He who creates and is the creator of everything. He whose name is mainly used as an epithet for the Supreme God for he is the creator, the architect of the celestial pantheons of many forms of gods.
Vishvakarma in Hinduism is considered as the architect of the divine beings, as Devshilpi (architect or craftsman of the Gods). The Rig Veda describes Vishvakarma as a divine being, as a Cosmic Purush who with his prowess of multidimensional vision could travel through time and the many known and unknown dimensions of the universe and space. Also as per the Rig Veda Vishvakarma was the son of Brahma, but as per the Vishnu Purana & the Shrimad Bhagavadgita, Lord Vishvakarma was the son of Prabhas (also known as Akash ie Sky or Ether) the eighth Vasu of the ashta Vasu’s (eight Vasu brothers) & Rachana the sister of Virochana, the king of the daityas, whereas as per the Harivamsha, Yogasiddha- the beautiful sister of Brihaspati was solemnly married to Prabhas who then became the parents to Vishvakarma. It is very common to see some inconsistencies or the inclusion or exclusion of certain characters in the many Hindu scriptures that are being written by different authors over different periods and history, thus adding many different versions of storytelling.
Among Lord Vishvakarma’s many creations, he is credited for the designing of all flying chariots of all Gods & also their weapons, including the Vajra, the sacred weapon of Lord Indra made from the bones of sage Dadhichi. Also, the famous Agnayestra which Arjuna used in Mahabharata & the most famous Sudarshan Chakra of Lord Krishna were all designed by Lord Vishvakarma.
Moving from weapon design to architectural work, Lord Vishvakarma is known to have built the city of Dwarka, known as the land of Lord Krishna or the capital of Lord Krishna. ( It is believed that Lord Krishna after killing his uncle Kansa at Mathura tried to avoid confrontation and war with the Deamon King of Magadh Jarasangh who was the father in law of Kansa. So Lord Krishna decided to build a new capital city and shift his base from Mathura to this new city. For this purpose, Lord Krishna invoked the Sea God and requested to release 12 yojanas ie 96 sq. km of land for the making of this city. Later, Lord Krishna invoked Lord Vishvakarma and asked him to help build Dwarka. Later, Lord Krishna along with his Yadava clan would secretly migrate to Dwarka from Mathura. Also, there are stories, which claim that Lord Vishvakarma built Dwarka overnight.) Many western scholars term Dwarka as the Atlantis of the East.
The sumptuous city of Alakpuri on Mount Mandara was built by Lord Vishvakarma as the residence of Kubera. Also, near Alakpuri Lord Vishvakarma built the beautiful gardens of Chaitraratha. As per Hindu texts, The Pushpak Vimana of King Ravana (who stole it from his brother Kubera) was initially designed by Lord Vishvakarma for Lord Bharma, who later gave the vimana of Kubera. Ravana the half brother of Kubera later stole the Pushpak Vimana from him. (as per some Hindu texts Ravana defeated Kubera during his battle to conquer the three worlds and took the Pushpak Vimana from him. Later, after Ravana’s death, Vibhishana Ravana’s brother offered the Pushpak Vimana to Lord Rama as the rightful owner since Lord Rama was the one who killed Ravana and so all of Ravana’s possession now belongs to Lord Rama. On request of Lord Sita, Lord Rama after coronating Vibhishana as the new ruler of Lanka would fly to Ayodhya, on the Pushpak Vimana along with Sita, Lakshmana, Hanumana and the Vanar Sena, also Vibhishana with his wife Sarama and daughter Trijata and few other rakshasas with their wives. After reaching Ayodhya, Lord Rama would order the Pushpak Vimana to fly back to its rightful owner Kubera on Mount Mandara. But Kubera would simply return the vimana to Lord Rama and request him to accept it as a gift. The Pushpak Vimana would again return to Ayodhya after Lord Rama’s coronation as the new King of Ayodhya and deliver the message sent by Kubera. Lord Rama pleased by the gesture shown by Kubera, gladly accepts the vimana and orders it to presently go away and appear only when is being called.). Also as per Skanda Purana, Lord Vishvakarma was the one who constructed the wedding canopy under which Lord Shiva & Devi Parvati got married.
Again as per Shiv Puran, when Lord Brahma along with various other gods visited Lord Vishnu at his abode, to know the secret of life without sorrow, and Lord Vishnu in his usual pollyanna self would reply, ”simply worshipping a Shiva-Linga destroys the presence of all blackness and disparity from one’s life.” All the deities along with Lord Brahma would than try to invoke Lord Shiva through various austerities. Finally, being pleased by the astute calling of all the devas and Lord Brahma, Lord Shiva would visit the abode of Lord Vishnu and fulling everyone’s wishes would summon Lord Vishvakarma and instruct him to build Shiva-Linga’s for each of them. Among the many creations of Lord Vishvakarma was also the architectural marvel of the city of Indraprastha of the Pandavas. It is said that the floors of the central mansion of Indraprastha had a refection like water whereas the many ponds and puddles made the phantasm of plain marble flooring. ( Once when the Pandavas invited the Kauravas to visit their city of Indraprastha, Duryodhana the eldest of the 100 sons of King Dhritarashtra misinterpreted a pool to be a woven carpet and stepped on it only to trip inside the pool with a splash, thus drenching entirely. Draupadi along with many of her female attendants saw this episode from the staircase and taking a jibe at Duryodhana, Draupadi sarcastically compared Duryodhana to his blind father King Dhritarashtra. Hearing Draupadi all of her companions burst into laughter whereas Duryodhana felt disgusted and ridiculed by her behaviour which eventually led to the episode of Draupadi’s Vastraharan and finally the war of Kurukshetra.)
Lord Vishvakarma was married to Praladhi Devi and fathered 5 sons and 2 daughters. Mannu, Maidev, Tavashta, Shilpi and Devagya were the 5 sons while Sanjana and Brahsamati were his 2 daughters. Brahsamati was married to King Priyavrata who was an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu. Sanjana, on the other hand, grew up as a beautifully radiant woman who married Lord Surya.
