# Do Hindu Gods Really Have Multiple Arms? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 13, 2011, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-hindu-gods-really-have-multiple-arms/588815 "2011-07-13T01:00:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-hindu-gods-really-have-multiple-arms/588815/21 "2011-07-13T13:23:37Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Christians have Sunday school for just that reason, **'Mika**. Although that may be more a Protestant thing. > > Fascinating thread, but all the good answers have been given already so on a tangent let me just say that although[Triops does](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkoG2wWfGs8). I know about Sunday school, but a) I’ve heard lots of Christians complaining about how boring church was, and b) TBH, I’ve actually never heard of anyone saying they enjoyed Sunday school. You know, I really loved my time with this side education…plus our temple services weren’t conducted in Sanskrit, but in Hindi, which I could understand. It’s part of the reason I don’t go to South Indian temples; they generally tend to conduct services in Sanskrit, which means no one understands what’s going on except the pundit. Point, lost (IMO). I don’t mind your snark, HMHW. I mean, I’ve always felt laughter is better than disgust or hatred. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-hindu-gods-really-have-multiple-arms/588815/22 "2011-07-13T13:54:59Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Ganesh: here is the version of the story I have heard. Parvati, Shiva’s wife, wanted a baby boy more than anything. So she created one of out soil, imbued it with life, and named it Ganesh - with a human head and body. When he was older, she one day set the boy to guarding her bath. Shiva came home, and was astonished at this interloper in his house. When Ganesh would not let him pass to Parvati, Shiva drew his bow and slew the boy, cutting his head off. When Parvati saw this, of course she was heartbroken, so to assauge her, Shiva went and fetched the head of an elephant to replace it, and brought the boy back to life. And just to prove our points, let me tell you the version of the story that my grandparents told me. When Ganesh was born, Durga was so proud of his beauty that she wanted to show him off to all the other gods. The god Shani (Saturn) keeps his eyes covered or closed because his gaze is generally fatal (when he was born and opened his eyes, the sun went into eclipse), but Durga insisted that he open his eyes and appreciate Ganesh’s beauty. Well, Shani gave in and opened his eyes and burned Ganesh’s head off. Vishnu then replaced it with an elephant’s head. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-hindu-gods-really-have-multiple-arms/588815/23 "2011-07-13T13:57:06Z")
Poor Ganesh! Gets his head chopped off, lopped off, or burnt off. ☹ How can one ever get…ahead! in life like that. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-hindu-gods-really-have-multiple-arms/588815/24 "2011-07-13T14:20:05Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Christians have Sunday school for just that reason, **'Mika**. Although that may be more a Protestant thing. Catholics have Catechism, same thing. Of course, the stories told during Sunday school are hardly as cool as these. We have a boring god :(. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-hindu-gods-really-have-multiple-arms/588815/25 "2011-07-13T14:32:13Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Of course, the stories told during Sunday school are hardly as cool as these. We have a boring god :(. You’re kidding, right? I’ve read Genesis. Mayhem, murder, rape, adultery, incest. It’s all over the place. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-hindu-gods-really-have-multiple-arms/588815/26 "2011-07-13T14:33:33Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > You’re kidding, right? I’ve read Genesis. Mayhem, murder, rape, adultery, incest. It’s all over the place. Exactly! I think our stories are more interesting. Of course, I am biased, but I’d rather read about lighthearted mythology than all of the other stuff. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-hindu-gods-really-have-multiple-arms/588815/27 "2011-07-13T14:37:17Z")
I just wanted to thank **Anamika** and **Ascenray** for their fascinating and highly educational posts in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-hindu-gods-really-have-multiple-arms/588815/28 "2011-07-13T14:51:17Z")
And does it end with the arms? How about this one? Every Hindu god has a mount. Shiva rides a bull. Vishnu rides a giant eagle-man. Sarasvati rides a swan. Durga rides a tiger or a lion. Indra rides an elephant. Yama rides a buffalo. Ganesh rides a mouse. Not a giant mouse, a mouse-sized mouse, who is almost always present lurking somewhere around Ganesh’s feet. So, does big Ganesh “ride” a little mouse? Can one actually attempt to answer this question earnestly without feeling silly? ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-hindu-gods-really-have-multiple-arms/588815/29 "2011-07-13T14:55:38Z")
Nah, [this](http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a151/doccathode/?action=view¤t=arms.gif) is silly! ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-hindu-gods-really-have-multiple-arms/588815/30 "2011-07-13T14:57:50Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Nah, [this](http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a151/doccathode/?action=view¤t=arms.gif) is silly! I lol’ed. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-hindu-gods-really-have-multiple-arms/588815/31 "2011-07-13T15:03:47Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Ganesh rides a mouse. Not a giant mouse, a mouse-sized mouse, who is almost always present lurking somewhere around Ganesh’s feet. So, does big Ganesh “ride” a little mouse? Can one actually attempt to answer this question earnestly without feeling silly? First, I thought it was a rat. Second, I’ve seen many depictions in which the rodent is bigger than Ganesh. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-hindu-gods-really-have-multiple-arms/588815/32 "2011-07-13T15:07:20Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > First, I thought it was a rat. > > Second, I’ve seen many depictions in which the rodent is bigger than Ganesh. I’ve heard rat but I was brought up on mouse stories. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-hindu-gods-really-have-multiple-arms/588815/33 "2011-07-13T15:09:21Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > First, I thought it was a rat. > > Second, I’ve seen many depictions in which the rodent is bigger than Ganesh. Mouse, rat … they’re not distinguished in Bengali, and most of the depictions I’ve seen look more mouse-like than rat-like. Anyway, everything anyone says about Hinduism is both true and false. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-hindu-gods-really-have-multiple-arms/588815/34 "2011-07-13T15:58:43Z")
Quoth **Trinopus** : > [@](#): > > I’ve definitely looked at Wikipedia, but I think I was really asking the wrong kind of question in the first place. (Perhaps akin to asking, “Does the host really transubstantiate into the body of Christ?”) (Perhaps?) Not really akin, since that one _does_ have an answer (it’d different depending on whom you ask, but in any case it’s definite). Ask a Catholic, and the answer is “yes, literally and truly, in every sense that actually matters”, and ask most Protestant sects, and the answer is “no, it’s only symbolic”. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-hindu-gods-really-have-multiple-arms/588815/35 "2011-07-13T20:40:31Z")
Re Shiva (and a few others) being blue I believe it was Joseph Campbell who gave the explanation that they were blue because they had been bitten by a cobra. Apparently, cobra venom makes one cyanotic. Surviving the venom is symbolic of the ability to overcome death itself. I’ve seen a male deity embracing a female deity with the backdrop of a cobra with a ginourmous hood fairly often. So this explanation makes sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-hindu-gods-really-have-multiple-arms/588815/36 "2011-07-13T20:47:51Z")
Oh, yeah, I forgot that Shiva is also sometimes blue… There’s a story about his blue throat coming from swallowing poison and holding it in his throat, which I always misremember as being about Vishnu instead. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-hindu-gods-really-have-multiple-arms/588815/37 "2011-07-13T20:50:45Z")
That’s one possible reason, for Shib, anyway. Sometimes Shib has only a blue spot on his throat to indicate where he is keeping the cobra’s venom in suspension. I can also by the explanation that with Krishna the depiction of deep blue skin color is likely to indicate a dark-skinned southerner. As far as the cobra in the backdrop – Shib is identified with a cobra, which sits on his head. Ganesh is often accompanied by a cobra. Varuna is also king of the cobras. A sleeping Vishnu is often sheltered by a multi-headed cobra. Cobras themselves (nagas) have their own divine forms. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-hindu-gods-really-have-multiple-arms/588815/38 "2011-07-14T00:59:52Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > . . . Trinopus, in a way you are making it more complicated than it seems. I’m atheist, but I still consider myself Hindu at the core. It’s hard to define, but I never stopped being Hindu no matter what. Even if I convert to another religion, which will probably not happen, as our friend says, I’ll still be Hindu. > > What I mean to say is, whatever interpretation you get is not necessarily wrong. You say you are awed and inspired by the Dancing Shiva, the Destroyer of Worlds. That’s fine. Myself, I think the mythology is stunningly beautiful and in-depth - way more complicated than even the Greek gods. . . . I definitely want to hold myself in an attitude of respect, and the beauty of the art goes a long way toward helping that. I have sat at the local art museum for an hour or more, just admiring the Hindu (and other) religious statuary. (In much the same way, I adore much Christian music, from Gregorian Chants to Bach’s “St. John Passion” and “Easter Oratorio.” Organized religion may have some sins to expiate…but it has inspired great beauty.) > [@](#): > > For example, do you know why Ganesh has an elephant head? . . . That was the case that actually set me to ask my question in the first place. Ganesh, apparently, “really” has an elephant head… But are the multiple arms of several of the figures in the same category? Or is it a stylistic convention in artistic representation? (A Christian example is the circular halo in medieval and renaissance art. Saints are said to have a “glowing aura,” sometimes of visible light, sometimes only of holiness. Numinosity vs. Luminosity. The circular halo isn’t “real,” but is an artistic convention.) (Some conventions are quite recent. One article I read in an opera magazine said that the costuming conventions from Gounod’s “Faust” led to some of the standard iconographic details in the way we see Satan today, especially the widow’s peak cap with ball-tipped horns and the tail with a heart-shaped barb at the end. Opera is also responsible for the Valkyries wearing breast-emphasizing cuirasses and horned helmets. Hoy-a-to-ho!) . . . The reason I tell you these stories is of course just to tell them, but also to show you that you can be Hindu in any way you want. I feel joy in relating these little stories and sharing the mythology and culture of my religion, and generally ignore the deeper philosophy and such. [/quote] I love “folkloric” versions of stories, and variants of stories. I love comparing Hoffmann to Grimm, etc. When I was young, my parents read to me from books such as “Tales of a Basque Grandmother,” or “Eskimo Folk Tales.” There, too, I could never quite figure out where the “truthiness” of the stories was intended to be. Did the Basque Grandmother “really believe” that the devil lurked behind the door to snatch your soul if you didn’t say “Bless you!” when someone sneezed? Did the shamans telling Caribou stories “really believe” in the story of the man who was turned into a caribou? > [@](#): > > Slightly off-topic, when I was a child and a teen, most of the temples I was in had this: There was a time during “services” each day, when the adults would do Gita study. During this time the children would be taken aside, in the basement, and taught these old stories and legends. I’ve often thought this should be done in Catholic churches, too! It seems foolish to expect children to sit and listen to a priest drone on in Latin and not understand a thing…how are they going to learn what their religion really means? But that’s just my two cents. As others noted, this is commonly done in Christian churches, as “Sunday School.” I got in trouble, as a very young boy, there, too, for asking the same questions. How tall, exactly, was Goliath? The Bible says “Six cubits and a span,” or about nine and a half feet. So why do some pictures show him standing two, or three, or even five or ten times the height of an ordinary man? I think the problem is that I am simply too materialistic in philosophy for spiritual matters! (For example, I asked an artist to draw the skeletal system of a humanoid figure with multiple arms. It came out awfully lumpy, because of the need for skeletal and muscular support, as well as room for tendons and veins and arteries. It didn’t look sleek and elegant, but bumpy and ugly. But gods aren’t limited by such material concerns.) > [@Acsenray](#): > > You’re kidding, right? I’ve read Genesis. Mayhem, murder, rape, adultery, incest. It’s all over the place. But, also, the beautiful poetry (and lurid comedy) of Job, and the spiritual poetry of Psalms, and the down-to-earth “Poor Richard’s Almanac” wisdom of Proverbs, the heroism of David, etc. The Bible is a walloping good read (if one sort of skims past Leviticus and Numbers…) > [@Chronos](#): > > . . . Not really akin, since that one _does_ have an answer (it’d different depending on whom you ask, but in any case it’s definite). Ask a Catholic, and the answer is “yes, literally and truly, in every sense that actually matters”, and ask most Protestant sects, and the answer is “no, it’s only symbolic”. But isn’t that some of what I’m getting here? The multiple arms are “real” in some interpretations, and “only symbolic” in others, and, perhaps best of all, “mu” in yet others! i.e., it seems to depend on whom one asks… Trinopus ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-hindu-gods-really-have-multiple-arms/588815/39 "2011-07-14T04:36:00Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > The major blue guys are Vishnu, Rama, and Krishna, the latter two both being avatars of the first one. I’m not aware of anyone else being blue, but there’s lots I’m unaware of. Kali is sometimes blue, and so is Shiva, sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-hindu-gods-really-have-multiple-arms/588815/40 "2011-07-14T05:45:03Z")
True. Come to think of it, there are a lot of figures you can find sometimes depicted as blue… e.g., even Hanuman or Ganesha. Perhaps trying to draw those kinds of limits was a fool’s errand. So let me put it this way instead: Vishnu, Rama, and Krishna are the ones for whom blue is nearly (not quite, but nearly) mandatory. Others have it more optionally. [Even this, I am sure, will be shown wrong…] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-hindu-gods-really-have-multiple-arms/588815.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-hindu-gods-really-have-multiple-arms/588815.md?page=3)