Chitragupta is the Hindu god, who keeps complete record of deeds of human beings. He is considered omnipresent and omniscient and believed to keep accurate records of the actions of all human beings from their birth to death. He is lord Yamaraja’s chief accountant and minister. The primary duty of lord Chitragupta is to create log of the lives of all human beings. According to his records, a man is sent to either heaven or hell depending on his actions on the earth. He holds a special place in the Hindu pantheon. In some beliefs, lord Chitragupta is the son of Lord Brahma and the younger brother of Yamaraja, the god of death.

 According to Hindu mythology lord Brahma is the creator of the whole universe. He first created sixteen sons from the different parts of his body. Few of them are Gorh, Mathur,Bhatnagar, Saxena, Asthana, Shrivastava, Ambastha etc. Then Lord Brahma created his seventeenth son Chitragupta from his belly. So, Chitragupta is also called `Kayastha` because he was created from Lord Brahma’s body (Kaya). He is the divine incarnation in human form, who determines the merits and demerits of men. 

Once upon a time, Yamaraja, the god of death, complained to Lord Brahma about his difficulties in performing his most responsible duties of keeping records of the deeds of men and doing justice to them. He become confused sometimes when dead souls would come to him and occasionally sent the wrong souls to either heaven or hell. In order to solve the problem, Lord Brahma, meditated for many thousands of years. Finally, when he opened his eyes, a man sprang from his body with a pen and inkpot. As Chitragupta was born of Lord Brahma’s body (kaya), so Lord Brahma declared that his children would forever be known as Kayasthas. Lord Brahma then enjoined Chitragupta to dispense justice and punish those who violate the dharma.

The Hinduism believes in the life cycle and rebirth. It is assumed that those who did misdoings in life have to take rebirth after a punishment period in the hell to complete their life cycle. After the death of the creatures lord Chitragupta judges and sends them to heaven or hell according to their works. The records of lord Chitragupta contain all the accurate actions of each person from birth to death, they can be said to contain every action taken in the universe. Lord Chitragupta’s judgements, as to whether the soul of a particular individual should be sent to hell or heaven, are accepted by Yamaraja.

The Kayastha families in India considered themselves to be descendant of lord Chitragupta, who married Irawati and Nandini. They worship Lord Chitragupta, in which books and pens are worshipped, indicating the importance of study for the Kayasthas. Items associated with Chitragupta in his puja include the paper and pen, ink, honey, betel nut, matches, mustard, sugar, sandalwood and frankincense. Chitragupta puja is performed on the same day of Bhaiduja that is day after tomorrow of Diwali. This is the main puja of Kayastha caste of Hindu. All paintings are courtesy of Art of Legend India.