Daksha | |
---|---|
God of ritual skill[1] | |
Affiliation | Prajapati[broken anchor], Manasaputra |
Texts | Rigveda, Brahmanas, Taittiriya Samhita, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Purana |
Genealogy | |
Parents | Brahma[a] |
Consort | Prasuti and Asikni |
Children |
In Hinduism, Daksha (Sanskrit: दक्ष, lit. 'able, dexterous, or honest one' IAST: Dakṣa,[2]) is one of the prajapati[broken anchor], the agents of creation, as well as a divine king-rishi. His iconography depicts him as a man with a stocky body and a handsome face or the head of a goat.
In the Rigveda, Daksha is an aditya and is associated with priestly skills.[3] In the epics and Puranic scriptures, he is a son of the creator-god Brahma and the father of many children, who became the progenitors of various creatures. According to one legend, a resentful Daksha conducted a yajna (fire-sacrifice), and deliberately did not invite his youngest daughter Sati and her husband Shiva. In the Linga Purana, for insulting Shiva during this event, which caused Sati to self-immolate in fury, he was beheaded by Virabhadra, an attendant of Shiva. He was later resurrected with the head of a goat. Many Puranas state that Daksha was reborn to Prachetas in another Manvantara (age of Manu).
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