I though Sita Sings the Blues (now available for streaming or download) was quite good. I have a deep love for mythology, so here, in order of appearance, the gods in Sita Sings the Blues.
Note: You may click on images to enlargen them.
Saraswati represents intelligence, consciousness, cosmic knowledge, creativity, education, enlightenment, music, the arts, and power to Hindus.
— Wikipedia
Note: Originally, she looked like Saraswati to me; however, she could also considered to be Parvati, which makes the most sense; despite the usual trappings of the goddess of wisdom here (the shell is a giveaway), Parvati is “Parvati is considered as the supreme Divine Mother and all other goddesses are referred to as her incarnations or manifestations.”
And Parvati and Vishnu are lovers.
Appearances
Main credits
Ending
In some other Hindu denominations, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva represent the three primary aspects of the divine in Hinduism and are collectively known as the Trimurti. In this school of religious thought, Brahma is the creator, Vishnu is the maintainer or preserver, and Shiva is the destroyer or transformer.
— Wikipedia
[corrected from Kali]
Appearances
Attestment of Sita’s purity
“Mean to Me”
Agni Pariksha
“I’ve Got a Feeling I’m Falling”
According to the Puranas, Brahma is self-born (without mother) in the lotus flower which grew from the navel of Vishnu at the beginning of the universe.
— Wikipedia
[corrected from Vishvakarma]
Appearances
Attestment of Sita’s purity
“Mean to Me”
… Vishnu as the All-Pervading essence of all beings, the master of—and beyond—the past, present and future, the creator and destroyer of all existences, one who supports, sustains and governs the Universe and originates and develops all elements within.
— Wikipedia
The multi-headed snake he lounges upon is the serpent Kaliya, whom, in his aspect as Krishna, he subdued in the Bhagavata Purana.
Appearances
Ending
The term “Surya” also refers to the Sun, in general. God Surya has hair and arms of gold. Surya drives through the heaven in his triumphal chariot harnessed by seven horses or one horse with seven heads, which represent the seven colours of the rainbow or the seven chakras.
In Hindu religious literature, Surya is notably mentioned as the visible form of God that one can see every day.
— Wikipedia
Appearances
Technically every time it’s sunny
“If You Want the Rainbow, You Must Have the Rain.”
“Moanin’ Low”
“Am I Blue”
In Hinduism, Chandra (lit. “shining”) is a lunar deity and a Graha…. He is described as young, beautiful, fair; two-armed and having in his hands a club and a lotus. He rides his chariot (the moon) across the sky every night, pulled by ten white horses or an antelope.
— Wikipedia
Appearances
Ending
Agni is one of the most important of the Vedic gods. He is the god of fire and the acceptor of sacrifices. The sacrifices made to Agni go to the deities because Agni is a messenger from and to the other gods.
— Wikipedia
Appearances
“Mean to Me”
Intermission
Agni Pariksha
Although he is known by many other attributes, Ganesha’s elephant head makes him easy to identify. Ganesha is widely revered as the Remover of Obstacles and more generally as Lord of Beginnings and Lord of Obstacles (Vighnesha, Vighneshvara), patron of arts and sciences, and the deva of intellect and wisdom.
— Wikipedia
Appearances
Spontaneous ∂erivation 
This is interesting.
But this picture, which I’m pretty sure the opening credits are referencing, identifies a couple of the participants differently.
In particular, it identifies the female goddess as Lakshmi. And given that Rama was an avatar of Vishnu, and Sita an avatara of Lakshmi, it makes sense to see the two of them together before and after the movie (and also adds significance to the role-reversal gag at the start of the end titles).
And the entry on Vishnu identifies the god in the lotus differently: “Visvakarma Sukta of Rig Veda (10.82) describes Vishnu as Padmanabha (lotus-naveled one, from whose navel sprang the lotus which contained Brahma, who created the universe)”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishnu
Looking at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahma
reinforces this.
Identity of goddesses (and even gods, but in particular goddesses) is fluid in Hindu mythology. Lakshmi doesn’t typically hold the conch, discus, etc. of the goddess of wisdom—but in many senses, Lakshmi, Saraswati, and Sita are the same goddess. Just as Vishnu and Rama are the same god. Or rather, Sita is an incarnation of Pravati, who is also Lakshmi, who is also Saraswati some of the time; and Rama is an incarnation of Vishnu. (The blue skin always gives it away.)
In particular, Devi is the root identity of all the goddesses, even Kali. Vishnu is considered the ideal male principle, and Devi (or her incarnations, like Lakshmi, etc) the ideal female principle, and together they are in harmony. It’s kind of weird; it’s a pantheon of extreme synonyms.
By the by, Visvakarma and Vishvakarma are the same god, just with a different Anglicization of the names (this often happens for languages that stray from the Latin root; Japanese gods also often have different spellings of their name), but you likely already know this. :) I think you’re likely right about Vishvakarma/whatnot being instead Brahma in this case. They also both make sense from a representational perspective with regards to art, just different aspects.
Another note: the number of heads threw me off. Brahma has four, Vishvakarma has five, but looks like maybe six there. Then again, Chandra’s only supposed to have one antelope, and Surya seven horses and not five. Plus Vishvakarma works for Brahma. o.O
What a challenge, these stories.
G O D = Generator Operator Destructor
G = Brahma
O = Vishnu
D = Shiva
in sita sing the blues
the one you are saying kali is actually Shiva …see the snakes too
and Vishvakarma is not there its > Brahma.
check this out
Gaurav is totally right. The god you identified as Kali is Shiva.
Thanks!
I really need to update this entry with the right names.
ETA: Entry has been updated with the correct gods/goddesses.
Hi,
I came upon this accidentally, apologies for rudeness in commenting so late…
Vishnu and Lakshmi are consorts (they were married by Hindu law, so calling them [only] lovers is not fair). Saraswati and Bramha are consorts, and Shiva and Parvati are married (They were married – three times, in three different forms, so definitely married). The first image explanation therefore is incorrect, because Parvati is married to Shiva, not Vishnu.
Lakshmi is occasionally depicted with the discus – it is unusual to have a depiction of Saraswati that does not include a book/sheet of paper, and it is unusual to have a depiction of Parvati that does not include Nandhi/a snake
Myti
Hello Myti,
It’s not rudeness to me to comment on an old post :) and thank you for the extra information!
Hello! Thank you for the post and images. I just wanted to make one small correction…the goddess you listed as “devi” might more properly be classified as Bhumi (Bhumi Devi), who is Sita’s mother and also considered “Mother Earth”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bh%C5%ABmi
According to wikipedia: “Sita was a foundling, discovered in a furrow in a ploughed field, and for that reason is regarded as a daughter of Bhudevi, the Goddess Mother Earth.” and “Once she had witnessed the acceptance of her children by Rama, Sita sought final refuge in the arms of her mother Bhumidevi, the Goddess Mother Earth. Hearing her plea for release from an unjust world and from a life that had rarely been happy, the earth dramatically split open; Bhumidevi appeared and took Sita away to a better world.”
Take care!
Thanks for the information! That first in line perfectly with the story.
Hello, i liked the gods images, especially Sun god riding hourses, next year will be Horse year in japan and i am wondering if i can use this image for my greeting cards to my friends and customers. Looking for hear from you.