Sages & Others
Tilottama
तिलोत्तमा
Made of the Best of Everything
Who was Tilottama?
Tilottama (तिलोत्तमा): Made of the Best of Everything, one of the sages and supporting figures in the Mahabharata. An apsara whom Brahma had Visvakarman assemble out of a grain of every beautiful thing in the three worlds, and named for it.
Quick Facts
| Sanskrit name | तिलोत्तमा |
|---|---|
| Title / Epithet | Made of the Best of Everything |
| Faction | Sages & Others |
| Key traits | Faultless, Purposeful, Composed, Fatal |
| Notable relationships | Maker: Brahma, Beholder: Shiva, Beholder: Indra |
| Featured in | 3 stories |
About Tilottama
An apsara whom Brahma had Visvakarman assemble out of a grain of every beautiful thing in the three worlds, and named for it. She was made for one purpose: to be sent to the brothers Sunda and Upasunda, who could not be killed by anything but each other. Walking round the assembly of the gods before she left, she turned Mahadeva's head so often that he grew faces on all four sides, and Indra's whole body broke out in eyes. The brothers saw her gathering flowers and killed each other over her within the hour.
In Their Words
Grandsire, tell me what I am for, and I will go and be it.
Tilottama
Traits
- Faultless
- Purposeful
- Composed
- Fatal
Story Appearances
Stories Featuring Tilottama
3 further tales on this site name Tilottama, in canonical reading order.
- The Lineages of Gods and DemonsVaishampayana recites the descent of every creature from Brahma and the daughters of Daksha
- The Names That Cleanse SinAsked what destroys sin, Bhishma answers with a litany of gods, rivers, mountains, sages and kings
- Four Faces and a Blue ThroatUma asks her husband to account for himself
Character Arc
- The MakingAssembled grain by grain from everything beautiful in three worlds
- The CircuitWalks round the gods and leaves Shiva four-faced and Indra covered in eyes
- The ErrandGathers flowers in a single red silk and lets two brothers see her
Key Relationships
Places in Tilottama's Story
Drawn from the stories Tilottama appears in.
Related Characters
Others counted among the Sages & Others.