Chitragupta is the god assigned to the task of keeping track of the good & bad deeds and actions of all living organisms living on Earth. He is an important assistant of Yama, the god of death. He helps Yama decide the fate of all living organisms after their death. Chitragupta is also the deity of Kayasthas, a cast of scribes.
His Job
Chitragupta’s job is to keep track of the good and bad deeds of every single living organism living on Earth. He uses paper and pen to do this. When the living being is transported to Yamapuri by Yamaraj, the living being will be sent to Yamaraja’s court in his royal palace. There Chitragupta will inform Yama deva about the deeds of that living being. Depending on the living being’s deeds, Yama deva and Chitragupta will then decide if the living being will be sent to heaven (Swarga), a high godly loka, or will be tortured in on of the hells of Naraka.
Birth of Chitragupta
Once Yamaraj came to Brahmadeva and complained that it was hard for him to perform his most important duties of keeping track of living beings’ deeds and decide their fate. He said that it was hard for him to keep track of the deeds of every single living being on Earth. Brahma went into deep meditation and soon Chitragupta suddenly sprang from his body holding an ink-pot and pen. Since he had existed in Brahmadeva’s body unseen, Brahma named him Chitragupta. Also, because Chitragupta sprung from Brahma’s body (kaya), Brahma also named him Kayastha. Yama then initiated Chitragupta as the tracker or accountant of the deeds of all living beings on Earth.
His Family
- Father: Brahma
- Wives: Iravati Shobhavati, Dakshina Nandini
- Sons: Mathur, Gaur, Nigam, Asthana, Kulshretha, Suryadwaja, Bhatnagar, Srivastava, Ambastha, Saxena, Karana, Vaalmik
Later Life
Later in his life, he married Iravati Shobhavati and Dakshina Nandini. He had 4 sons from Dakshina named Vaalmik, Asthana, Srivastava and Suryadwaja. He also had 8 sons from Shobhavati named Mathur, Gaur, Nigam, Kulshretha, Bhatnagar, Ambastha, Saxena and Karana. These 12 sons of his became the progenitors of the 12 sub-divisions of the Chitragutavanshi Kayasthas.
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Thank you for your appreciation!