Vishvakarma

(“doing all things”) A minor deity whose
mythic roles include being the architect
of the gods; creator of innumerable
handicrafts, ornaments, and weapons;
the finest sculptor; and the inventor of
the aerial chariots used by the gods. He
is the patron and paradigm for all the
skilled crafts in which materials are
shaped and formed, and in particular he
is said to have fixed the canons for carving images of the gods. According to one
story, Vishvakarma’s daughter, Sanjna,
is married to Surya, the sun, but
because of the sun’s radiance cannot
bear to be with him. Vishvakarma takes
the sun to his workshop and trims off
enough of his effulgence so that Sanjna
can bear his brightness. He then shapes
the cut-off pieces of the sun into the
god Vishnu’s discus (Sudarshana), the
god Shiva’s trident (trishul), various
other divine weapons, and the Pushpak
Viman, the most famous of the
aerial chariots.
Vishvakarma is sometimes identified
with Tvashtr, the workman of the gods
in the Vedas, the oldest Hindu religious
texts. Yet it seems that these are two different deities, homologized to each
other through their common function.
Tvashtr’s name means “builder of carriages,” and this seems to have been his
primary function, although he is also
noted for crafting the weapons of the
gods, especially the mace with which
the storm-god Indra slays the serpent
Vrtra. Still, his name seems to indicate that his major function is in
building carriages, which is believed
to be highly significant in a Vedic context, since many Vedic hymns mention
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Vishvakarma
the use of military chariots. Vishvakarma,
on the other hand, has much more
wide-ranging skills, and this would
seem to indicate that the two are not the
same deity.