Why do Hindu Gods have fancy forms like elephant faced, monkey faced, with six faces, with four hands, etc ?
Hinduism says that there is one God. Just as a man is called “father” by this son, “husband” by his wife, “son” by this father, and so on, God is called by various names and worshipped in various forms depending on the mood and approach of the devotee. When God is worshipped to remove hurdles, He is worshipped as “Ganesha”. When God is worshipped to bless with good understanding of art and science, He is worshipped as “Saraswathi”, and so on. Similarly, when a devotee wants to worship God as mother, he may worship as “Kali”. When a devotee wants to worship God as a child, he may worship as “Krishna”. If a devotee wants to worship God as the formless, attributeless, transcedent being, he may worship as “Brahman”. These are all to suit the various temperaments of the devotees. By all these various forms and names, the devotee very well knows that He is worshipping God only. So Hinduism is monotheistic. Hinduism also accepts that all religions talk about the one God. It does not have conc
