Haridhama was a great sage devoted to Krishna who wanted nothing more than to be reborn near his lord. Consequently, he was reborn as Rangaveni, a female cowherd (gopika or gopi) in Gokula, the cow-tending colony. Thus, Rangaveni was near Krishna, which was the reward for his chanting the Krishna…
Coming from the same root as the epithet Hara for (Siva (hri, to remove), Hari also means “the remover.” There are many minor figures with this name, as well as a number of groups (some of the demon king Ravana’s attendants, a group of devas, and others). Eventually, however,…
Hara (the remover) was an epithet first associated with Rudra and the Maruts, both gods of storm. It had the connotation of death, the destruction that removes all things. By the Epic period Hara referred to Siva, the destroyer. There was a manifestation of the godhead as Harihara, the right…
Hanuman expanded the notion of the divine, perhaps more than any other being in Hindu mythology. He appeared as an agent governed by dharma like any human, yet while in an animal form he was divine. The myths of his birth from the elements of the gods, usually of Siva…
According to the Bhâgavata Purâna Hamsa was a prajâpati, a progenitor or creator. Hamsa taught yoga to sages like Sanaka and taught the way to liberation for the Sâdhyadevas, a class of divine witnesses of battles and celebrations in late mythology. Hamsa, like Vishnu, was also called the sacrifice…
Some accounts stated that halahala had been churned up from the Milky Ocean and absorbed by the nagas (serpents) and became their venom. Other accounts said that halahala was the poison vomited up by Vasuki, king of the nagas, during the time of the churning of the Milky Ocean. In…
