Chitragupta

About Chitragupta

Chitragupta is the divine scribe of Yama's court. His name means 'hidden picture' — the secret ledger of every deed each soul has done. Born from Brahma's body after 11,000 years of meditation, he emerged holding a reed pen and inkpot, the tools he still carries. Iconography shows him fair-skinned with a palm-leaf scroll, kalam (pen), masipatra (inkpot), and a sword at his waist. At death he reads each soul's account aloud, and Yama assigns heaven or hell accordingly. The Kayastha community honors him as their progenitor. On Yama Dwitiya, the day after Diwali, devotees worship pens and open fresh ledgers at his Kanchipuram shrine.