The story of Brahma, the deified hero who is regarded as the creator and one of the Trinity (Trimurthy), and ultimately the generally forgotten God, is a fascinating episode in the origin and evolution of culture and religious beliefs in the Indian subcontinent, Asia Minor, and Africa.

Brahma is also one of India’s oldest Gods. Early Vedics, who had previously worshipped natural forms such as mitra (sun), agni (fire), varuna (sea), and indra (atmosphere), shifted their focus to brahman, the invisible and absolute force. The worship of Brahma is the first step in the evolution of religious concepts and the transition from primitive spirit/hero worship to the concept of divine worship.

Brahma worship began in present-day northwestern India, and the concept migrated and spread widely in southern India, possibly as a result of tribe migration in the early historical period. The only remaining Brahma temple in northern India is in Pushkar, Rajasthan. However, remnants of ancient Brahma worship can still be found in Tulunad (southwestern coastal Karnataka) and Konkan coast (northwestern coastal Karnataka) as Bermer and Bommaya devaru, respectively. Coastal townships with names like Brahmavara, Brahmagiri, and others are relics of Brahmas former popularity. Tulunad’s brahmasthanas (=Brahma temples) and garodis (=ancient style gymnasia) continue to worship Bermer, the Tulu form of Brahma. Some of the ancient names on the Kannada mainland, such as Brahmasandra, Bommasandra, and Bommadevarahalli, carry long-forgotten relics of Brahma worship. A Brahma temple can be found in Uttamar Koyil, Tamil Nadu, demonstrating the breadth and spread of the Brahma concept in southern India.

The Tulu Bermer (e in bermer is pronounced as the initial e in ‘eligible’) is a dialectical corruption of the Vedic word Brahma [‘berme'( brahma) is the singular form and ‘bermer’ is the plural or respective form of address]. This suggests that Tulu tribes living with Vedic scholars at the time were mostly ‘illiterate’ people who modified the high-sounding Vedic words to suit their preferred pronunciation styles. The previous posting (No. 25) on Pala and the antiquity of Tulu words speculated on the possibility of Tulu tribes coexisting with Vedic scholars at Pirak during Rigvedic times.

We travel back in time to around 1900 BC in search of the origins of Brahma. Then the Indus Valley civilization at Mohenjodaro and Harappa came to an abrupt end due to abrupt changes in the course of the rivers Indus, Saraswati, and their tributaries. Due to tectonic earth movements, the River Saraswati dried up or changed its morphology, and was partly captured by the River Yamuna. The rivers migrated and abruptly changed their courses in response to earth movements, forcing the shocked residents to abandon their carefully constructed townships in favour of safer habitation. They moved to Pirak and the surrounding areas, which are now part of Pakistan’s Baloochistan State.At the time, Pirak’s human society was a mingled one comprised of proto-Dravidian, proto-Tulu, proto-Kannada, and Vedic tribes who were all migrants from different surrounding areas or States. They were fluent in all proto-Dravidian languages, Prakrit (possibly the official language of the Pirak region), and Indo-Aryan. Tulu, Kannada, and Tamil, the proto-Dravidian languages, borrowed heavily from Prakrit and also lent many words and enriched the Prakrit language. The general population was uneducated, and the few educated may have been around a dozen rishis, orally composed Vedic hymns that became part of the Rigveda, estimated around 1700-1500 BC. At the time, writing was not properly developed.The Tulu tribes almost certainly composed their own paD-dana (oral folk songs). The similarity of many Tulu and Tamil words, as well as their presence in Vedas, suggests that Tulu and Tamil tribes coexisted in the area. According to Iruvattam Mahadevan, the Indus Valley civilization was proto-Dravidian in nature.

Initially, the educated few (Vedic tribes) composed Vedic hymns in their native Indo-Aryan language. The similarity of Indo-Aryan Vedic hymns and Iranian Avesta hymns has led experts such as Michael Witzel to speculate that Indo Aryans may have migrated from Iran around 1700 BC. Following that, they borrowed words from proximal languages, refined the native Prakrit language, and introduced the Sanskrit language to compose the Vedic hymns.

The Bible (Genesis) describes Abraham’s character, which is later retold in the Anacalypsis. Abraham (or Brahma) was a mass hero, a rare leader of early tribes, born around 1900 BC, more or less during the chaotic period of earth movements, river migration, and mass exodus of tribes from the Indus Valley civilization.

Abraham lived for 175 years, according to legend. (Although the cited lifespan appears to be an exaggerated figure, as is typical of hero worship societies, it may imply that Abraham was a strong, dynamic character with a significantly long healthy lifespan.) Depending on their native pronunciation, different tribes referred to him in slightly different ways. Jews referred to him as Abraham, and Christians followed suit. Arabs referred to him as ‘Ibrahim,’ while IndoAryans referred to him as Brahma. His father, ‘Terah,’ was born in the region of Asia Minor known as Ur of Chaldees or Culdees.

Terah had a beautiful daughter named Sara (or Saraswati for Indo-Aryans and other inhabitants of Pirak and northwest India) who was not Abraham’s mother. Abraham, also known as the Brahma, fell in love with Sara and married her. For this or other reasons, Abraham and Sara moved from Ur to Mesopotamia. He organised Jews there and became a revered hero figure. Abraham is regarded as the founder of the Jewish people. Similarly, Muslims consider ‘Ibrahim’ to be an early leader or founder. The original Kaba temple (later a mosque) in Mecca is said to have been constructed in honour of Abraham or Ibrahim.

At the time, the current Asia Minor-Indian Subcontinent region, which includes Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India (though they had different individual provincial names at the time), were all contiguous states where communications and ideas were freely exchanged among various townships. Abraham (or Brahma) was a charismatic leader of the masses, and the common people believed he was the creator of the tribes. The legend of Abraham persisted after his death, inspiring or haunting the memories of tribes living in the Asia Minor-Indian subcontinent region. The Abraham legend inspired both Vedic tribes and others. In Hindu mythology, this is the concept of Lord Brahma, the creator of the universe.Following his death, Abraham was elevated to the position of supreme God, Brahma. The legendary Brahma, who organised tribes, represented a supreme hero capable of creating tribes and, later, the universe itself in primitive cultures accustomed to spirit worship. Legends became myths, and Brahma was deified and regarded as the supreme God.

The people of Pirak revered him as a hero and the creator of tribes. Thus, the original Brahma, as worshipped by Tulu tribes, was a hero astride a horse. This leads me to believe Abraham was a horseback rider. The original concept of horse-seated Brahma was brought from Pirak to Tulunad by migrant proto-Tulu tribes. (See also posts 4 and 5). Even today, the Bermer idol in Tulunad garodis consists of a brahma (abraham>berme) idol in the form of a soldier seated on a horse. The garodis, Tulunad’s ancient institutions established to spread the art of bodybuilding, physical development, and warfare techniques, continue to worship Brahma as an idol.According to paD-dana folklore, the legendary Tulu heroes Koti and Channayya worshipped the Bermer. There were many brahmasthans in Tulunad in the past that were dilapidated or destroyed as people shifted to Shiva, Shakti, or Krishna worship in later times. The Tulu people’s primitive form of Brahma worship suggests that these tribes migrated southward into Tulunad before Brahma the God was transformed into a ten-headed or four-headed concept in the post-Vedic Ramayan period.

Vedic tribes revered his legends as Brahma, the all-powerful creator of the universe, and incorporated the concept into Vedas. The word ‘Brahma’ gave rise to terms such as ‘braahman’ (=educated person), ‘brahmaanDa’ (=universe), ‘brahma kalasha (=the holy pot used in temple installation and also the associated ceremony)’, brahma-ratha (=large temple chariot), brahma-rakshsa (=a huge demon), brahma-sthana (=temple of As a result of Brahma worship, the word root ‘brih’ came to mean big or great.

During the composition and writing of the Ramayana, Brahma worship was at its peak (ca.300 BC to 200AD). According to indology experts, Brahma then became a fusion of a creator deity with the impersonal absolute Brahman in a more popular and personalised form. According to S.S.N.Murthy (2003) of J.N. University of New Delhi, the Ramayana is written in praise of Brahma, the God. Brahma is revered as either a ten-headed or four-headed deity. Brahma was then worshipped as a four-headed God.

However, the subsequent ascension of Shiva and later Vishnu worship pushed the original God Brahma to the sidelines.

Thus, the Tulu concept of horse-riding Brahma may be older than the ten or four-headed Brahma depicted in Ramayana, and the Tulu tribes were unaware of the transformation of the original horse-riding Brahma into a four-headed God. In that case, Tulu tribes appear to have migrated from Pirak and northern India into coastal Tulunad prior to the composition of the Ramayana.