BRAHMA
Real
Name:
Brahma Prajapati
Occupation:
Ruler of the Hindu Gods, god of creation, magic and wisdom, patron god of
Brahmins
Legal
Status:
Citizen of Nirvana
Identity:
The general populace of earth is unaware of Brahma’s existence except as a
mythological character.
Other
Aliases:
Brahma the Creator, Vohu Manah (Persian name), Purusha, Prajapati, Kamalasana,
Narayana,
Place
of Birth:
Unrevealed
Marital
Status:
Married
Known
Relatives:
Prajapati (possible father, deceased), Gaea (mother,
alias Ammavaru), Shiva,
Vishnu
(brothers), Sata-Rupa (first wife), Manu (son), Sarasvati
(second wife), Vach (daughter), Adharma (son), Lakshmi,
Parvati,
Ganga, Uma, Yamuna (sisters-in-law), Ganehsa,
Skanda, Kama
(nephews), Kali
(niece/sister-in-law)
Group
Affiliation:
The Hindu
Gods, The Council
of God-Kings
Base
of Operations:
Nirvana
First Appearance: Thor I #301
History: Brahma is a member of an extra-dimensional race of beings known as the Daevas, a
race of beings who were worshipped as gods by the people of Ancient India. His
exact origins are unknown, but according to ancient Dravidian myth, he is the
son of the ancient earth-goddess, Ammavaru, who may be the primeval
earth-goddess Gaea. According to myth, she laid a great egg from which sprang
Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Brahma and his brothers used the top of the egg to
create the sky and the bottom half the earth itself. In the Vedic pantheon, Gaea
was known as Aditi, the earth mother, and progenitor of the Adityas, the Vedic
Gods.
Brahma was also considered the reincarnation of their ancient ancestor, Purusha, a
being synonymous with Ouranus of the Greeks and Atum-Re of the Egyptians. Brahma
was known under that name as well as Prajapati, Purusha as the husband of Gaea in her role as
the Brahmanic mother-goddess, Prakriti. He was also described as self-existent
and the embodiment of eternity in Hinduism and father of all members of the
Brahman caste.
Brahma often challenged and contested his superiority over his brothers. When Brahma
committed incest with Sandhya, a daughter of Shiva, she fled from him in the
form of a deer. Brahma pursued her in the form of a stag and was shot by an
arrow from Shiva protecting his daughter. Daksha, one of Brahma’s sons, had
petitioned for the release of his father by offering his daughter, Sati, as a
wife to Shiva who consented. Daksha, however, reneged on the deal and refused to
encourage Sati to marry Shiva. (In some myths, Daksha is the son of Prachetas,
one of the Adityas, the ancestors of the Hindu gods.)
Brahma soon fell in love with the goddess Sata-Rupa and grew up to five faces to look
upon her beauty, but Shiva destroyed one of these faces. As the divine god in
the Brahman Religion, Brahma once dared to suggest he was more powerful than
Vishnu, but Shiva appeared to them both in such force that they both had to
admit to his supremacy.
Brahma eventually married the river-goddess, Sarasvati. She gave birth to Vach, goddess
of speech, and Adharma, god of prayer. Traditionally, in some myths, she is his
second wife, but in others, she is the reincarnation of Sata-Rupa.
Brahma and the other Devas were often at war with the Rakshasas, a race of demonic
entities for control of heaven and eventually defeated them. The defeat of the
Rakshasas resulted in them being exiled into the underworld of Patala as well as
a general end to worship of the Vedic gods and prominence of the ascendant Hindu
religion developed out of the altered Vedic faith. Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva
could not agree who should lead the new order of gods and eventually chose to
share their powers equally as co-leaders of the Hindu Pantheon. This
co-leadership of deities was known as the Hindi Trimurtri with Brahma
arbitrating many of his brothers’ decisions as the balance between creation
and destruction. Together, they arbitrated the decision to volunteer the life energies to
restore the Asgardians after their defeat battling the Celestials.
Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva also served roles in the Council Elite, a loose gathering of
the godheads of all of Earth’s pantheons of gods who often gathered to share
wisdom and knowledge against threats to Earth. They had originally gathered to
discuss the threat of the Fourth Host of the Celestials, but they also gathered
to discuss the threat of Thanos in control of the Infinity Gauntlet and the
potential threat of Circe
and Akhenaton to their perspective realms. When Odin of the Asgardian gods fell
in battle against Surtur, Shiva and the other Council members called Thor before
them Council Elite to be tested as a worthy replacement for Odin. Brahma was
present at this meeting, but Thor was judged as unworthy of taking Odin’s
place in the Council.
In recent years, Brahma and the Hindu Gods united with Zeus and the Olympian gods
against the Titan Cronus attempting to destroy their respective pantheons. The
survivors of each devastated pantheon were rallied by Wonder Woman against
Cronus and joined forces to once again imprison him in the underworld.
Height: 7' 2"
Weight: 475 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black
Unusual
Physical Features:
In his true godly form, Brahma has four arms and red skin.
Strength Level: Brahma possesses superhuman strength to an unknown
degree. He could possess Class 100 level strength enabling him to lift (press)
over 100 tons under optimal conditions.
Known Superhuman Powers: Brahma possesses the conventional physical attributes of the
Hindu gods. Like all Daevas, he is extremely long-lived, but he is not immortal
like the gods of Olympus. He has aged at an extremely slow rate since
reaching adulthood and cannot die by any conventional means. He is immune to all
Earthly diseases and is resistant to conventional injury. If he were somehow
wounded, his godly life force would enable him to recover with superhuman speed.
It would take an injury of such magnitude that it dispersed a major portion of
his bodily molecules to cause him a physical death. Even then, it might be
possible for a god of significant power, such as Vishnu, Shiva and Ormazd or
for a number of Hindu gods of equal power working together to revive him. Brahma
also possesses superhuman strength and his Deva metabolism provides
him with far greater than human endurance in all physical activities. (Deva
flesh and bone is about three times as dense as similar human tissue,
contributing to the superhuman strength and weight of the Hindu gods.)
Brahma also has incredible prowess in the mystical arts, enabling him to tap into and manipulate mystical, cosmic and elemental energies of the universe. his exact level of power is unknown, but it is known that he at least measures up to gods like Vishnu, Shiva, Odin and Zeus, the Elders of the Universe and quasi-entities as Eternity and the Living Tribunal. He has extra-ordinary clairvoyance on a nearly omniscient level as well as the ability change his form, conjure infinite energies and to perceive possible futures with far more likelihood than any Earthly psychic or mystic. His full extent of powers though are unrevealed.
Pets/Transportation:
Brahma is credited with riding Hamsa, a great cosmic goose, across the sky.
Comments:
Ammavaru is an ancient Dravidian earth-goddess comparable to the Olympian Rhea.
In
Balinese Hinduism, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva were three aspects of one deity
named Sang Hyang Wasa, a being so great he could not attain a human form.
This bio pretty much involves Brahma has he has appeared in the Marvel and DC Universes.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Brahma is not to be confused with:
Brahma,
Dr. Brian Mann, member of the Nest, @ Marvel Team-Up Annual#1
Brahma
Bill,
renegade biker who encountered Danny Ketch, @ Ghost Rider II#27
Brahmanes,
denizen of the Macroverse, @ Silver Surfer III#142
Last updated: 04/18/07
