Brahma. In the religion and philosophy of the Hindus, this word has two meanings. The crude form is brahman, the etymological signification of which seems to be expansion, with the secondary meaning of religious devotion. Brahṃā (neuter) designates the universal Spirit, the ground and cause of all existence; which is not, however, conceived as an individual personal deity to be worshipped, but only as an object of contemplation. It is spoken of as 'that which is invisible, unseizable, without origin, without either colour, eye, or ear, eternal, manifold (in creation), all-pervading, undecaying—the wise behold it as the cause of created beings.' The human soul is a portion of this universal Spirit, and a man can only be freed from transmigration, and be reunited to Brahṃā, by getting a correct notion of it and of the soul.—Brahṃā (masculine) signifies an offerer of prayer, a priest, as well as the Supreme Being regarded as a person. In the later mythology he became the chief god of the Hindu pantheon, and is specially associated with the function of creation (see TRIMURTI). Yet he himself is a creation of or emanation from Brahṃā, the First Cause. The origin of Brahṃā, and the way in which he created heaven and earth, is thus narrated by Manu:
'This universe was enveloped in darkness, unperceived, undistinguishable, undiscoverable, unknowable, as it were entirely sunk in sleep. Then the irresistible self-existent Lord, undiscerned, causing this universe with the five elements, and all other things, to become discernible, was manifested, dispelling the gloom. He who is beyond the cognisance of the senses, subtle, undiscernible, himself shone forth. He, desiring, seeking to produce various creatures from his own body, first created the waters, and deposited in them a seed. This [seed] became a golden egg, resplendent as the sun, in which he himself was born as Brahṃā, the progenitor of all the worlds. Being formed by that First Cause, undiscernible, eternal, which is both existent and non-existent, that Male (purusha) is known in the world as Brahṃā. That lord having continued a year in the egg, divided it into two parts by his mere thought. With these two shells he formed the heavens and the earth; and in the middle he placed the sky, the eight regions, and the eternal abode of the waters.'—See Dr J. Muir's Original Sanscrit Texts, vol. iv.
In later times at least, Brahma has had few special worshippers; the only spot where he is periodically adored being at Pushkara in Rajputana. He sometimes receives a kind of secondary homage along with other deities. Brahma is represented with four heads. See INDIA (section on Religion), TRIMURTI, VISHNU, SIVA.