the Tēvāram.

Tirunāvukkarasar; won the Pallava king back to Śaivism.

Tirunāvukkarasar

Child prodigy poet-saint who lived only sixteen years.

The hunter who offered his own eyes to Shiva; held to be Arjuna reborn.

The skeletal woman-saint of Karaikkal; one of three female Nāyanārs.

The potter-saint, second in the traditional list.

“Contrary to nature”; who gave away even his own wife at Shiva’s asking.

The farmer who fed a devotee in famine.

The king slain by a false ascetic, whom he spared for the holy garb.

The devotee zealous for the honour of Shiva’s servants.

The merchant tested by Shiva as a young ascetic.

The devotee of fierce temper in Shiva’s service.

A swordsman who laid down his guard before Shiva’s mark.

Who burned incense for Shiva though it beggared him.

The general who gave his daughter’s hair for a devotee’s garland.

The devotee whose offering was never refused.

The cowherd whose flute drew all creation to Shiva.

Who ground sandal for Shiva with his own arm when tools failed.

The saint of Tiruppugalur, gatherer of flowers for worship.

Who stood neck-deep in water reciting the sacred hymns.

The labourer-saint of humble birth who entered the Chidambaram shrine.

Tirunāḷaippōvār

The washerman ready to serve Shiva’s devotees at any cost.

The boy who struck his own father to protect the liṅga; made lord of Shiva’s wealth.

Minister of the Pandya king; a steadfast servant of Shiva.

Saint of Perumizhalai, devoted to Shiva’s servants.

Who named everything he owned for Appar out of love.

The brahmin saint of Tirumarugal.

Who lit the temple lamps with water when oil was denied.

The saint who repented doubting Sundarar.

The yogi-saint, author of the Tirumantiram.

The blind saint who dug the temple tank at Tiruvarur.

The gambler-saint who fed Shiva’s devotees with his winnings.

The brahmin who performed the soma sacrifices for Shiva.

A former Buddhist who worshipped Shiva by casting a stone each day.

The brahmin saint of Tiruvakkarai.

The general of Narasiṃhavarman who cooked his own son at Shiva’s test.

The Chera king and poet, friend of Sundarar.

The brahmin saint devoted to Shiva’s service.

A chieftain who won a crown by his devotion.

A Chola king and Nāyanār.

The chieftain who fostered the young saint Sundarar.

The fisherman who cast his best catch into the sea for Shiva.

The merchant who cut off his wife’s hand for hesitating before a devotee.

Who set out to end his life when he could no longer light the temple lamp.

The saint who silenced slander of Shiva’s devotees.

A Pallava king who renounced his throne and sang Shiva’s praise.

Who burnt his own hair as a wick when the lamp-grass ran out.

The poet-saint and chieftain devoted to Shiva.

The Pandya king restored to Śaivism by Sambandar.

Pandya queen who kept the faith at court; one of three female Nāyanārs.

Who worshipped Shiva in the temple of his own heart.

The soldier who gave his war-spoils to Shiva’s devotees.

A Pallava king zealous for the devotees’ honour.

A king who opened his granaries for Shiva’s servants.

Who punished an insult to a devotee without hesitation.

The saint who clung to Shiva through utter poverty.

The officer who guarded the temple grain even against his own kin.

Who built a temple to Shiva entirely in his mind.

The weaver who clothed Shiva’s devotees.

The Chola king who built many shrines to Shiva.

Sengenar

The lute-player (yāḻ) who accompanied Sambandar’s hymns.

Father of Sundarar, honoured among the saints.

Mother of Sundarar; one of three female Nāyanārs.

The seven great seers of the age: Kaśyapa, Atri, Vasiṣṭha, Viśvāmitra, Gautama, Jamadagni, Bharadvāja.

The wandering divine sage and musician; messenger between the worlds.

King who became a brahmarṣi; seer of the Gāyatrī mantra.

Chief of the seers; house-priest of the solar kings.

The sage who crossed to the south and drank the ocean dry.

Compiler of the Vedas, author of the Mahābhārata and Purāṇas.

The first poet; author of the Rāmāyaṇa.

Progenitor-sage who tested and marked the three great gods.

One of the seven seers; father of Dattātreya.

The primal patriarch; father of gods, demons and creatures.

The short-tempered sage whose curses and boons drive many tales.

The sage who gave his own bones to forge Indra’s thunderbolt.

The ever-youthful sage who survived the cosmic dissolution.

Preceptor of the asuras; master of the reviving mantra.

= Śukra / Venus

Codifier of the Yoga Sūtras; revered as an incarnation of Ādiśeṣa.

Sage-father of Vyāsa; seer of the Viṣṇu Purāṇa.

The aged sage restored to youth by the Aśvins.

The shining gods as a class; dwellers of the heavens.

Serpent-beings of the underworld and waters; guardians of treasure.

Nature-spirits of forests and wealth; attendants of Kubera.

Celestial musicians and singers of the gods’ court.

Heavenly nymphs and dancers, born of the churning of the ocean.

The most beautiful of the apsaras.

Apsara sent to break the penance of Viśvāmitra.

Celebrated apsara of Indra’s court.

Apsara fashioned from the finest particle of every beautiful thing.

Half-human, half-bird celestial musicians.

Sky-dwelling magicians and keepers of esoteric knowledge.

The dwarfish, motley attendants of Shiva, led by Gaṇeśa.

The deified ancestors, honoured in the śrāddha rites.

Powerful night-roaming beings, often adversaries of the gods.

The “all-gods”; a collective invoked as a group.

Perfected beings possessing spiritual powers.

The virtuous demon-king sent to the underworld; honoured yearly at Onam.

The demon-prince and supreme devotee of Vishnu.

The invincible tyrant slain by Narasiṃha.

Who dragged the earth into the sea; slain by Varāha.

The ten-headed scholar-king of Laṅkā; devotee of Shiva, yet Rama’s foe.

The buffalo-demon slain by Durga.

The primordial serpent of drought, slain by Indra.

The demon born of ashes, destroyed by Lalitā.

Whose every drop of blood spawned a clone; drunk dry by Kālī.

The brother-demons slain by the Devī.

The demon slain by Kārttikeya, born for that purpose.

The demon of Prāgjyotiṣa slain by Krishna.

The mighty asura born of Shiva’s wrath.

The thousand-armed demon-devotee of Shiva.

The serpent-goddess; protector against snakebite, heroine of the Manasāmaṅgal.

The “cool one” who governs and cures smallpox and fever.

Formless village god of lower Bengal, worshipped as a shapeless stone.

A benign folk form of Caṇḍī, goddess of household welfare.

“Lady of the forest”; guardian of the Sundarbans, revered by Hindus and Muslims alike.

The tiger-god and lord of the Sundarbans, rival tamed by Bonbibi.

Cat-riding goddess of children and childbirth.

A rustic five-faced folk form of Shiva in rural Bengal.

Elder brother of Jagannath; worshipped on the Puri throne beside him.

Sister of Jagannath and Balabhadra; the third of the Puri triad.

The deified discus of Vishnu, worshipped as a pillar in the Puri triad.

The presiding mother-goddess of western Odisha at Sambalpur.

The widely-worshipped goddess of Ghatgaon, honoured by a stone face of red.

The ancient goddess of Jajpur; a major Śākta seat.

Village mother-goddess of Kakatpur and coastal Odisha.

The bleeding mother-goddess of the Nīlācala hill; foremost of the Śakti Pīṭhas.

“Eater of raw flesh”; a fierce goddess of the Bodo-Kachari and Chutia peoples.

The copper-temple goddess of Sadiya, of Chutia worship.

Bwrai Bathou, the supreme god of the Bodo people, worshipped through the sijou plant.

The Sun (Donyi) and Moon (Polo), supreme deities of several Arunachal peoples.

The serpent-goddess, also widely worshipped across Assam.

Warrior-god on horseback, a folk form of Shiva; lord of Jejuri.

Mārtaṇḍa Bhairava

The sword-giving mother-goddess of Tuljapur; kuladevatā of the Marathas.

Ambābāī of Kolhapur; a major goddess-seat of the western Deccan.

The hill-god of Wadi Ratnagiri, a form of Kedāranātha.

The mother-goddess of the Karla caves, revered by the Kolis and Agris.

The eighteen-armed goddess of the seven peaks near Nashik.

The lord of spirits (Vetāḷa), a guardian folk deity of the Konkan.

A fierce village guardian-god of the Maharashtrian countryside.

The snake-god and folk-hero of Rajasthan, invoked against serpents.

Gugga

Folk-deity and saint of Ranuja, revered across caste and creed.

Rāmdev Pīr

The deified Rathore hero, protector of camels and cattle.

The Jat warrior-saint, worshipped as a god who cures snakebite.

The warrior-sage goddess of Deshnoke, whose temple honours sacred rats.

The crocodile-riding warrior-goddess of Gujarat.

Goddess on a rooster; patron of the hijra community.

“Fulfiller of hopes”; kuladevī of Kutch and many Gujarati clans.

The Śākta goddess of Ujjain and coastal Gujarat.

Guardian-god who rides the village bounds at night on a terracotta horse.

Goddess of rain, fertility and disease; foremost village mother of the south.

The “black god”; fierce guardian deity armed with the aruval sickle.

The deified warrior-hero and guardian of the Madurai country.

The cremation-ground god, a fierce son of Shiva in folk belief.

A guardian-god of the boundaries, a folk form of Shiva.

Son of Arjuna, worshipped as Kūttāṇṭavar by the Aravani community.

The fierce guardian mother-goddess of the cremation ground.

Draupadī deified as a fire-walking village goddess.

The fierce Bhadrakālī of Kodungallur; presiding goddess of central Kerala.

The hunter-and-toddy god of Parassinikadavu, worshipped through Theyyam.

“The son born for the hunt”; a hunter-god son of Shiva.

The fierce goddess of many Kerala Kāvu groves and Theyyam.

Chāthan; a fierce guardian spirit-deity of Kerala folk worship.

A Theyyam deity of death and time, a form of Yama-Kāla.

A mischievous child-spirit deity of the household and grove.

The lion-riding goddess of Mysore, slayer of Mahiṣa on Chamundi Hill.

The form of Shiva enshrined at Dharmasthala.

The hill-god of the M. M. Hills, a folk form of Shiva.

Reṇukā of Saundatti; mother-goddess of the Deccan borderlands.

Reṇukā

The tiger-riding goddess of northern Karnataka.

The Telugu village goddess of pox and protection.

The fierce village mother of the Tirupati country, honoured in the jātara.

Tribal mother and daughter goddesses of the great Medaram jātara.

The god of justice of Kumaon, whose shrines are hung with petition-bells and letters.

The mountain-goddess of Uttarakhand, honoured in the great Rāj Jāt pilgrimage.

The goddess worshipped as ever-burning natural flames in Himachal.

The eye-goddess of the Śakti Pīṭha above Bilaspur.

Chinnamastikā of Una; a Himachali Śakti seat.

The four-brother god of the Uttarakhand–Himachal borderlands.

The demoness-wife of Bhīma, worshipped as goddess at Manali.

The guardian-goddess of the Alaknanda, protectress of Uttarakhand.

Rāgnyā Devī of Tulmul, whose sacred spring changes colour; chief goddess of Kashmiri Pandits.

The eighteen-armed goddess of Hari Parbat in Srinagar.

The goddess of learning of ancient Kashmir, of the Śāradā Pīṭha.

Shiva worshipped as the ice-liṅga that forms each year in the Himalayan cave.