On the prime of many Hindu temples, one finds the picture of a head trying down on the individuals under — his eyes protruding from its sockets, his mouth extensive open, his tongue out. This known as the Kirtimukha, the Head of Glory, or Vajramukha, the Eternal Head.
There are many tales to elucidate its origins. The hottest is that of a goblin who was created by Shiva to kill demons. But when the demons apologised, Shiva forgave them. Now, the goblin was hungry and requested the lord for meals. Shiva stated, “Why don’t you eat your own body?” The creature started consuming his palms, legs, and physique, till there was nothing left. Impressed by his obedience, Shiva declared that his head can be positioned on prime of all temples, a logo of insatiable starvation, devotion, and the way ineffective the head is with out the physique — a counterpoint to when Brahmins declare they rose from the head of the Vedic Purusha, the primal man.
There are different tales of this head. In goddess temples of North India, one finds the picture of Bhairava (a fierce type of Shiva) holding in his hand the head of Brahma. It is claimed that at the daybreak of time, the deity had 4 heads going through the 4 instructions. But then he noticed the goddess Shatarupa (the multi-formed one, the first girl) and grew a fifth head on prime, expressing his want for her. Disgusted by this, the goddess known as upon Rudra to guard her, and thus Bhairava was born. He chopped off Brahma’s fifth head, and he nonetheless holds it in his hand. According to some lore, this head may be indifferent solely when he goes to the metropolis of Kashi and washes his hand in the Ganga.
Beheading sons and fathers
In Shiva temples, one finds the picture of Veerabhadra holding a head in a single hand. This is the head of Daksha Prajapati, who neither understood nor recognised the greatness of the lord, main Veerabhadra, a terrifying creature born of Shiva’s hair, to behead him.
Daksha was additionally the father-in-law of Shiva — the one whose daughter, Sati, chooses the lord as her husband towards her father’s needs. But tensions between her father and her husband result in Sati taking her personal life, angering Shiva, who, in the type of Veerabhadra, beheads his father-in-law. It is the head of the man who realised the energy of Shiva when he misplaced management over his personal physique, the supply of his personal prejudices.
Kirtimukha reduction at Amrutesvara Temple in Annigeri
Folk variations of the Mahabharata communicate of an ideal warrior (often called Bilalsen in Nepal) who had taken a vow to at all times battle for the dropping facet. He was extraordinarily robust. Krishna feared that such an individual, who would maintain switching sides, would stop any battle from coming to an finish — particularly the battle being fought at Kurukshetra between the Pandavas and the Kauravas. So, Krishna requested the warrior to provide him his head in alms. The warrior, who by no means refused requests of charity, minimize off his personal head and gave it to Krishna on the situation that it will be stored alive and allowed to witness the Mahabharata battle.
In Rajasthan, this warrior known as Barbarik and is taken into account the grandson of Bhima, the son of Ghatotkacha by a Naga princess. The similar story is advised in different elements of India, equivalent to Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Malwa, Bundelkhand, Garhwal, and Himachal, the place he’s thought of to be Bilalsen, the son of Bhima. His head was positioned on prime of a mountain, and each time it laughed, it produced such drive that the armies of the Kauravas and the Pandavas had been pushed in reverse instructions, unable to battle. So the head was introduced down and positioned on the floor by Krishna.
When Krishna wept like a widow
Another such head seems in South India — in the story of Aravana, Arjuna’s son by the Naga princess Ulupi. Aravana was an especially robust warrior who was sacrificed on the eve of the Mahabharata battle. He didn’t need to die a virgin and begged to be given a spouse earlier than his sacrifice. Since no girl wished to marry him, Krishna took the type of a lady, married him for the evening, enabling his sacrifice at daybreak. For him, Krishna wept like a widow.
Aravana’s head was additionally positioned on prime of a tree in order that he may witness the battle. While everybody believes the Mahabharata to be a battle between the Pandavas and the Kauravas, Aravana realises that it’s really a battle orchestrated by Krishna in order that the blood of kings can quench the thirst of the Earth goddess, who’s exhausted by their ambition and greed.
The head atop the temple thus forces temple devotees to take a look at life from a special perspective. Everything is just not about us.
Devdutt Pattanaik is the creator of fifty books on mythology, artwork and tradition.
Published – August 16, 2025 11:37 am IST
