Daksha

Daksha
God of ritual skill[1]
Two depiction of Daksha in Puranic tradition — One with ordinary human features (left) and another with a goat face (right)
Affiliation	Vedic: Adityas Itihasa-Puranic: Prajapati, Manasaputra
Texts	Rigveda, Brahmanas, Taittiriya Samhita, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Purana
Genealogy
Parents	Vedic: Aditi Itihasa-Puranic: Brahma[a]
Consort	Itihasa-Puranic: Prasuti and Asikni
Children	Vedic: Aditi Itihasa-Puranic: Svaha, Khyati, Sati, Aditi, Diti, Danu, Kadru, Vinata, Rohini, Revati, Rati and other daughters Haryashvas and Shabalashvas (sons)

Daksha (Sanskrit: दक्ष, lit. 'able, dexterous, or honest one' IAST: Dakṣa,^[2]) is a Hindu god whose role underwent a significant transformation from Vedic to Itihasa-Puranic mythology. In the Rigveda, Daksha is an aditya and is associated with priestly skills.^[3]

In the epics and Puranic scriptures, he is a son of the creator-god Brahma and one of the Prajapati, the agents of creation, as well as a divine king-rishi. He is the father of many children, who became the progenitors of various creatures. According to one legend, a resentful Daksha conducted a yajna (fire-sacrifice), and deliberately did not invite his youngest daughter Sati and her husband Shiva. In the Linga Purana, for insulting Shiva during this event, which caused Sati to self-immolate in fury, he was beheaded by Virabhadra, an attendant of Shiva. He was later resurrected with the head of a goat. Many Puranas state that Daksha was reborn to Prachetas in another Manvantara (age of Manu).

His iconography depicts him as a man with a stocky body and a handsome face or the head of a goat.

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