Tvashtri
TWASHTRI.
[Source:
Dowson's Classical Dictionary
of Hindu Mythology] In the
Rigveda this deity is the ideal artist, the divine artisan, the most
skillful of workmen, who is versed in all wonderful and admirable contrivances,
and corresponds in many respects with Hephaistos and Vulcan. He sharpens and
carries the great iron axe, and he forges the thunderbolts of Indra. He is
the beautiful, skillful worker, the omniform, the archetype of all forms, the
vivifier and the bestower of long life. He imparts generative power and bestows
offspring. He forms husband and wife for each other, even from the womb. He
develops the seminal germ in the womb, and is the shaper of all forms, human
and animal. He had generated a strong man, a lover of the gods, a swift horse,
and had created the whole world. As the Satapatha Brahmana expresses it, "He has produced and
nourishes a great variety of creatures; all worlds (or beings) are his, and
are known to him; he has given to heaven and earth and to all things their forms." He
created Brahmanaspati above all creatures, and generated Agni along with heaven
and earth, the waters and the Bhrigus. He is master of the universe, the first-born
protector and leader, and knows the region of the gods. He is supplicated
to nourish the worshipper and protect his sacrifice. He is the bestower of
blessings, and is possessed of abundant wealth, and grants prosperity. He
is asked, like other gods, to take pleasure in the hymns of his worshippers
and to grant them riches. He is associated with the Ribhus, and is represented
as sometimes envying and sometimes admiring their skill. He is represented
as being occasionally in a state of hostility with Indra, and he had a son
named Viswarupa (omniform) or Trisiras, who had three heads, six eyes, and
three mouths, who was especially obnoxious to Indra, and was slain by him.
He had a daughter, Saranyu, whom he married to Vivaswat, and she was the mother
of the Aswins. In the Puranas Twashtri is identified with Viswakarman, the
artisan of the gods, and sometimes also with Prajapati. One of the Adityas
and one of the Rudras bear this name, as also did a prince descended from
Bharata.
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Modern
Languages MLLL-4993. Indian Epics. Laura Gibbs, Ph.D.
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October 16, 2007 12:22 PM
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