Showing posts with label Features. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Features. Show all posts

Thursday, December 4, 2025

Who are the Hindu deities with animal features?

 The Hindu deities with non-human animal features include (roughly in order of more to less well known):

  • Ganesha
  • Hanuman, a Vanara deity. Vanaras are a race of monkeys of human-like intelligence.
  • Matsya Avatara
  • Kurma Avatara
  • Varaha Avatara
  • The Goddess Varahi
  • Narasingha
  • Pratyangira
  • Bagalamukhi. Her name means “crane-faced”, and she is traditionally said to have a crane’s head, though most art of her does not show this, in part because her true form is considered too dangerous to look upon.
  • Hayagriva
  • Surya once took a horse-headed form, often mistaken for Hayagriva.
  • Nandikeshwara the bull or half-bull half-man
  • Garuda the Suparna (a bird deity, somewhat resembling an eagle or vulture)
  • Kamadhenu aka Surabhi, a Cow Goddess, sometimes with a human head with cow horns, human breasts, and/or wings.
  • All Naga deities, like Adi Shesha, Manasa, Janguli, Vasuki, Takshaka, and many others.
  • Shiva’s Sharabha Avatara, an eight-legged lion-bird creature.
  • Shiva and Parvati’s stag and deer forms at Pashupatinath.
  • Shiva’s Vrishabha Avatara.
  • Shiva has an Avatara that is a pig-headed woman with six breasts, described in Thiruvilayadal Puranam, the Tamil Sthala Purana of Madurai’s Meenakshi Temple.
  • Bhairava is depicted in some images as having the face of a dog.
  • Vindhyavasini, who has the head of an owl-like bird.
  • Kakachandeshwari, a secret crow-headed Goddess of Tantrik alchemy.
  • Sarama the Dog Goddess.
  • Mallanna, a Sheepdog God worshipped by Hindu shepherds in parts of rural South India.
  • Uchchaihshravas, a horse deity.
  • Paravani the peacock, mount of Kartikeya
  • Many tribal peoples in India worship a tiger god, like Bagh Deo of the Gond tribe, Chitan Deo of the Murias, Bhageshwar of the Bharias, Sonaray of lower Assam (considered by some to be a manifestation of Lord Shiva), Dakshin Rai of the Sundarbans, and many more.
  • Very similar to these is Budhi Pallien, a wise yet fearsome and strong goddess of forests and jungles is said to roam northern India, especially Assam, in the form of a tigress.
  • Chelamma, a Scorpion Goddess worshipped in southern Karnataka.
  • There is a Spider Goddess worshipped in a certain temple, the Palliyara Sree Bhagavathy Temple, also known as the Chilanthi Ambalam in Kerala.
  • Naigamesha, who has become obscure and almost forgotten today by most Hindus.
  • A mermaid goddess worshipped in Kerala.

I’m sure I’m forgetting some, there are so many.

Edit: Indeed I was forgetting some. Adding a few that commenters reminded me of:

  • The twin Ashvin Devas are often horse headed.
  • Vishnu’s form Gandaberunda was a great two-headed bird of prey. There is also an eight-headed version.
  • Vishnu took the Hansa Avatar, as a swan/goose.
  • Vishwaksena, also known as Senai Mudalvar and Senadhipathi, commander-in-chief of Lord Vishnu’s army, is sometimes elephant-headed.
  • The deity personifications of the four Vedas are all animal-headed, and two of their female Shakti counterparts are also animal or part-animal. Rigveda is donkey-headed and Rigveda Shakti is a peahen, Yajurveda is goat-headed, Samaveda is horse-headed, Atharvaveda is monkey-headed, and Atharvaveda Shakti has the head of a pig.
  • Vishnu’s Navagunjara form combines features of nine different animals: rooster, elephant, tiger, deer, human, peacock, bull, lion, and snake (sometimes horse instead of deer).

And also, I just remembered that Saranyu Devi and Surya Deva took the form of horses and had sex, producing the Ashwinau twins. So those are more animal forms of deities.