Brahma
Brahma, the self created god of creation, is said to have created the cosmos Brahma, in art forms, is depicted a god having a long beard, radiant skin, wearing while robes, with four arms and at times mounted on a goose.

Legend has it that this event urged him to create a new world for himself. After the world was created he started feeling unbearably lonely, so, he created a female partner for himself with whom he fell in love at very first sight. The female (also identified as Savitri and Saraswati), who was extremely beautiful, was awfully embarrassed because of Brahama's passionate behavior towards her. She tried to run away from Brahma, would spring up. The female finding no other alternative sprang up toward the sky and another head of brahma sprung up. Brahma grabbed the helpless female who was his caught as well as wife in this way Brahma got his five heads but it is believed that his fifth head was cut off as a punishment for his sinful affair with his wife daughter.

Indra
Indra, traditionally regarded as the god of heaven. The vedas describe him as the valiant fighter who destroys devils and drought and gives people rain and food. This could be the reason for his popularity. The Purans too speak highly of Indra, often dramatizing his numerous battles against devils. Indra Jatra is a very famous festival celebrated in to honor of Indra.

Saraswati
Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge and fine arts, is often portrayed having a pure white form seated on a full blown lotus or mounted on a Hansa (swan), The Hansa is often regarded as our inner-consciousness and s said to be capable of driving away Avidya or ignorance. Anong and is said to be capable of driving away Avidya or ignorance. Among her four arms the two lower arms are shown playing the veena and the upper hands are shown holding a book and a rosary. Manjushree, the Buddhist goddess of knowledge and inner-vision is also worshipped equally as saraswati is worshipped among the Hindus.

Saraswati puja is a festival celebrated during spring by students. According to an age-old tradition a young child is introduced to alphabets for the first time on this day.

KUMARI 0r (the living goddess)
Kumari, the virgin goddess, represents the state deity of Nepal known as Teleju and is said to be the incarnation of kanya Kumari. A kumari Candidate is selected for a highly honered Hindu temple from a Buddhist family of Shakya clan. Once she is selected, she is highly honored by both Hindus and Buddhists including the king. She has taken out of her temple to participate in several festivals.

Once a Kumari attains puberty, she loses this divine status and the selection for another Kumari begins and she is made to leave the temple.

The famous Kumari temple is situated right across the historical Gaddi Baithak Hall at Basantapur in Kathmandu. There are different Kumaris in Patan, Bhaktapur, Bungmati, Thimi and other Newar towns.

Hanuman
Hanumana or the monkey god is worshipped as the god of protection. He is said to be full of shakti or strength, thus, his whole body is shown to be red. He symbolizes courage, strength and loyalty. The statues of Hanumana are found in most palaces.

The Images of the Hanumana always show him with closed eyes. It is said that the never married and does not like seeing females, expectably unmarried female. People believe that he can destroy them if he catches sight of them.

DHAYANI BUDDHA'S
The five Dhayani Buddha's- Vairochanda, Akshobbaya, Rathasambhaya, Amitabha and Amoghasiddhi, represent the five basic elements of which the world is made-earth, fire, water, wind and ether. These Buddha's, described as the progenitors of the five kulas, or families, termed as Dvesa, Moha, Raga, Chintamani and Samaya, are associated with the fulfillment of desire as well as the attainment of Nirvana. Buddhist philosophy conceives these gods to be the manifestation of Sunya or absolute void.

We often find the images of the Dhayani Buddha's in Stupas. Akshobhaya is placed facing the east, Amitabha facing the west, Amoghasiddhi facing south, Rathansambhava facing north and vairochana in the center. Except for Vairochana, which is considered to be the preciding deity of a stupa, central Buddha is either hidden or seated next to Akshobhaya.

Though there are only five Dhyani Buddha's sometimes an additional Dhayani Buddha the Vajrasattva is also included. Vajrasattva is regarded as the priest among the Dhayani Buddha's and is seen holding a Vajra on his right hand and a ghanta (bell) on the left.

Ganesh
Ganesha, the god of good luck, wisdom and success, is very popular deity worshipped by both Hindus as well as Buddhist's in Nepal. The figure of Ganesha is childlike and unique as it has an elephant head, a big round belly, an exceptionally short body and four or more hands. His upper right hand holds a hook, representing the right path to follow, and the lower hand is seen holding noose, representing self restrain. The rosary on his third lower hand represents concentration, which is very important for the development of spiritual knowledge, and his lower fur hands are in a gesture that assures his devotees fearlessness, indicating that he is the protector.

A religious text describes the bulky body of Ganesh as he cosmos and his elephant-like shape as the embodiment of cosmic intelligence. A legend has it that he even broke his most valued tusk so that Vedic, a great Hindu Vedic writer, could write could write the Mahabharat.

KUMARI
The god Kumara, The brother of Ganesh, has six heads representing the six senses (including the extra sensory perception). Kumara has six different names.- Kartiyeka, Gangeya, Skanda, Sarrvanabha, Sadahana and Subrrahmanya. Kumara. It is believed that he was born from the eye of lord Shiva. Hence, making him the eternal child of divine wisdom.

The work shipping of Kumara begins with the cleaning of the house with cow-dung mixed with red clay. Then a figure of a lotus with six petals is drawn with yellow rice powder and vermilion. According to Hindu Pundits, the six Chakras inherent in the human body is the medium thought which Kundalini is to transfer its energy into the Samadhi or Yoga.

On special festivals young boys are made the kumara and are taken out in procession. The main kumara festival is Kumara sasthi, which falls on May. On this festival cleaning of the neighborhood is an important event besides the procession.

LAXMI
Laxmi is the goddess of wealth and the consort of lord Vishnu. Laxmi is among the most worshipped of all gods and goddesses in Nepal. One of the most important festivals, among the multitude of Nepali festivals, is Laxmi Puja. Laxmi puga is significant for those who celebrate it for it gives them a reason to hope for financial progress in the years to come. The celebration is usually done with elaborate preparations. Lights play a huge role during Laxmi Puja since it is celebrated at night. Oil fed clay lamps are kept burning throughout the night. Laxmi puja is also known as the festival of lights.

Makaala
Mahakaala is one of the highly fascinating Vajrayana Buddhist deties. In art forms the deity is portrayed as dark, dwarfed and big bellied, with a mukta or headdress with skulls set in and a garland of human heads. He holds a Kurti (flaying knier) in his right hand and a kapala (a skull cup) on the other. He has three eyes, opened wide gaveling him a fierce look, and teeth dripping blood. He wears tiger skin as girdle and snakes as various ornaments. Though he looks fierce, he is said to be very king hearted.

According to sadhanmala, a very old Buddhist test, the number of arms and heads mahakaala would have depended on the nature of purpose he was called for. He could have one face with two, four or six arms or even eight faces with sixteen arms. It is popularly believed that his fierce look is not to scare every other person but to scare away evil.

Rato Machhendra or Bunga Dyo
The Buddhist rain-god, Bhunga dyo or Rato Machindra is also known as Karunamaya Lokeshwara (The most compassionate god of the universe Bunga Dyo is worshipped in its male as well as female from like umaneshwara, Laxminarayan, Praynaopaya and so on. There are two temples of Machhendra, one is at Bungmati, which is about 8 km away from Kathmandu and one is at Patan.
The Festival of Bhunga dyo begins every on the first day of Baishakh (March- April) and continues for a month or so. Since Nepal is an agricultural country the monsoons are very important for the Nepalese. This festival frees the farmers from worries about not getting ample amount of rain as this festival implies the worship of the rain god. During this festival a chariot carrying the machindra is pulled and thousands of people participate.

Bheemasena
Bheemasena is one of the heroes of the Mahabharata and the god of trade and commerce. Bheemasena is portryed in images as a red-faced deity with angry eyes and a thick black moustache. He is often shown lifting a horse in the air and pressing an elephant under his knee with a guge cobra and a lion watching in awe. This fierceness in his images is meant to symbolize his determination to kill Dushshasan, his enemy who had insulted Draupadi by trying to denude her in public.

Nepali traders worship Bheemanena widely. Several guthi's (a sort is trust) are devoted to the regular service of this deity. One of the most remarkable statues of Bheemasena can be seen in Patan Bheemasena Temple built by Shreenivas Malla in the early 18th century.

Krishna
Krishna is by far the most widely worshipped around the world. The devotees of Lord Krishna take him to be spiritual guide, a kumarayogi, a highly perfected man of good action, a supreme statesman, a protector of the poor, an eternal lover and so on. He is taken to be a versatile divinity. In art forms Krishna is depicted as a divine lover of cow headdresses. Though, his love is different from that of mortals as the single minded devotion between the cow hairdresser’s and the lord is supposed to symbolize the single-minded devotion to god.

It is believed that Krishna could put all his devotes into a trance by playing his magic flute. In art forms he is shown holding a flute in his hand and his leg slightly bent in tribhanga mudra. This gesture represents his involvement in Karma-yoga (continual action) which keeps the world in order, So, our saints call him the Karma-yogi, the highly perfected man and the god of action. The Geeta is a divine fight of Lord Krishna for the people of he world who aspire for illuminating inner vision.

VISHNU
In his various forms of incarnation: Vishnu Dhama Purana (an old Hindu text) describes Vishnu as the preserver of the universe and the upholder of Dharma. According to the Geeta, whenever lord Vishnu sees Dharma declining, the weak and innocent suffering, he comes down in different forms of incarnation to undo the wrong. The different incarnations of Vishnu could be:

1. Matsya-The Fish
Vishnu in the form of a Fish saved Manu, the first founder of human civilization, from a terrifying flood. The flood is said to have been caused by Hayagriva, the most cruel sea-monster dwelling deep in the ocean with innumerable fierce marine animals.

2. Kachhap or Kurma- The tortise
When Vishnu saw the sins of Danavas or devils weighing down the earth he assumed the form of a tortoise and dived deep into the sea to raise the earth on his back and changed the earth to its natural self.

3. Varaha - The Boar
When a demon named Hiranyakashyapa drowned the earth, Vishnu rushed to rescue the earth incarnated as a Boar (Varaha). He plunged into the water and rescued the earth killing the demon.

4. Narasimha- Man-lion
Vishnu, in this incamation killed Hiranyakashyapa by tearing open his stomach for his attempt to kill his own son-Prahlad, the most sincere devotee of the Lord Vishnu.

5. Bhimsen - Dwarf Brahman
In this Avatar (incarnation) Vishnu reclaimed the earth from Mahabali, the lord of all the three worlds, by visiting Bali in this avatar and asking him to give the land measured by three steps. As soon as Bali agreed he got back to himself and in three steps covered the universe and won it.

6. Parashurama
The heroic Brahmin with a militant personality Vishnu in this form, with an axe on his hand and a bow on the next, is said to have annihilated all the "Kshatryas" (warrior class) in 22 battles.

7. Rama-The highly perfected human-god
Vishnu incarnated as Rama, the ideal king and the hero of the Ramayana, killed the king of demons- Ravana.

8. Krishna - The most widely worshipped incarnation of Vishanu
This incarnation of Vishanu killed the ogress Punta whent she tried to kille him by feeding him poisoned milk when he was a child. Later, Krishna subdued the ost fatal cobra - Kaliya.

9. Buddha - the supreme teacher
Buddha, the enlightened one, was born in Lumbeni of Nepal at about 563 B.C. This incarnation of Vishnu was burning to guide suffering souls to the right direction. He has taught lessons of humanity, truth and peace.

10. Kalaki or Kali- The last incarnation.
The last incarnation of Vishnu has come, but people believe that it will appear at the ent of the Kaliyug. It is believed that this incarnation of Vishnu will come mounted on a horse, killing all the evil and saving only pious souls.