The name Vishvakarman means "maker of all". In the Rig Veda it first appears as a title of the creator, and two hymns of the tenth book (10.81 and 10.82) are addressed to Vishvakarma as the one god who fashioned heaven and earth. They ask, with a famous sense of wonder, what wood and what tree it was from which the world was carved, and they picture the creator with eyes, faces, arms and feet on every side.
विश्वतश्चक्षुरुत विश्वतोमुखो विश्वतोबाहुरुत विश्वतस्पात्। सं बाहुभ्यां धमति सं पतत्रैर्द्यावाभूमी जनयन्देव एकः॥“With eyes on every side, faces on every side, arms on every side and feet on every side, the one god, forging with his arms and wings, brings forth heaven and earth.”Rig Veda 10.81.3, hymn to Vishvakarma
In the epics and the Puranas, Vishwakarma becomes more personal: the master craftsman and architect of the gods, who builds their palaces, cities, chariots and weapons. He is honoured by artisans, engineers and workers as the patron of every skill of the hand.
Builder of the gods' cities
The epics and Puranas credit Vishwakarma with the great works of sacred geography. According to the Ramayana he built Lanka, the golden city later taken by Ravana. The Mahabharata says he fashioned the halls of the gods; the Harivamsha and Puranas say he raised Krishna's city of Dwarka from the sea. Some tellings credit him with Indraprastha, the Pandavas' capital, though the Mahabharata itself gives the famous assembly hall there to the asura architect Maya.
He is also the maker of divine weapons. The Puranas say he forged Indra's thunderbolt from the bones of the sage Dadhichi, and fashioned the Sudarshana chakra of Vishnu and the trident of Shiva from the trimmed brightness of the sun.
Some Puranas place him in a family of divine craftsmen, making him the son of Prabhasa, one of the eight Vasus, and of a sister of Brihaspati, the guru of the gods.
Father of Sanjna
The Markandeya and other Puranas tell that Vishwakarma's daughter Sanjna married Surya, the sun, but could not bear his blazing heat. She left her shadow, Chhaya, in her place and fled. When Surya found her, Vishwakarma placed the sun on his lathe and trimmed away part of its brilliance, and from the shavings he made the weapons of the gods. In the Ramayana, the monkey Nala, who built the bridge to Lanka, is called a son of Vishwakarma.
Patron of the crafts
Traditional texts on architecture and image-making, the Vastu and Shilpa Shastras, often present themselves as Vishwakarma's teaching, and several craft communities — carpenters, smiths, stone-carvers, goldsmiths and masons — trace their descent to him and are known as Vishwakarma or Vishwabrahmin. In this sense he is the divine figure behind the temples, tools and towns of India.
On Vishwakarma Puja, usually held around 16–17 September (Kanya Sankranti) in eastern India and on other dates elsewhere, workers clean and worship their tools and machines, factories and workshops pause work, and kites fill the sky over Bengal and Bihar.
Many Shilpa texts, such as the Vishvakarma Prakasha, deal with the measurement and planning of temples, houses, images and towns. Tradition often pairs him with Maya, the architect of the asuras, as the two great founders of Indian building science, and in South India the two names are linked with rival schools of temple design.
How they are remembered
Vishwakarma gives sacred standing to skilled work. He reminds the tradition that building, crafting and engineering are forms of worship, and that the maker of the universe is also the maker of the humble tool. In 2023 the Government of India named a scheme for traditional artisans PM Vishwakarma after him.
Ekatmata Stotra · Stanza 13
Named in Stanza 13 of the Ekatmata Stotra — eleven devotees, sages and seers.
हनुमान् जनको व्यासो वसिष्ठः शुको बलि: तथा।
दधीचिर्विश्वकर्मा च पृथु: वाल्मीकिरेव च॥
Sources: Wikipedia: Vishvakarma · Wikipedia: Vishwakarma Puja · Wikipedia: PM Vishwakarma. Written afresh for The Hindu Book; corrections welcome at [email protected].
