Vehicles of GODs

Yesterday we were in Somnathapura near Mysore. It's one of the most amazing monuments I've seen of the Hindu civilization. More details about the trip will come later; but here I just wanted to recap some points of Hindu mythology before I forget. Most of this recap is due to the guide at Somnathpura, Mr. Ramakrishna, an amzing guy - deserves to be a teacher!

GOD	Role	Vehicle used for transportation
Bramha	Creator	Swan(Hamsa)
Saraswathi	Goddess of Education	Peacock(Mayura)
Vishnu	Protector	Eagle(Garuda)
Lakshmi	Goddess of Wealth	Elephant(Gaja)
Shiva	Destroyer	Bull(Nandi)
Parvathi	Goddess of Strength	Lion(Simha)

Other important Gods and their vahanas are :

Indra - Airavatha - 4-tusked White Elephant
Ganesha - Mushika - Mouse
Karthikeya - Mayura - Peacock

Another recap - the 10 avatars of Vishnu were :

1. Matsya avatar - Fish
2. Kurma avatar - Tortoise
3. Varaha avatar - Boar(Pig)
4. Narasimha avatar - Half man, half lion
5. Vamana avatar - A dwarf brahmin
6. Parashurama - Angry sage
7. Rama - We all know Rama
8. Krishna - Hare Krishna
9. Buddha - Messenger of peace
10. Kalki - Yet to occur!

I went into a nice trip of hindu mythology yesterday.

I'm also trying to recap some other childhood stories. I've already forgotten the details of these told by my grandmom, Appa and Amma. I'll just list down the titles for now - but I really want to jot down the details somewhere :

1. Ottey Chana kathey
2. Mudki Payasa
3. Kagi Gubbi kathey
4. Orulu beku

Will post a detailed account of the trip tomorrow.

2 more fundas I learnt from the Guide:

GOD = Giver, Operator and Destroyer -> The trinity of Hindu Gods

LOVE = Look, Observe, Verify and Enjoy :)