("carrier manufacturer") In the Vedas, the oldest and most authentic Hindu religious books, Tvashtr is a minor deity known as the workman of the Vedic gods.
The Vedic hymns regularly mention wheeled chariots as
military instruments, and his name’s literal meaning reflects the reverence
with which this profession was considered, as the peak of creative effort.
In the Vedas, Tvashtr is famed for forging the weapons of
the gods, notably the mace with which the storm-god Indra slays the snake Vrtra
(Rg Veda 1.32).
Tvashtr is later identified with the minor deity
Vishvakarma, who becomes the architect and craftsman of the gods in Hindu life.
Given Tvashtr's older textual presence than Vishvakarma's,
this appears to be an attempt to distinguish one divine workman from the other based
on similar functions.
