Brahma is traditionally depicted with four faces and four arms. Each face of his points to a cardinal direction.
Yet Ganesha is traditionally regarded as the child of both Shiva and Parvati. In some parts of India Ganesha is depicted as celibate, but in others he is said to be married to both Buddhi (“Intelligence”) and Siddhi (“Success”). Yet other traditions give him a third wife, Riddhi (“Prosperity”).
This chaturmukhalinga (Shiva linga with four faces) aligns with the cardinal directions and represents the four aspects of the god: creation, wrath, gentleness, and ascetic self-discipline. Worship of the linga dates back to the most ancient times in the Indian subcontinent.
Durga (Sanskrit: दुर्गा, IAST: Durgā) is a major Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi.
Kali is depicted in the Mahakali form as having ten heads, ten arms, and ten legs.
Ravana is described as having 10 heads and 20 arms and is vividly portrayed in Rajasthani painting of incidents of the Ramayana, flying away with Sita, fighting with Rama, and sitting with his demon councillors. In sculpture, a favourite incident depicted is his shaking of Mount Kailas.
The six-headed Kartikeya or Murugan riding a peacock with his consorts Valli and Devasena, The peacock is seen trampling a snake.
The five-faced mukhalinga is called pancha-mukhalinga. The five faces relate Shiva to the classical elements, the directions, the five senses and five parts of the body. These represent Shiva's five aspects: Sadyojata, Vamadeva, Aghora, Tatpurusha and Ishana.
Brahma the creator
In the beginning, Brahma sprang from the cosmic golden egg and he then created good and evil and light and dark from his own person. He also created the four types: gods, demons, ancestors and men, the first of whom was Manu. Brahma then made all the other living creatures upon the earth.
Janus was represented by a double-faced head, and he was represented in art either with or without a beard. Occasionally he was depicted as four-faced—as the spirit of the four-way arch.
“ The Purusha (Supreme Being) who has thousands of heads, thousands of eyes and thousands of feet enveloped the earth on all sides and stood beyond it in ten directions of space. All this is Purusha only.
Shiva engaged him in battle and pierced his heart, but Andhaka was able to recover and strike Shiva with his mace. The blood that fell on the ground from the wound gave rise to the eight forms of Bhairava.
The trimurti collapses the three gods into a single form with three faces. Each god is in charge of one aspect of creation, with Brahma as creator, Vishnu as preserver, and Shiva as destroyer.
The image of Shiva, as portrayed among Hindus, contains common symbols representative of his superiority. One of these symbols is his third eye, seen in the centre of his forehead; hence he is often referred to as Tryambaka Deva (literally meaning “three-eyed lord”).
Kāmadeva is represented as a young, handsome man who wields a bow and arrows. His bow is made of sugarcane, and his arrows are decorated with five kinds of fragrant flowers. The five flowers are white lotus, Ashoka tree flowers, Mango tree flowers, Jasmine flowers and blue lotus flowers.
Brahma has four heads and it is believed that from these heads came the four Vedas (the most ancient religious texts for Hindus). Some also believe that the caste system, or four varnas, came from different part of Brahma's body. He has four arms and is usually depicted with a beard.
Brahma is traditionally depicted with four faces and four arms. Each face of his points to a cardinal direction. His hands hold no weapons, rather symbols of knowledge and creation.
This is what Ravi Varma did for Indian deities. He humanized them. He gave faces to the stories that, thus far, had been passed down verbally, through song, or through religious institutions.
Trimurti is considered to be the most powerful god as he is a combination of Brahma [The Creator], Vishnu [The Preserver] & Shiva [The Destroyer].
Brahma is also considered to be the Supreme God - The Creator and destroyer of the universe.
But when the Goddess comes before him, he is so enchanted that he opens all three eyes. In some stories he pops four more heads so that he can see her with 10 eyes. In the Vedas, Varuna is described as the thousand-eyed god who keeps an eye on the deeds of man and condemns those who breach their word.
Born fully grown and beautiful, Durga presents a fierce menacing form to her enemies. She is usually depicted riding a lion and with 8 or 10 arms, each holding the special weapon of one of the gods, who gave them to her for her battle against the buffalo demon.
The Dashavatara (Sanskrit: दशावतार, daśāvatāra) are the ten primary avatars of Vishnu, a principal Hindu god. Vishnu is said to descend in the form of an avatar to restore cosmic order. The word Dashavatara derives from daśa, meaning "ten", and avatāra, roughly equivalent to "incarnation".