Brahma's Trials

Brahma’s Trials is an endgame puzzle in Ancient Chaos (B-3). The puzzle is located in the room above the Grail Point, and requires the Ancient Battery and Egg of Creation to start. There are many hints for Brahma’s Trials located throughout the game. The puzzle involves using five lights representing five gods of creation to place symbols into each of Brahma’s four hands. These symbols represent the four ages of Yuga, and need to be matched with the metal representing each age.

Activating Brahma
To fully activate Brahma you will need to do two things. First, use the Ancient Battery on Brahma to turn him on. Second, you will need to turn on the five colored lights above him. The colored lights can be activated before or after turning the main machine on. To turn on the five colored lights, you need to use the Egg of Creation on five gods of creation located throughout the Eg-Mulana ruins. The names of the five gods are given by the “Brahma asked…” tablets. The location of each god is listed below, if you do not wish to find them yourself.

The Four Symbols of Yuga
There are four symbols related to the four ages of Yuga. The Padma Lotus, the Vedas Texts, the Kamandalu Water Pot, and the Mala Prayer Beads. When you place a weight on one of the four pedestals on the platforms above Brahma’s “head” a ball will drop into the hand below. The symbol on the ball that drops is based on which of the colored lights is aimed at the terminal behind the pedestal you activated. There are four combinations of two lights that can drop one of the four symbols of Yuga. Any other combination of lights will drop a ball with a skull symbol instead.

To figure out which color combinations make which symbols, you need to use the four tablets that describe the four symbols. You will also need to relate each god with its aspect and color. For example, “The Kamandalu Water Pot will not tolerate any battle which provokes chaos”. This tells us that mixing the lights representing Battle and Chaos will cause a ball with the Kamandalu Water Pot to drop. Atum’s answer to Brahma’s question was “Creation is fighting to protect.” Therefore, Atum’s green light represents Battle. Chaos’s purple light represents Chaos. Now we know to combine the green and purple lights to cause the Kamandalu Water Pot to appear.

The Four Ages of Yuga
Now that we know how to drop the symbols we want, we only need to match the symbols with the age of Yuga that they represent and the metal that represents that age. The metal that represents each age is given on the tablet that describes that age. For example, Dvapara Yuga is the age of copper. In order to figure out which symbol relates to which age you will need to use the Yuga Wheels located throughout the game. There are only three usable Yuga Wheels. The fourth is broken, and hidden somewhere secret. Each Yuga Wheel has one of the four symbols on it. When you place a weight in front of a Yuga Wheel spikes will rise from the ground unless the Wheel is currently pointed at a metal that corresponds to symbol on the Wheel. Note that spikes will always rise eventually, when the Wheel rotates away from the correct metal.

Another way to tell which way Brahma's "head" needs to be facing when dropping a ball is the mural of an ox above the "head". The number of ox hooves lit up on the mural is a measure of how much virtue was present in that age.

The Yuga Wheel in the Eternal Prison has the Kamandalu Water Pot on it. Spikes will not rise while the Wheel is pointed at a copper section of the wheel. Therefore, the Kamandalu Water Pot is related to Dvapara Yuga and the metal copper.

Entering the Solution
Now that we know what colors to use to make each symbol drop and which age of Yuga each symbol corresponds to, we can enter the solution to the puzzle. Scan each terminal to determine which hand represents each age of Yuga. You can attack the lights to change which terminal they are pointing at. Drop the ball with the appropriate symbol into each hand. The “head” in the center needs to be set to correct metal when each ball is dropped. If you have trouble telling silver and steel apart, silver is after gold. It does not matter what order you drop the symbols in.

For example, the third hand from the left is Dvapara Yuga. Point the green and purple lights at the terminal. Set the “head” in the center to copper and place the weight to make a ball with the Kamandalu Water Pot drop into Brahma’s hand.

The Reward
As soon as you have placed each symbol correctly, Brahma will change to show you a set of maps. Place a weight on the pedestal in the upper left of the room to change the view. There are three maps total. The map marks the location of every Crystal Skull in the game as a blue star and the location of every Mantra in the game as a red star. You don’t actually need to figure out how to read this map, as your pause screen map will now show the location of every Crystal Skull and Mantra you have not yet collected.

The Locations of the Creation Gods
Ymir - Icefire Treetop (E-4) where you got the grapple claw, looks like a giant skull. The yellow light.

Atum - Dark Star Lord’s Mausoleum (C-3) one room to the right, and one room up from the Grail point. The green light.

Chaos - Heaven’s Labyrinth (C-1) at the top of the area in the room with the two pools of water. The purple light.

Amenominakanushi - Takamagahara Shrine (D-3) in the tall room right of the Grail point. The red light.

Abzu - Ancient Chaos (C-2) in the area only accessible from the Corridor of Blood. The blue light.

The Solutions
First is the "Satya Yuga" age. Make sure just the red and purple lights are pointed at the leftmost terminal. Make sure the "head" in the middle is gold. The symbol on the ball that drops should be the Padma Lotus.

The second terminal, "Treta Yuga", needs the blue and yellow lights. The head should be set to silver. The ball should have the Vedas Texts on it.

The third terminal, "Dvapara Yuga", needs the purple and green lights. The head should be set to copper. The ball should have the Kamandalu Water Pot on it.

The final terminal, "Kali Yuga", needs the red and green lights. The head should be set to steel. The ball should have the Malu Prayer Beads on it.

Known Bugs and other issues
The green light can sometimes stop responding. Restarting your game should fix it.

(Pre-1.4.4.2) The mural of the god Abzu can be rendered inaccessible by certain late game events.