Bhaga

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2009)

Sanskrit bhaga is a term for "lord, patron", but also for "wealth, prosperity". The cognate term in Avestan and Old Persian is baga, of uncertain meaning but used in a sense in which "lord, patron" might also apply. A Slavic cognate is bog "god". While the word "bog" denoted nearly all Slavic gods, the word Deva in its cognate Div was used only for the creator god - Rod, the Slavic equivalent of Brahma. The semantics is similar to English lord (from hlaford "bread warden"), the idea being that it is part of the function of a chieftain or leader to distribute riches or spoils among his followers. The name Baghdad shares its origins with the Middle Persian baga (baga-data: "god given", modern Persian: "Baghdad")

Personified, Bhaga is one of the Adityas, a god of wealth and marriage in Hinduism. Virabhadra, a great powerful hero created by Shiva, once blinded him. In the Rigveda Bhaga is the god who supervises the distribution of goods and destiny to each man corresponding to his merits. The word apparently, is cognative to "Bhagavan" and "Bhagya", terms used in several Indian languages to refer to God & destiny respectively.

Interestingly, bhaga also means vagina or vulva of a woman in Sanskrit.[1]

See also

• Bhagavan

v • d • e Hindu deities and texts Gods Deva · Brahma · Vishnu · Shiva · Rama · Krishna · Ganesha · Murugan · Hanuman · Indra · Surya · more Goddesses Devi · Saraswati · Lakshmi · Sati · Parvati · Durga · Shakti · Kali · Sita · Radha · Mahavidya · Navadurga · Matrikas · more Texts Vedas · Upanishads · Puranas · Ramayana · Mahabharata · Bhagavad Gita · more Hinduism · Hindu mythology · Indian epic poetry

This Hindu mythology-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e