This page groups deities by how actively they are still venerated today, from gods with a living cult to ones whose worship has died out entirely. Wikipedia defines veneration as "the practice of honoring people and articles of religious significance, for example, the veneration of saints and the veneration of relics." Browsing this way lets a visitor tell a deity that still receives offerings apart from one preserved only in historical study.
Facts
Attestation
Era of AttestationThe oldest layer is attested in the Rig Veda, placed on linguistic grounds around the middle of the second millennium BCE. The gods of classical temple worship take their mature form in the epics and Puranas of the first millennium CE, and are worshipped today. 2 Veneration TodayObjects of daily worship for hundreds of millions of people. 2 Overview
What Defines This GroupingThe deities of the Hindu traditions, from the Vedic powers of the oldest hymns to the gods of temple and household worship today. The grouping deliberately holds together what the tradition holds together: the many gods of devotional practice and the philosophical position that they are aspects of one reality. Neither is treated here as the correct reading. 2 Comparison
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The gods of the Hindu pantheon
This group gathers the deities of Hinduism, one of the largest and most internally varied bodies of divine figures in the atlas. Hindu theology ranges across the spectrum from the many-god image of popular devotion to the strict non-dualism of the philosophers, for whom the countless gods are aspects of a single reality, Brahman. Both readings are held within the tradition and neither is treated here as the correct one.
The browser will find the great gods of the classical and Puranic tradition (Vishnu the preserver and his avatars, Shiva the destroyer and transformer, Brahma the creator), alongside the goddess in her many forms (Devi, Durga, Kali, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Parvati), the elephant-headed Ganesha, and the older Vedic powers such as Indra, Agni and Surya who stand behind them.
Vedic roots and living worship
The layers matter and the entries mark them. The oldest figures belong to the Vedic hymns of the second millennium BCE; the familiar gods of temple worship take their mature shape later, in the epics and the Puranas. Some Vedic deities faded as others rose, and regional and sectarian traditions (Vaishnava, Shaiva, Shakta) each place a different figure at the centre.
These are objects of living devotion for hundreds of millions of people. The atlas records each figure's myths, iconography, consorts and vehicles, and the domains and correspondences attached to them, describing what the tradition holds rather than adjudicating among its schools.
No Cult Attested
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Sources
1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Tree
2. An Introduction to Hinduism
3. Wikipedia: Indology
WikipediaIndology, opening definitionQuote, Indology, opening definition
Indology is the academic study of Indian history and culture.
Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptions
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