Brahma (Sanskrit: ब्रह्मा, IAST: Brahmā) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the trinity of supreme divinity that includes Vishnu and Shiva.

[9] During the post-Vedic period, Brahma was a prominent deity and his sect existed; however, by the 7th century, he had lost his significance.

[15][16] In contemporary Hinduism, Brahma does not enjoy popular worship and has substantially less importance than the other two members of the Trimurti.

[19] The origins of the term brahmā are uncertain, partly because several related words are found in the Vedic literature, such as Brahman for the 'Ultimate Reality' and Brāhmaṇa for 'priest'.

[22] The existence of a distinct god named Brahma is evidenced in late Vedic texts.

[24] One of the earliest mentions of Brahma with Vishnu and Shiva is in the fifth Prapathaka (lesson) of the Maitrayaniya Upanishad, probably composed around the late 1st millennium BCE.

[27] In the pantheistic Kutsayana Hymn,[27] the Upanishad asserts that one's Soul is Brahman, and this Ultimate Reality, Cosmic Universal or God is within each living being.

[28][29] This chapter of the Maitrayaniya Upanishad asserts that the universe emerged from darkness (tamas), first as passion characterized by innate quality (rajas), which then refined and differentiated into purity and goodness (sattva).

[27][28] Of these three qualities, rajas are then mapped to Brahma, as follows:[30] Now then, that part of him which belongs to tamas, that, O students of sacred knowledge (Brahmacharins), is this Shiva.

Historians believe that some of the major reasons for Brahma's downfall were the rise of Shaivism and Vaishnavism, their replacement of him with Tridevi in the Smarta tradition, and the frequent attacks by Buddhists, Jains, Hindus who worship Indra and all the other Hindu gods.

Shiva then took his true form and cut off one of Brahma's five heads for his dishonesty, proclaiming that he would no longer receive an active following to his worship and would get a low status of popularity.

These include Sarga (primary creation of the universe) and Visarga (secondary creation), ideas related to the Indian thought that there are two levels of reality, one primary that is unchanging (metaphysical) and other secondary that is always changing (empirical), and that all observed reality of the latter is in an endlessly repeating cycle of existence, that cosmos and life we experience is continually created, evolved, dissolved and then re-created.

[46] Further, the medieval era texts of these major theistic traditions of Hinduism assert that the saguna (representation with face and attributes)[47] Brahma is Vishnu,[48] Shiva,[49] or Tridevi,[50] respectively.

He is envisioned in some Hindu texts to have emerged from the metaphysical Brahman along with Vishnu (preserver), Shiva (destroyer), all other deities, matter and other beings.

[53] Brahma, states this Purana, emerges at the moment when time and universe are born, inside a lotus rooted in the navel of Vishnu, along with Shiva, who emerged inside a fire rooted in the forehead of the god Vishnu.

This Purana states that both Brahma and Shiva are drowsy, err, are temporarily incompetent as they put together the universe.

[53] They then become aware of their confusion and drowsiness, meditates as two ascetics, then realizes Vishnu in their bodies, see the beginning and end of the universe, and then their creative powers are revived.

Brahma and Shiva, states the Bhagavata Purana, thereafter combine Prakriti (nature, matter) and Purusha (spirit, soul) to create a dazzling variety of living creatures, and a tempest of causal nexus.

They are the ones, states Skanda Purana, who combined the three Gunas - Sattva, Rajas, Tamas - into matter (Prakrti) to create the empirically observed world.

[55] The Vedic discussion of Brahma as a Rajas-quality god expands in the Puranic and Tantric literature.

[59][60] Several Tamil Hindu kings and queens have performed Vedic sacrifices and worshipped various gods and goddesses of Hinduism.

He sits on lotus, dressed in white (or red and pink), with his vehicle (vahana) – hamsa, a swan – nearby.

[63][66] Chapter 51 of the Manasara, an ancient design manual in Sanskrit for making murtis and temples, states that a Brahma statue should be gold in color.

[67] The text recommends that the statue have four faces and four arms, have jata-mukuta-mandita (matted hair of an ascetic), and wear a diadem (crown).

[76][77][78] A famous icon of Brahma exists at Mangalwedha,[79] 52 km from the Solapur district of Maharashtra and in Sopara near Mumbai.

A statue of Brahma is present at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, Thailand and continues to be revered in modern times.

An early 18th-century CE painting at Wat Yai Suwannaram in Phetchaburi city of Thailand depicts Brahma.

To this day, Mount Bromo is still considered a sacred place for Javanese Hindus, making it the location for the annual Yadnya Kasada or Kasodo ceremony.

When Hindu society began to disappear from Java and the era of Walisongo's wayang kulit began to emerge, Brahma's role as creator in the shadow puppet standard was given to a figure named Sang Hyang Wenang, while Brahma himself was renamed to Brama (fire) where he was a ruling god.