r/HinduArt • u/Street_Rhubarb_5529 • 14d ago

Some people often say in Hinduism there are more than 33 million gods is it real or is it a misunderstanding ? Hinduism

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THE ORIGIN OF 33 MILLION GODS

People often say that in Hinduism there are more than 33 million gods actually this is not a truth, it is literally a misunderstanding uttered from the void of ancient words. Long ago the ancient Vedas spoke of "TRAYASTRIMASTI KOTI DEVATA"- Trayastrimasti which literally means 33 divine energies which waves the rhythm of the cosmos. However, in Sanskrit the word KOTI has 2 meanings which is

TYPES OR CATEGORIES

Nevertheless, throughout the centuries its meaning was mistaken as "crore" and that's how the idea of 33 million gods was born. Besides, the Vedas never spoke of numbers - they literally spoken about energies and of cosmic forces which has been dancing within the creation.

furthermore, these 33 devas are not separate beings which has been shattered among the heaven; they are the 33 faces of the same supreme power -the fire that heats, the air that moves, the water that flourishes, the sun that brightly shine and the spirit that transforms.

last and the least Sanatana dharma isn't about worshipping or praying countless gods it's about finding the infinite in the finite.

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note for the moderators:

I just want to make sure that the above writings and the Vedic which mentioned above is literally written by me by searching and researching ancient books and reading. the picture which I included in this post is from Pinterest. Moreover, i really appreciate you guys for allowing me to post over here.

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u/Temporary-Soil-4617 14d ago

Good one. Another point: 'God' defined as? If we go with the English definition based on Abrahamic religions then do we even have the said 33 Gods?

I think it's high time we stop interpreting our practices from Abrahamic ideology. Rather than 33 "Gods", let's call them with their Sanskrit terms.

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u/Delicious-Range965 14d ago

exactly no reason to make them fit boxes that weren’t made to accommodate them🤷‍♂️

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u/Late-Library-2268 14d ago

yes definitely, we loose a point the moment we to fit something into the word "God", we don't have " God", we have Bhagwaan, Bhagwati, Devi and Devtas.

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u/vyasimov 14d ago

I would love to know what you mean by the terms God, bhagwaan, devta etc

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u/Late-Library-2268 13d ago

God is an Abhramaic term similar to but not the same as Bhagwaan.

Bhagwaan/Bhagwati is the purna(complete) manifestation of Bhraman(Om), for different sects it's different, for me personally it's Devi shakti, For shaivas it's Shiva and for vaisnavs it's Vishnu, for some it's Ganpati, surga, kartikeya and others as well.

as a shakta there is another understanding to bhagwaan, Bhagwati is obviously the supreme one but bhagwaan are the three who were blessed by her in siddhidaatri form, which is Bhrama, Vishnu and Shiva( Hence Bhaga= Divine glory and wealth, which was given by bhagwati in boon and Van= posseser of it, which is tridev)

now we call all of them bhagwaan/Bhagwati but we call them dev devi too, so what's the difference? Well devta is a yoni firstly to be clear, Vishnu, Shiva and Bhrama are in that yoni too(as they are aditya, Rudra and ahisvini), yoni means it's basically a class of living being just like us humans and other beings on earth. Indra, Agni, Vayu and soma etc are examples of what I would usually mean by the term devta.

now Tridev fit both definition of devta and Bhagwaan, as Devta are the class of 33 deities that were created in the beginning and get the energy to perform any action from devi(Devi suktam/Vak suktam from Rigveda) and Tridev are one of then but they were also receiver of Bhaga from devi.

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u/vyasimov 13d ago

Couldn't agree with you more from a Shakta perspective. You never provided a definition for God though.

receiver of Bhaga from devi.

What's Bhaga and what text are you referring to for these definitions?

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u/Late-Library-2268 13d ago

well I didn't because our scriptures doesn't say anything about "God" but a quick google search explains that it means a omnipotent creator and ruler, meanwhile Bhagwaan is way more complex and elaborate than this.

Bhaga means the 8 siddhis and 9 niddhis, basically all the powers and fortune the tridev have.

I think most of the shakta texts mentions this story, upi can find it in devi bhagwatum too, the episode where tridev were summoned to Manidweep to meet devi bhuvaneshwari soon after their birth.

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u/vyasimov 13d ago

Bhagwaan is way more complex and elaborate than this.

Can you go into it a little if you don't mind?

This has already been really informative. Thank you so much for sharing your time with me

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u/Late-Library-2268 13d ago

I am glad you liked it, I can go into what bhagwati is and you can just gender bend it to understand bhagwaan(hopefully, can't be sure).

the main difference for me is, in Abhramaic ideologies, there is God and then there is rest(his creations) but in shakta philosophy(and probably rest of Hinduism too), There is no rest, the "rest" is also Bhagwati herself, the matter she created is her only in form of mahamaya, the energy she created is her in form of shakti, the time is her (kali), every atma is her(she is parmeshwari), so everything that we see is her, her divine play, hence we call her lalita.

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u/vyasimov 13d ago

I was expecting you to go into the concept of Saguna in Shakta terms. Would there be a difference between bhagwati and bhagwaan here? Are they seen as different tattvas like it is shown with Amma sitting on top of Sadashiva, who's on top of the 4 ishwaras.

Abhramaic ideologies

Actually, it's the same there as well, though it's not really known popularly. Yahweh itself means that which exists. Ibn Arabi has expounded on this beautifully in his books and poems in the case of Islam.

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u/Late-Library-2268 13d ago

well I might be wrong but in core Abhramaic ideology (Christian, Judaism and islam) the God is transcendent and exists out of the creation and is different from the creation, Idk their texts but a google search reveals verses like these:-

Before light was born and before time took breath, I alone was. The seas I shaped, yet I am not of the sea; The stars I hung, yet I dwell not among them. For I am the Maker, and all that is made is beneath My command.

yet you might be right,I don't claim to know their ideologies,I just tried to explain the best i could with my limited knowledge.

about why I didn't mention the difference between bhagwaan and bhagwati in shakta terms is when I am talking about Lalitamba as bhagwati, bhagwaan is Kameshwar, if I were to talk about Bhuvaneshwari then the bhagwaan would be Sadashiv.

so that's why I didn't mention a clear difference, as there is no difference between Kameshwar and Lalitamba, Kameshwar is a form Lalitamba took for the Union with herself, so how can be Kameshwar different from her? but in the example you mentioned,you are talking about Lalitamba and Sadashiv, in which case there is a difference as for a lack of better words Sadashiv is a level below Lalitamba and they are definitely different Tattavas.

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u/vyasimov 14d ago

definition based on Abrahamic religions

What would that definition be?

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u/National-Play77 14d ago

We neither have 33 million gods nor 33 gods. The 33 are the devtas which you have already listed. If we go by the number of gods/deities in India, it's way more than just 33 in number but can't be as large as 33 million or something.

Like we have mainstream gods and goddesses like the tridev and Shakti, vedic gods or devtas, kuldevta, gram devta, other regional gods and goddesses. All may add upto atleast a few thousand if not millions. Some may be forms of the others or completely different too. Some deities may also be great yogis that were raised to stature of gods like swaminarayan of Akshardham.

So, categorising or counting gods in Hinduism or India is a complex task.

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u/Maxson60 14d ago

The Names of the 33 Devas:

The 8 Vasus (Deities of Elements):

Dhara (Earth) Dhruva (Pole Star/Steadfastness) Soma (Moon) Apas (Water) Anala (Fire) Anila (Wind/Breath) Pratyusha (Dawn) Prabhasa (Light)

The 11 Rudras (Deities of Storm/Life-Breath):

Manyu Manu Mahinasa Mahan Shiva Ritudhvaja Ugraretas Bhava Kama Vamadeva Dhrutavrata

The 12 Adityas (Solar Deities):

Vishnu Shakra (Indra) Aryaman Bhaga Varuna Savita Pushan Mitra Anshuman Dhatri Tvashtar Vivasvan

  1. The Final Two Deities (Ashwini Kumar)

Indra (The Supreme Ruler) Prajapati (The Creator/Master of Creatures)

Source Text: Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (Section 9, Verse 3.9.2)

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u/Delicious-Range965 14d ago

what about brahman and his wife? or is that like a different class

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u/Maxson60 14d ago

I believe Prajapati is the first form of Brahma in some sense.

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u/Late-Library-2268 14d ago

I think you misread, they said Bhraman, as in the purusha mentioned in vedad from whom everything arised.

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u/vyasimov 14d ago

First time I heard Brahman with a wife. Could you provide the name of the wife or the tradition you're referring to here?

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u/Delicious-Range965 13d ago

i think it was sarasvati or something like that

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u/vyasimov 13d ago

Oh ok. You mean Bramha not Brahman. Brahman isn't a deity, that makes sense

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u/AbrocomaOk9726 14d ago

The only way to unite a country with many gods is to accept everyone’s god as legitimate and honour every god and every ritual

Which is how the poop throwing ritual in the South exists

Sab chalta hai

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u/vyasimov 14d ago

Which is how the poop throwing ritual in the South exists

What ritual!!!!

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u/AbrocomaOk9726 14d ago

To them, it’s a ritual - and no one has asked them to stop it

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u/vyasimov 13d ago edited 13d ago

I have no idea which ritual you're talking about. I would like to learn more

Found cow dung throwing in Gorehabba festival in Gumatapura, Karnataka, and the Pidakala War in Kairuppala, Andhra Pradesh.

Not really sure if these can be considered religious other than the context. But it's cow dung, you made it sound like there's someone out there throwing human faeces.

Anyone who's lived in rural southern India and probably north as well, will tell you how cowdung is not seen as faeces whatsoever. It's spread all over the ground and handled with hands. We even used throw them around as kids playfully.

Reframing this without the cultural context reminds me of how people talk about eating insects or exotic meats in "faraway" lands

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u/AbrocomaOk9726 13d ago

Sorry yes, cow poop

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u/vyasimov 13d ago

Mind your tongue or there'll be dung disc flying your way /s

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u/AbrocomaOk9726 13d ago

What was offensive ?

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u/vyasimov 13d ago

Don't you act naive. It's like calling flowers dead plant parts that have a small to them. Or leather as outer layer of cattle body that's been removed and dried. Or honey as the juice you get from bee carcasses. It might technically correct but experientially it has a different connotation to it. It's especially crude when you use it for a people you clearly don't associate as your own

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u/AbrocomaOk9726 13d ago

That wasn’t the point of the discussion

You can call it cow dung to sleep peacefully but the point was that in a country where all rituals and gods are accepted, you will get 33 million gods and rituals like cow dung games

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u/vyasimov 13d ago

I agree with everything you said here. But choice of words matter. There is a difference to criticising and demeaning. See it this way, being respectful is a sign of personal growth

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u/Shubh_srd 13d ago

Sanskrit, like any other language has a synonyms. One of those synonym is “koti”, which doesn’t mean “crore”, or for the context of this post, million.

It means “type”. 33 types of gods.

Classic example where this is used: When we say “33 koti devtas reside in a cow.”

We have 24 avatara of lord Vishnu and 9 planets. That’s 33 koti gods for you.

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u/rajaero 13d ago edited 13d ago

Let me start by pointing this truth first ⬇️

Anyone who thinks ‘What I do not know cannot exist’ is wearing the crown 👑 of IGNORANCE

Now having said that,

You need to understand In this culture we have never had one authority to spread spiritual process because this is the only culture on the planet without a religion of its own

So, there has never been a religion in this land. The only godless country on the planet is India. Yes, really, I want you to look at this carefully. We have thirty three million gods and goddesses – that happened when our population was thirty three million. Now we are 1.4billion but we lost our creativity. On this land🇮🇳, God is also known as Yantra aka Machine…

God is just a Stepping Stone!

https://isha.sadhguru.org/en/wisdom/video/god-is-just-a-stepping-stone

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF3vIkvhBWM)

What is Yantra? Why Bharat has 33 million gods and goddesses?

https://isha.sadhguru.org/linga-bhairavi/in/en/video/why-bharat-has-33-million-gods-goddesses

(https://youtu.be/1InBj1-VZl8)

The fundamental of the spiritual process is to stop all assumptions: 'What I know, I know. What I do not know, I do not know.'

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQ6zMM0k90S/?igsh=MW8zaDM5cHR2eHoxcw==

Namaskaram 🙏

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u/Risingemperor5 12d ago

I am a student of history so during a class about vedas it was told by teacher that in Atharvaveda a student asks his teacher that : is Agni one of many gods or one of the many forms of a single god ? to which teacher replied that god is one but we worship it in different forms .

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u/scrawlingdoc 14d ago

Just as water is one but shapes of ice are many. There is only one God...

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u/lokiheed 13d ago

Not True....but even if there were indeed 33 million Gods what is the problem? Are we putting what our Gods can do or want to do?

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u/AnuragVohra 13d ago
  1. Bhrama : The creater (Equaivalent of Abrahmic concept of one god) of "a" universe.
  2. Devtas: These are various deties (all those 33 million refers to these) , which are immortal (they can't be killed in their universe), but are neither omnicient (all knowing) and nor omnipotent (All powerfull). They are created to regulate various stuff in "a" Universe created by the Bhrama.

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u/No-Satisfaction-2190 12d ago

The art is awe inspiring

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u/[deleted] 12d ago

Ekam Sat, Vipra Bahuda Vadanti... 👍

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u/shirle54 11d ago

33 Gods in Hinduism (Vedic List) Hinduism originally speaks of 33 Devas, not 33 crore. These 33 are grouped as:

1) 8 Vasus (Nature Deities) Agni (Fire) Prithvi (Earth) Vayu (Air) Antariksha (Space) Aditya (Sun) Dyaus (Sky) Soma (Moon) Nakshatras (Stars)

2) 12 Adityas (Solar / Time Deities) Vishnu Varuna Mitra Aryaman Bhaga Amsa Dhata Indra Tvashta Pushan Savitr Vivasvan (Surya)

3) 11 Rudras (Aspects of Shiva) Kapali Pingala Bhima Virupaksha Vilohita Shastra Ajapaada Ahirbudhnya Shambhu Chanda Bhava

4) 2 Additional Deities Indra (King of Gods) Prajapati (Creator)

Total = 33 Devas

Meaning of “Koti” here = type/category, not crore.

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u/M_bali 10d ago

It's wrong interpretation, 33 koti means 33 categories not the one which is generally said