India
This entry was originally published in the World History Encyclopedia and was written by Joshua J. Mark. It is shared in line with the Encyclopedia’s policies under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The Indian goddess Bhramari is an incarnation of the cosmic power known as Shakti. She came into being in response to a crisis which only she could resolve. The demon Aranasura tricked the great god Brahma into giving him a special dispensation whereby Aranasura could not be injured or killed by anything with two or four legs. Once he had this promise, he attacked the homes of the gods and drove them out, throwing the universe into chaos. A great battle between the demons of Aranasura and the gods ensued, but there was no defeating the demon and the gods were driven back until the goddess of fertility and love, Parvati, summoned all the insects of earth to her – bees, flies, mosquitoes, hornets, wasps and all others – and incarnated Shakti-energy as the goddess Brahmari who destroyed the demon army and, with her six-legged insects, was able to kill Aranasura. The gods could then return to their homes and order was restored.