Hindu Deities
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Glasgow Museums has a collection of 207 objects relating to Hindu deities. This collection includes statues, paintings, clothing and textiles, works on paper, plaques, door hangings, a mask, a scroll, an offering tray and other related ephemera. There are bronze domestic shrine images mostly depicting Krishna, Vishnu and various forms of the mother goddess. There are five large painted and vested clay images of the mother goddess Durga and her four children, which were donated by the Glasgow Durga puja committee. There are also small miniature paintings showing stories from the life of one of the most popular deities, Krishna and his consort the goddess Radha. Other items include a stone sculpture of the bull deity Nandi, a large cast bronze image of Shiva, a stone relief of Surya the Sun god and a small clay portable personal image of Hanuman the monkey god. There are many gods and goddesses within Hinduism, with regional variations within the Indian subcontinent. For Hindus, the use of images is essential to communicate the reality of the deity's existence. In Temple worship, deities are incarnated in image form by a lengthy ritual process called Murti Pratishta. Most Hindus believe in one god or reality called Brahman. In general most Hindus believe in the Trimurti of Brahma the creator, Vishnu the sustainer and Shiva the destroyer. Each of these deities has a consort goddess and sometimes children. There are eight incarnations of Vishnu including Krishna and Rama. These two have goddesses and sometimes extended families. There are also a myriad of demi-gods and regional variations of the principal deities.
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