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127-681: In the Rigveda , the Sudarshana Chakra is stated to be Vishnu's symbol as the wheel of time. The discus later emerged as an ayudhapurusha (an anthropomorphic form), as a fierce form of Vishnu , used for the destruction of demons. As an ayudhapurusha , the deity is known as Chakraperumal or Chakratalvar . bright, golden glow, almost as if it's emitting a supernatural light Gold Discus Disk Disc which has 10 million Diamond spikes arranged in two rows, each moving in opposite directions, giving it its formidable serrated edge. In center their

254-487: A rishi (sage) and his family of students. Within each collection, the hymns are arranged in descending order of the number of stanzas per hymn. If two hymns in the same collection have equal numbers of stanzas then they are arranged so that the number of syllables in the metre are in descending order. The second to seventh mandalas have a uniform format. The eighth and ninth mandalas, comprising hymns of mixed age, account for 15% and 9%, respectively. The ninth mandala

381-402: A collection of compositions by many authors. The first mandala is the largest, with 191 hymns and 2006 verses, and it was added to the text after Books 2 through 9. The last, or the 10th Book, also has 191 hymns but 1754 verses, making it the second largest. The language analytics suggest the 10th Book, chronologically, was composed and added last. The content of the 10th Book also suggest that

508-556: A complementary relationship between kings and poet-priests but no discussion of a relative status of social classes. Women in the Rigveda appear disproportionately as speakers in dialogue hymns, both as mythical or divine Indrani , Apsaras Urvasi , or Yami , as well as Apāla Ātreyī (RV 8.91), Godhā (RV 10.134.6), Ghoṣā Kākṣīvatī (RV 10.39.40), Romaśā (RV 1.126.7), Lopāmudrā (RV 1.179.1–2), Viśvavārā Ātreyī (RV 5.28), Śacī Paulomī (RV 10.159), Śaśvatī Āṅgirasī (RV 8.1.34). The women of

635-496: A few verses. The following information is known about the shakhas other than Śākala and Bāṣkala: The Rigveda hymns were composed and preserved by oral tradition . They were memorized and verbally transmitted with "unparalleled fidelity" across generations for many centuries. According to Barbara West, it was probably first written down about the 3rd-century BCE. The manuscripts were made from birch bark or palm leaves , which decompose and therefore were routinely copied over

762-429: A herculean task of establishing his reach and form, then with his first step covers the earth, with second the ether, and the third entire heaven. विष्णोर्नु कं वीर्याणि प्र वोचं यः पार्थिवानि विममे रजांसि । यो अस्कभायदुत्तरं सधस्थं विचक्रमाणस्त्रेधोरुगायः ॥१॥… viṣṇōrnu kaṃ vīryāṇi pra vōcaṃ yaḥ pārthivāni vimamē rajāṃsi | yō askabhāyaduttaraṃ sadhasthaṃ vicakramāṇastrēdhōrugāyaḥ ||1|| I will now proclaim

889-634: A millennium by oral tradition alone. In order to achieve this the oral tradition prescribed very structured enunciation, involving breaking down the Sanskrit compounds into stems and inflections, as well as certain permutations. This interplay with sounds gave rise to a scholarly tradition of morphology and phonetics . It is unclear as to when the Rigveda was first written down. The oldest surviving manuscripts have been discovered in Nepal and date to c.  1040 CE . According to Witzel,

1016-582: A mystery. Samsara is represented as the 'play' of God even though God in the Samhita's representation is the perfect one with no desire to play. The beginning and the end of the play is effected through Sudarshana, who in the Ahirbudhanya Samhita is the will of the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God. The Sudarshana manifests in 5 main ways to wit the 5 Shaktis, which are creation, preservation, destruction, obstruction, and obscuration; to free

1143-400: A possibly lost Central Asian language. The linguistic sharing provides clear indications, states Michael Witzel, that the people who spoke Rigvedic Sanskrit already knew and interacted with Munda and Dravidian speakers. The "family books" (2–7) are associated with various clans and chieftains, containing hymns by members of the same clan in each book; but other clans are also represented in

1270-588: A special form of Vishnu. Each of these special forms is given a special name in texts such as the Agni Purana and the Padma Purana . These texts, however, are inconsistent. Rarely, Vishnu is depicted bearing the bow Sharanga or the sword Nandaka . He is depicted with the Kaustubha gem in a necklace and wearing Vaijayanti , a garland of forest flowers. The shrivatsa mark is depicted on his chest in

1397-572: A total of 1025 regular hymns for this śākhā. In addition, the Bāṣkala recension has its own appendix of 98 hymns, the Khilani . In the 1877 edition of Aufrecht, the 1028 hymns of the Rigveda contain a total of 10,552 ṛc s, or 39,831 padas. The Shatapatha Brahmana gives the number of syllables to be 432,000, while the metrical text of van Nooten and Holland (1994) has a total of 395,563 syllables (or an average of 9.93 syllables per pada); counting

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1524-528: A well-dressed jewelled man. He is typically shown with four arms, but two-armed representations are also found in Hindu texts on artworks. The historic identifiers of his icon include his image holding a conch shell ( shankha named Panchajanya ) between the first two fingers of one hand (left back), a war discus ( chakra named Sudarshana ) in another (right back). The conch shell is spiral and symbolizes all of interconnected spiraling cyclic existence, while

1651-512: A wider approximation of c. 1900–1200 BCE has also been given. The text is layered, consisting of the Samhita , Brahmanas , Aranyakas and Upanishads . The Rigveda Samhita is the core text and is a collection of 10 books ( maṇḍala s) with 1,028 hymns ( sūkta s) in about 10,600 verses (called ṛc , eponymous of the name Rigveda ). In the eight books – Books 2 through 9 – that were composed

1778-454: Is Vishnu is the all. Vishnu is described to be permeating all object and life forms, states S. Giora Shoham, where he is "ever-present within all things as the intrinsic principle of all", and the eternal, transcendental self in every being. The Vedic literature, including its Brahmanas layer, while praising Vishnu do not subjugate others gods and goddesses. They present an inclusive pluralistic henotheism . According to Max Muller , "Although

1905-560: Is a Hindu Vaishnava text belonging to the Pancharatra tradition. It is a Tantrika composition, composed possibly over several centuries within the 1st millennium CE, most probably at 200 CE. Ahirbudhnya Saṃhita literally means a compendium ( samhita ) of the serpent-from-the-depths (from ahi for serpent and budhna for bottom/root). In the Ahirbudhnya Samhita , Vishnu emanated in 39 different forms. The Samhita

2032-488: Is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns ( sūktas ). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts ( śruti ) known as the Vedas . Only one Shakha of the many survive today, namely the Śakalya Shakha. Much of the contents contained in the remaining Shakhas are now lost or are not available in the public forum. The Rigveda is the oldest known Vedic Sanskrit text. Its early layers are among

2159-402: Is characteristic for its concept of Sudarshana. It provides mantras for Sudarshana, and details the method of worship of the multi-armed Sudarshana. Its chapters include explanations on the origin of astras (weapons), anga (mantras), Vyuhas , sounds, and diseases, how to make Sudarshana Purusha appear, how to resist divine weapons and black magic, and provides method for making and worshipping

2286-470: Is circular hole. The word Sudarshana is derived from two Sanskrit words – Su ( सु ) meaning "good/auspicious" and Darshana ( दर्शन ) meaning "vision". In the Monier-Williams dictionary the word Chakra is derived from the root क्रम् ( kram ) or ऋत् ( rt ) or क्रि ( kri ) and refers among many meanings, to the wheel of a carriage , wheel of the sun's chariot or metaphorically to

2413-512: Is comparatively slight. There is also a certain amount of material peculiar to each of them. The Kaushitaka is, upon the whole, far more concise in its style and more systematic in its arrangement features which would lead one to infer that it is probably the more modern work of the two. It consists of 30 chapters ( adhyaya ); while the Aitareya has 40, divided into eight books (or pentads, pancaka ), of five chapters each. The last 10 adhyayas of

2540-627: Is considered the god of destruction and is rarely found. The Chakraperumal shrine inside the Simhachalam Temple is home to the rare 16-armed form. The one with 8 arms is benevolent and is the form generally found in Vishnu's temples. Chakraperumal was deified an avatar of Vishnu himself, with the Ahirbudhnya Samhita identifying the Chakra-Purusha with Vishnu himself, stating Chakrarupi svayam Harih . The Simhachalam Temple follows

2667-470: Is entirely dedicated to Soma and the Soma ritual . The hymns in the ninth mandala are arranged by both their prosody structure ( chanda ) and by their length. The first and the tenth mandalas are the youngest; they are also the longest books, of 191 suktas each, accounting for 37% of the text. Nevertheless, some of the hymns in mandalas 8, 1 and 10 may still belong to an earlier period and may be as old as

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2794-463: Is equivalent and produce the sun, with the verses asserting that this sun is the source of all energy and light for all. In other hymns of the Rigveda, Vishnu is a close friend of Indra. Elsewhere in Rigveda, Atharvaveda and Upanishadic texts, Vishnu is equivalent to Prajapati, both are described as the protector and preparer of the womb, and according to Klaus Klostermaier, this may be the root behind

2921-728: Is freedom and life. The Shatapatha Brahmana elaborates this theme of Vishnu, as his herculean effort and sacrifice to create and gain powers that help others, one who realizes and defeats the evil symbolized by the Asuras after they had usurped the three worlds, and thus Vishnu is the saviour of the mortals and the immortals ( Devas ). To what is One Seven germs unripened yet are heaven's prolific seed: their functions they maintain by Vishnu's ordinance. Endued with wisdom through intelligence and thought, they compass us about present on every side. What thing I truly am I know not clearly: mysterious, fettered in my mind I wonder. When

3048-576: Is isolated in pausa form and is used for just one way of memorization; and the Samhitapatha , which combines words according to the rules of sandhi (the process being described in the Pratisakhya ) and is the memorized text used for recitation. The Padapatha and the Pratisakhya anchor the text's true meaning, and the fixed text was preserved with unparalleled fidelity for more than

3175-535: Is offered while due murti mantras are chanted, along with the Vishnu Sukta and Purusha Sukta. Then he is taken on a palanquin around the temple with the remaining food offered to the guardian spirits of the temple. Other temples with shrines to Sudarshana Chakra are Veeraraghava Swamy Temple , Thiruevvul; Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangapatna ; Thirumohoor Kalamegaperumal temple , Madurai ; and Varadharaja Perumal Temple , Kanchipuram . The Sudarshana homam

3302-528: Is one gold coin in which Vishnu is depicted as the Chakra-purusha. Though Chandragupta II issued coins with the epithet vikrama , due to the presence of the kalpavriksha on the reverse it has not been possible to ascribe it to him. The anthropomorphic form of Sudarshana can be traced from discoid weapons of ancient India to his esoteric multi-armed images in the medieval period in which the Chakra served

3429-515: Is one of the principal deities of Hinduism . He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism , one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism . Vishnu is known as The Preserver within the Trimurti , the triple deity of supreme divinity that includes Brahma and Shiva . In Vaishnavism, Vishnu is the supreme Lord who creates, protects, and transforms the universe . Tridevi

3556-449: Is organized in ten "books", or maṇḍalas ("circles"), of varying age and length. The "family books", mandalas 2–7, are the oldest part of the Rigveda and the shortest books; they are arranged by length (decreasing length of hymns per book) and account for 38% of the text. The hymns are arranged in collections each dealing with a particular deity: Agni comes first, Indra comes second, and so on. They are attributed and dedicated to

3683-493: Is performed by invoking Sudarshana along with his consort Vijayavalli into the sacrificial fire. This homam is very popular in South India . Rigveda Divisions Sama vedic Yajur vedic Atharva vedic Vaishnava puranas Shaiva puranas Shakta puranas The Rigveda or Rig Veda ( Sanskrit : ऋग्वेद , IAST : ṛgveda , from ऋच् , "praise" and वेद , "knowledge")

3810-515: Is stated to be the energy and creative power ( Shakti ) of each, with Lakshmi being the equal complementary partner of Vishnu. He is one of the five equivalent deities in Panchayatana puja of the Smarta tradition of Hinduism. According to Vaishnavism, the supreme being is with qualities ( Saguna ), and has definite form, but is limitless, transcendent and unchanging absolute Brahman , and

3937-441: Is the bond to the wide-striding one: the wellspring of honey in the highest step of Viṣṇu. आहं पितॄन्सुविदत्राँ अवित्सि नपातं च विक्रमणं च विष्णोः । बर्हिषदो ये स्वधया सुतस्य भजन्त पित्वस्त इहागमिष्ठाः ॥३॥ ऋग्वेद १०-१५-३ 3. I have found here the forefathers good to find and the grandson and the wide stride of Viṣṇu. Those who, sitting on the ritual grass, share in the pressed soma and the food at (the cry of) "svadhā", they are

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4064-522: Is the creator and upholder of the universe supporting all existence. Begley notes the evolution of the anthropomorphic iconography of Sudarshana, beginning from early expansion of the Bhagavata sect thus: "In contrast to the relatively simple religious function of the Cakra-Purusa, the iconographic role of the medieval Sudarsana-Purusa of South India was exceedingly complex. The medieval Sudarsana

4191-635: Is the primary focus of the Vaishnavism-focused Puranas genre of Hindu texts . Of these, according to Ludo Rocher , the most important texts are the Bhagavata Purana , Vishnu Purana , Nāradeya Purana , Garuda Purana and Vayu Purana . The Purana texts include many versions of cosmologies, mythologies, encyclopedic entries about various aspects of life, and chapters that were medieval era regional Vishnu temples-related tourist guides called mahatmyas . One version of

4318-402: Is uncertain. The surviving padapāṭha version of the Rigveda text is ascribed to Śākalya. The Śākala recension has 1,017 regular hymns, and an appendix of 11 vālakhilya hymns which are now customarily included in the 8th mandala (as 8.49–8.59), for a total of 1028 hymns. The Bāṣkala recension includes eight of these vālakhilya hymns among its regular hymns, making

4445-527: The ṛc s. The codification of the Rigveda took place late in the Rigvedic or rather in the early post-Rigvedic period at c.  1200 BCE , by members of the early Kuru tribe, when the center of Vedic culture moved east from the Punjab into what is now Uttar Pradesh . The Rigveda was codified by compiling the hymns, including the arrangement of the individual hymns in ten books, coeval with

4572-576: The Bhagavata tradition in the Puranas, a religious condition traceable to the Gupta period, which also led to the chakravartin concept. The concept of universal sovereignty possibly facilitated the syncretism of Krishna and Vishnu and reciprocally reinforced their military power and heroic exploits; with the kshatriya hero, Krishna preserving order in the phenomenal world while the composite Vishnu

4699-658: The Garuda Purana Saroddhara ) . Perumal ( Tamil : பெருமாள் )—also known as Thirumal (Tamil: திருமால் ), or Mayon (as described in the Tamil scriptures)— was accepted as a manifestation of Vishnu during the process of the syncretism of South Indian deities into mainstream Hinduism. Mayon is indicated to be the deity associated with the mullai tiṇai (pastoral landscape) in the Tolkappiyam . Tamil Sangam literature (200 BCE to 500 CE) mentions Mayon or

4826-731: The Garuda Purana Saroddhara , a commentary or 'extracted essence' written by Navanidhirama about the Garuda Purana (i.e. not the Purana itself, with which it seems to be confused): The Fish , the Tortoise , the Boar , the Man-Lion , the Dwarf , Parasurama , Rama , Krisna , Buddha , and also Kalki : These ten names should always be meditated upon by the wise. Those who recite them near

4953-518: The Muktika anthology of 108 Upanishads . It is unclear when these texts were composed, and estimates vary from the 1st-century BCE to 17th-century CE for the texts. These Upanishads highlight Vishnu, Narayana , Rama or one of his avatars as the supreme metaphysical reality called Brahman in Hinduism. They discuss a diverse range of topics, from ethics to the methods of worship. Vishnu

5080-563: The Nirukta defines Vishnu as viṣṇur viṣvater vā vyaśnoter vā ('one who enters everywhere'); also adding atha yad viṣito bhavati tad viṣnurbhavati ('that which is free from fetters and bondage is Vishnu'). In the tenth part of the Padma Purana (4-15th century CE), Danta (Son of Bhīma and King of Vidarbha ) lists 108 names of Vishnu (17.98–102). These include the ten primary avatars (see Dashavarara , below ) and descriptions of

5207-466: The Puranas in the table below. However, this is a complicated process, and the lists are unlikely to be exhaustive because: The Dashavatara is a list of the so-called Vibhavas , or '10 [primary] Avatars ' of Vishnu. The Agni Purana , Varaha Purana , Padma Purana , Linga Purana , Narada Purana , Garuda Purana , and Skanda Purana all provide matching lists. The same Vibhavas are also found in

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5334-541: The Rigveda are in different poetic metres in Vedic Sanskrit. The meters most used in the ṛcas are the gayatri (3 verses of 8 syllables), anushtubh (4×8), trishtubh (4×11) and jagati (4×12). The trishtubh meter (40%) and gayatri meter (25%) dominate in the Rigveda . As with the other Vedas, the redacted text has been handed down in several versions, including the Padapatha , in which each word

5461-407: The Rigveda are quite outspoken and appear more sexually confident than men, in the text. Elaborate and aesthetic hymns on wedding suggest rites of passage had developed during the Rigvedic period. There is little evidence of dowry and no evidence of sati in it or related Vedic texts. The Rigvedic hymns mention rice and porridge, in hymns such as 8.83, 8.70, 8.77 and 1.61 in some versions of

5588-470: The Rigveda . The family books are associated with specific regions, and mention prominent Bharata and Pūru kings. Tradition associates a rishi (the composer) with each ṛc (verse) of the Rigveda . Most sūktas are attributed to single composers; for each of them the Rigveda includes a lineage-specific āprī hymn (a special sūkta of rigidly formulaic structure, used for rituals). In all, 10 families of rishis account for more than 95 per cent of

5715-713: The Sapta Sindhu , and the Sarasvati River ). The Adityas , Vasus, Rudras, Sadhyas, Ashvins , Maruts , Rbhus , and the Vishvadevas ("all-gods") as well as the "thirty-three gods" are the groups of deities mentioned. Of the Brahmanas that were handed down in the schools of the Bahvṛcas (i.e. "possessed of many verses"), as the followers of the Rigveda are called, two have come down to us, namely those of

5842-846: The Sharada and Devanagari scripts, written on birch bark and paper. The oldest of the Pune collection is dated to 1464 CE. The 30 manuscripts of Rigveda preserved at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute , Pune were added to UNESCO 's Memory of the World Register in 2007. Of these thirty manuscripts, nine contain the samhita text, five have the padapatha in addition. Thirteen contain Sayana's commentary. At least five manuscripts (MS. no. 1/A1879-80, 1/A1881-82, 331/1883-84 and 5/Viś I) have preserved

5969-546: The Sri Vaishnava denomination of Hinduism, Perumal is venerated in popular tradition as Venkateshwara at Tirupati , and Sri Ranganathaswamy at Srirangam . Vishnu is a Rigvedic deity , but not a prominent one when compared to Indra , Agni and others. Just 5 out of 1028 hymns of the Rigveda are dedicated to Vishnu, although he is mentioned in other hymns. Vishnu is mentioned in the Brahmana layer of text in

6096-698: The Trivikrama , which is one of the lasting mythologies in Hinduism since the Vedic times. It is an inspiration for ancient artwork in numerous Hindu temples such as at the Ellora Caves , which depict the Trivikrama legend through the Vamana avatar of Vishnu. Trivikrama refers to the celebrated three steps or "three strides" of Vishnu. Starting as a small insignificant looking being, Vishnu undertakes

6223-468: The early Iranian Avesta , deriving from the Proto-Indo-Iranian times, often associated with the early Andronovo culture of c.  2000 BCE . The Rigveda offers no direct evidence of social or political systems in the Vedic era, whether ordinary or elite. Only hints such as cattle raising and horse racing are discernible, and the text offers very general ideas about

6350-427: The wheel of time . In Tamil , the Sudarshana Chakra is also known as Chakratalvar (disc-ruler). The Rigveda mentions the Sudarshana Chakra as a symbol of Vishnu, and as the wheel of time. The Mahabharata features the divine discus as a weapon of Krishna , identified with Vishnu. The deity beheads Shishupala with the Sudarshana Chakra at the rajasuya yajna of Emperor Yudhishthira . He also employs it during

6477-707: The "dark one" and as the Supreme deity who creates, sustains, and destroys the universe and was worshipped in the plains and mountains of Tamilakam . The verses of Paripadal describe the glory of Perumal in the most poetic of terms. Many Poems of the Paripadal consider Perumal as the Supreme god of Tamils . He is a popular Hindu deity among Tamilians in Tamil Nadu , as well among the Tamil diaspora . Revered by

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6604-675: The 13th century onwards and increasing in large numbers only after the 15th century. The Chakra Purusha in Pancharatra texts has either four, six, eight, sixteen, or thirty-two hands, with double-sided images of multi-armed Sudarshana on one side and Narasimha on other side (called Sudarshana-Narasimha in Pancharatra) within a circular rim, sometimes in dancing posture found in Gaya area datable to 6th and 8th centuries. Unique images of Chakra Purusha, one with Varaha in Rajgir possibly dating to

6731-516: The 7th century, and another from Aphsad (Bihar) detailing a fine personification dating to 672 CE have been found. While the chakra is ancient, with the emergence of the anthropomorphic forms of chakra and shankha traceable in the north and east of India as the Chakra-Purusha and Shanka-Purusha ; in the south of India, the Nayak period popularized the personified images of Sudarshana with

6858-579: The Aitareyins and the Kaushitakins. The Aitareya-brahmana and the Kaushitaki- (or Sankhayana- ) brahmana evidently have for their groundwork the same stock of traditional exegetic matter. They differ, however, considerably as regards both the arrangement of this matter and their stylistic handling of it, with the exception of the numerous legends common to both, in which the discrepancy

6985-568: The Brahmanas are referred to as the "Rigveda Brahmanas" (etc.). Technically speaking, however, "the Rigveda" refers to the entire body of texts transmitted along with the Samhita portion. Different bodies of commentary were transmitted in the different shakhas or "schools". Only a small portion of these texts has been preserved: The texts of only two out of five shakhas mentioned by the Rigveda Pratishakhya have survived. The late (15th or 16th century) Shri Guru Charitra even claims

7112-614: The Kaushitaki-brahmana) of Shunahshepa , whom his father Ajigarta sells and offers to slay, the recital of which formed part of the inauguration of kings. While the Aitareya deals almost exclusively with the Soma sacrifice, the Kaushitaka, in its first six chapters, treats of the several kinds of haviryajna , or offerings of rice, milk, ghee, etc., whereupon follows the Soma sacrifice in this way, that chapters 7–10 contain

7239-573: The Paippalada Samhita tradition points to written manuscripts c.  800 –1000 CE. The Upanishads were likely in the written form earlier, about mid-1st millennium CE ( Gupta Empire period). Attempts to write the Vedas may have been made "towards the end of the 1st millennium BCE". The early attempts may have been unsuccessful given the Smriti rules that forbade the writing down

7366-650: The Rig Veda was composed on the banks of a river in Haraxvaiti province in southern Afghanistan ( Persian : Harahvati; Sanskrit : Sarasvati; possibly the Helmand or Arghandab ). Other evidence also points to a composition date close to 1400 BCE. The earliest texts were composed in the northwestern regions of the Indian subcontinent, and the more philosophical later texts were most likely composed in or around

7493-421: The Sudarshan chakra as prana, Maya, kriya, shakti, bhava, unmera, udyama and saṃkalpa. In the Ahirbudhanya Samhita of the Pancharatra , on bondage and liberation, the soul is represented as belonging to bhuti-shakti (made of 2 parts, viz., time ( bhuti ) and shakti ( maya ) which passes through rebirths until it is reborn in its own natural form which is liberated; with the reason and object of samsara remaining

7620-450: The Sudarshana Yantra. The Ahirbudhnya Samhita is the source of Taraka Mantra, Narasimhanustubha Mantra, three occult alphabets, Sashtitantra and select astra mantras. It also mentions the Purusha Sukta . The four Vyuhas in this samhita are Vasudeva , Samkarshana , Pradyumna and Aniruddha . The Puranas also state the Sudarshana Chakra was made by Vishvakarma , featuring a legend regarding its origin: Vishvakarma's daughter, Sanjña ,

7747-407: The Vedas, states Witzel. The oral tradition continued as a means of transmission until modern times. Several shakhas (from skt. śākhā f. "branch", i. e. "recension") of the Rig Veda are known to have existed in the past. Of these, Śākala Śākhā (named after the scholar Śākalya ) is the only one to have survived in its entirety. Another śākhā that may have survived is the Bāṣkala, although this

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7874-519: The Vedas, thereafter his profile rises and over the history of Indian scriptures, states Jan Gonda , Vishnu becomes a divinity of the highest rank, one equivalent to the Supreme Being. Though a minor mention and with overlapping attributes in the Vedas, he has important characteristics in various hymns of the Rig Veda, such as 1.154.5, 1.56.3 and 10.15.3. In these hymns, the Vedic scriptures assert that Vishnu resides in that highest home where departed Atman (Self) reside, an assertion that may have been

8001-427: The Vedic texts, the deity or god referred to as Vishnu is Surya or Savitr (Sun god), who also bears the name Suryanarayana . Again, this link to Surya is a characteristic Vishnu shares with fellow Vedic deities named Mitra and Agni, wherein in different hymns, they too "bring men together" and cause all living beings to rise up and impel them to go about their daily activities. In hymn 7.99 of Rigveda, Indra-Vishnu

8128-404: The ancient Indian society. There is no evidence, state Jamison and Brereton, of any elaborate, pervasive or structured caste system . Social stratification seems embryonic, then and later a social ideal rather than a social reality. The society was semi-nomadic and pastoral with evidence of agriculture since hymns mention plow and celebrate agricultural divinities. There was division of labor and

8255-441: The authors knew and relied on the contents of the first nine books. The Rigveda is the largest of the four Vedas, and many of its verses appear in the other Vedas. Almost all of the 1875 verses found in Samaveda are taken from different parts of the Rigveda , either once or as repetition, and rewritten in a chant song form. Books 8 and 9 of the Rigveda are by far the largest source of verses for Sama Veda. Book 10 contributes

8382-476: The avatar (or incarnation) within Hinduism is most often associated with Vishnu, the preserver or sustainer aspect of God within the Hindu Trimurti . The avatars of Vishnu descend to empower the good and to destroy evil, thereby restoring Dharma and relieving the burden of the Earth. An oft-quoted passage from the Bhagavad Gita describes the typical role of an avatar of Vishnu: Whenever righteousness wanes and unrighteousness increases I send myself forth. For

8509-412: The boon of the Sudarshana Chakra to reward him for his devotion. The Sudarshana Chakra was also used to behead Rahu and cut the celestial Mandara mountain during the Samudra Manthana . The chakra is found in the coins of many tribes with the word gana and the name of the tribe inscribed on them. Early historical evidence of the Sudarshana-Chakra is found in a rare tribal Vrishni silver coin with

8636-419: The chakra are the Taxila coins of the 2nd century BCE with a sixteen-spoked wheel. A coin dated to 180 BCE, with an image of Vasudeva-Krishna, was found in the Greco-Bactrian city of Ai-Khanoum in the Kunduz area of Afghanistan, minted by Agathocles of Bactria . In Nepal, Jaya Cakravartindra Malla of Kathmandu issued a coin with the chakra. Among the only two types of Chakra-vikrama coins known so far, there

8763-459: The complete text of the Rigveda . MS no. 5/1875-76, written on birch bark in bold Sharada, was only in part used by Max Müller for his edition of the Rigveda with Sayana's commentary. Müller used 24 manuscripts then available to him in Europe, while the Pune Edition used over five dozen manuscripts, but the editors of Pune Edition could not procure many manuscripts used by Müller and by the Bombay Edition, as well as from some other sources; hence

8890-418: The composition of the younger Veda Samhitas. According to Witzel, the initial collection took place after the Bharata victory in the Battle of the Ten Kings , under king Sudās , over other Puru kings. This collection was an effort to reconcile various factions in the clans which were united in the Kuru kingdom under a Bharata king. This collection was re-arranged and expanded in the Kuru Kingdom , reflecting

9017-448: The core 'family books' (mandalas 2 – 7 , ordered by author, deity and meter ) and a later redaction, coeval with the redaction of the other Vedas , dating several centuries after the hymns were composed. This redaction also included some additions (contradicting the strict ordering scheme) and orthoepic changes to the Vedic Sanskrit such as the regularization of sandhi (termed orthoepische Diaskeuase by Oldenberg, 1888). The text

9144-681: The cosmology, for example, states that Vishnu's eye is at the Southern Celestial Pole from where he watches the cosmos. In another version found in section 4.80 of the Vayu Purana, he is the Hiranyagarbha , or the golden egg from which were simultaneously born all feminine and masculine beings of the universe. The Vishnu Purana presents Vishnu as the central element of its cosmology, unlike some other Puranas where Shiva or Brahma or goddess Shakti are. The reverence and

9271-565: The development of the anthropomorphic personification of the chakra as the active aspect of Vishnu with few sculptures of the Pala era bearing witness to the development, with the chakra in this manner possibly associated with the Vrishnis . However, the worship of Sudarshana as a quasi-independent deity concentrated with the power of Vishnu in its entirety is a phenomenon of the southern part of India; with idols, texts and inscriptions surfacing from

9398-485: The discus symbolizes him as that which restores dharma with war if necessary when cosmic equilibrium is overwhelmed by evil. One of his arms sometimes carries a club or mace ( gada named Kaumodaki ) which symbolizes authority and power of knowledge. In the fourth arm, he holds a lotus flower ( padma ) which symbolizes purity and transcendence. The items he holds in various hands vary, giving rise to twenty four combinations of iconography, each combination representing

9525-618: The diseased are called relatives. Apparent disagreements concerning the placement of either the Buddha or Balarama in the Dashavarara seems to occur from the Dashavarara list in the Shiva Purana (the only other list with ten avatars including Balarama in the Garuda Purana substitutes Vamana, not Buddha). Regardless, both versions of the Dashavarara have a scriptural basis in the canon of authentic Vedic literature (but not from

9652-474: The disintegration of the Vijayanagara empire , the construction and refurbishing of temples did not cease; with the Nayak period continuing with their architectural enterprises, which Begley and Nilakantha Sastri note "reflected the rulers' awareness of their responsibilities in the preservation and development of all that remained of Hinduism . The worship of Sudarshana Chakra is found in the Vedic and in

9779-618: The earliest example of the South Indian Sudarsana image being a small eight-armed bronze image from the 13th century. Though Chakraperumal or Chakratalvar shrines ( sannidhis ) are found inside Vishnu's temples, there are very few temples dedicated to Chakraperumal alone as the main deity ( moolavar ): The icons of Chakra Perumal are generally built in the Vijayanagar style. There are two forms of Chakraperumal, one with 16 arms and another with 8 arms. The one with 16 arms

9906-550: The earliest, the hymns predominantly discuss cosmology , rites required to earn the favour of the gods , as well as praise them. The more recent books (Books 1 and 10) in part also deal with philosophical or speculative questions, virtues such as dāna (charity) in society, questions about the origin of the universe and the nature of the divine, and other metaphysical issues in their hymns. Some of its verses continue to be recited during Hindu prayer and celebration of rites of passage (such as weddings ), making it probably

10033-510: The early Kuru kingdom. Asko Parpola argues that the Rigveda was systematized around 1000 BCE, at the time of the Kuru kingdom. The Rigveda is far more archaic than any other Indo-Aryan text. For this reason, it was in the center of attention of Western scholarship from the times of Max Müller and Rudolf Roth onwards. The Rigveda records an early stage of Vedic religion . There are strong linguistic and cultural similarities with

10160-473: The eastern and northeastern (Assamese) region of India, with roots in Austroasiatic languages . The others in the list of 300 – such as mleccha and nir  – have Dravidian roots found in the southern region of India, or are of Tibeto-Burman origins. A few non-Indo-European words in the Rigveda  – such as for camel, mustard and donkey – belong to

10287-623: The eighth mandala, for a total of 1028 metrical hymns. The Bāṣakala version of Rigveda includes eight of these vālakhilya hymns among its regular hymns, making a total of 1025 hymns in the main text for this śākhā. The Bāṣakala text also has an appendix of 98 hymns, called the Khilani , bringing the total to 1,123 hymns. The manuscripts of Śākala recension of the Rigveda have about 10,600 verses, organized into ten Books ( Mandalas ). Books 2 through 7 are internally homogeneous in style, while Books 1, 8 and 10 are compilation of verses of internally different styles suggesting that these books are likely

10414-463: The essence in every being and everything in the empirically perceived universe. In this Brahmana, states Klaus Klostermaier, Purusha Narayana (Vishnu) asserts, "all the worlds have I placed within mine own self, and my own self has I placed within all the worlds." The text equates Vishnu to all knowledge there is (Vedas), calling the essence of everything as imperishable, all Vedas and principles of universe as imperishable, and that this imperishable which

10541-457: The establishment of a new Bharata-Puru lineage and new srauta rituals. The fixing of the Vedic chant (by enforcing regular application of sandhi ) and of the padapatha (by dissolving Sandhi out of the earlier metrical text), occurred during the later Brahmana period, in roughly the 6th century BCE. The surviving form of the Rigveda is based on an early Iron Age collection that established

10668-924: The existence of twelve Rigvedic shakhas. The two surviving Rigvedic corpora are those of the Śākala and the Bāṣkala shakhas. The Rigvedic hymns are dedicated to various deities, chief of whom are Indra , a heroic god praised for having slain his enemy Vrtra ; Agni , the sacrificial fire; and Soma , the sacred potion or the plant it is made from. Equally prominent gods are the Adityas or Asura gods Mitra – Varuna and Ushas (the dawn). Also invoked are Savitr , Vishnu , Rudra , Pushan , Brihaspati or Brahmanaspati , as well as deified natural phenomena such as Dyaus Pita (the shining sky, Father Heaven), Prithivi (the earth, Mother Earth), Surya (the sun god), Vayu or Vata (the wind), Apas (the waters), Parjanya (the thunder and rain), Vac (the word), many rivers (notably

10795-417: The first-born of holy Law approached me, then of this speech, I first obtain a portion. (...) They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni, and he is heavenly-winged Garutman. To what is One, sages give many a title. — Rigveda 1.164.36–37, 46 The Shatapatha Brahmana contains ideas which Vaishnavism tradition of Hinduism has long mapped to a pantheistic vision of Vishnu as supreme, he as

10922-590: The flames. In the Kilmavilangai cave is an archaic rock-cut structure in which an image of Vishnu has been hallowed out, holding the Shanka and Chakra, without flames. At this point, the Chakrapurusha with the flames had not been conceived in the south of India. The threat of invasions from the north was a national emergency during which the rulers sought out the Ahirbudhnya Samhita , which prescribes that

11049-475: The form of a curl of hair. He generally wears yellow garments. He wears a crown called the Kiritamukuta . Vishnu iconography shows him either in standing pose, seated in a yoga pose, or reclining. A traditional depiction of Vishnu is as Narayana , showing him reclining on the coils of the serpent Shesha floating over the divine ocean Kshira Sagara , accompanied by his consort Lakshmi , as he "dreams

11176-439: The form of an Avatar (incarnation) to restore the cosmic order and protect dharma . The Dashavatara are the ten primary avatars of Vishnu. Out of these ten, Rama and Krishna are the most important. Vishnu (also spelled Viṣṇu, Sanskrit : विष्णु ) means 'all pervasive' and, according to Medhātith ( c.  1000 CE), 'one who is everything and inside everything'. Vedanga scholar Yaska (4th century BCE) in

11303-468: The forms of a swan [Hamsa], a tortoise [ Kurma ], a fish [ Matsya ], O foremost of regenerate ones, I shall then display myself as a boar [ Varaha ], then as a Man-lion ( Nrisingha ), then as a dwarf [ Vamana ], then as Rama of Bhrigu's race, then as Rama , the son of Dasaratha, then as Krishna the scion of the Sattwata race, and lastly as Kalki . Specified avatars of Vishnu are listed against some of

11430-538: The fourteenth day of the Kurukshetra War to obscure the sun. The Kauravas are deceived, allowing Arjuna to slay Jayadratha , avenging the death of his son . The Ramayana states that the Sudarshana Chakra was created by the divine architect, Vishvakarma . Vishnu slays a danava named Hayagriva on top of a mountain named Chakravana, seizing the discus from him. The Ahirbudhnya Samhita ( Sanskrit : अहिर्बुध्न्यसंहिता , IAST : Ahiburdhnyasaṃhitā )

11557-433: The generations to help preserve the text. There are, for example, 30 manuscripts of Rigveda at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute , collected in the 19th century by Georg Bühler , Franz Kielhorn and others, originating from different parts of India, including Kashmir , Gujarat , the then Rajaputana , Central Provinces etc. They were transferred to Deccan College , Pune , in the late 19th century. They are in

11684-600: The gods are sometimes distinctly invoked as the great and the small, the young and the old (Rig Veda 1:27:13), this is only an attempt to find the most comprehensive expression for the divine powers and nowhere is any of the gods represented as the subordinate to others. It would be easy to find, in the numerous hymns of the Veda, passages in which almost every single god is represented as supreme and absolute." The Vaishnava Upanishads are minor Upanishads of Hinduism , related to Vishnu theology. There are 14 Vaishnava Upanishads in

11811-442: The heroic deeds of Visnu, who has measured out the terrestrial regions, who established the upper abode having, wide-paced, strode out triply… The Vishnu Sukta 1.154 of Rigveda says that the first and second of Vishnu's strides (those encompassing the earth and air) are visible to the mortals and the third is the realm of the immortals. The Trivikrama describing hymns integrate salvific themes, stating Vishnu to symbolize that which

11938-472: The king should resolve the threat by making and worshiping images of Sudarshana. Though similar motives contributed to the installation of images of Sudarshana during the Vijayanagara period , there was a wider distribution of the cult during the Nayak period , with Sudarshana's images set up in temples ranging from small, out-of-the-way temples to large temples of importance. Though political turmoil resulted in

12065-584: The largest number of the 1350 verses of Rigveda found in Atharvaveda , or about one fifth of the 5987 verses in the Atharvaveda text. A bulk of 1875 ritual-focussed verses of Yajurveda , in its numerous versions, also borrow and build upon the foundation of verses in Rigveda . Altogether the Rigveda consists of: In western usage, "Rigveda" usually refers to the Rigveda Samhita, while

12192-586: The latter encompassing the Bhagavad Gita ), and Rama (most notably in the Ramayana ). Krishna in particular is venerated in Vaishnavism as the ultimate, primeval, transcendental source of all existence, including all the other demigods and gods, such as Vishnu. In the Mahabharata , Vishnu (as Narayana ) states to Narada that He will appear in the following ten incarnations: Appearing in

12319-482: The latter work are, however, clearly a later addition though they must have already formed part of it at the time of Pāṇini (c. 5th century BCE), if, as seems probable, one of his grammatical sutras, regulating the formation of the names of Brahmanas, consisting of 30 and 40 adhyayas, refers to these two works. In this last portion occurs the well-known legend (also found in the Shankhayana-sutra, but not in

12446-705: The legend Vṛishṇi-rājaṅṅya-gaṇasya-trātasya which P. L. Gupta thought was possibly jointly issued by the gana (tribal confederation) after the Vrishnis formed a confederation with the Rajanya tribe. However, there is no conclusive proof so far. Discovered by Cunningham, and currently placed in the British Museum, the silver coin is witness to the political existence of the Vrishnis. It is dated to around 1st century BCE. Vrishni copper coins dated to later time were found in Punjab. Another example of coins inscribed with

12573-563: The material in the family books. The first mandala has a unique arrangement not found in the other nine mandalas. The first 84 hymns of the tenth mandala have a structure different from the remaining hymns in it. Each mandala consists of hymns or sūkta s ( su- + ukta , literally, "well recited, eulogy ") intended for various rituals . The sūkta s in turn consist of individual stanzas called ṛc ("praise", pl. ṛcas ), which are further analysed into units of verse called pada (" foot " or step). The hymns of

12700-490: The most welcome arrivals here. In the Vedic hymns, Vishnu is invoked alongside other deities, especially Indra, whom he helps kill the symbol of evil named Vritra . His distinguishing characteristic in the Vedas is his association with light. Two Rigvedic hymns in Mandala 7 refer to Vishnu. In section 7.99 of the Rigveda, Vishnu is addressed as the god who separates heaven and earth, a characteristic he shares with Indra. In

12827-539: The names of gods and goddesses found in the Rigveda are found amongst other belief systems based on Proto-Indo-European religion , while most of the words used share common roots with words from other Indo-European languages . However, about 300 words in the Rigveda are neither Indo-Aryan nor Indo-European, states the Sanskrit and Vedic literature scholar Frits Staal . Of these 300, many – such as kapardin , kumara , kumari , kikata  – come from Munda or proto-Munda languages found in

12954-505: The number of syllables is not straightforward because of issues with sandhi and the post-Rigvedic pronunciation of syllables like súvar as svàr. Three other shakhas are mentioned in Caraṇavyuha , a pariśiṣṭa (supplement) of Yajurveda: Māṇḍukāyana, Aśvalāyana and Śaṅkhāyana . The Atharvaveda lists two more shakhas. The differences between all these shakhas are very minor, limited to varying order of content and inclusion (or non-inclusion) of

13081-457: The oldest extant texts in any Indo-European language . The sounds and texts of the Rigveda have been orally transmitted since the 2nd millennium BCE. Philological and linguistic evidence indicates that the bulk of the Rigveda Samhita was composed in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent (see Rigvedic rivers ), most likely between c. 1500 and 1000 BCE, although

13208-735: The opinion of the sage Kaushitaki is frequently referred to in it as authoritative, and generally in opposition to the Paingya—the Brahmana, it would seem, of a rival school, the Paingins. Probably, therefore, it is just what one of the manuscripts calls it—the Brahmana of Sankhayana (composed) in accordance with the views of Kaushitaki. Vishnu Vishnu ( / ˈ v ɪ ʃ n uː / ; Sanskrit : विष्णु , lit.   'All Pervasive', IAST : Viṣṇu , pronounced [ʋɪʂɳʊ] ), also known as Narayana and Hari ,

13335-605: The post-Vedic fusion of all the attributes of the Vedic Prajapati unto the avatars of Vishnu. In the Yajurveda , Taittiriya Aranyaka (10.13.1), " Narayana sukta ", Narayana is mentioned as the supreme being. The first verse of "Narayana Suktam" mentions the words paramam padam , which literally mean 'highest post' and may be understood as the 'supreme abode for all Selfs'. This is also known as Param Dhama , Paramapadam , or Vaikuntha . Rigveda 1.22.20 also mentions

13462-439: The practical ceremonial and 11–30 the recitations ( shastra ) of the hotar. Sayana, in the introduction to his commentary on the work, ascribes the Aitareya to the sage Mahidasa Aitareya (i.e. son of Itara), also mentioned elsewhere as a philosopher; and it seems likely enough that this person arranged the Brahmana and founded the school of the Aitareyins. Regarding the authorship of the sister work we have no information, except that

13589-424: The primal Atman (Self) of the universe. There are many both benevolent and fearsome depictions of Vishnu. In benevolent aspects, he is depicted as an omniscient being sleeping on the coils of the serpent Shesha (who represents time) floating in the primeval ocean of milk called Kshira Sagara with his consort, Lakshmi. Whenever the world is threatened with evil, chaos, and destructive forces, Vishnu descends in

13716-564: The protection of the good and for the destruction of evil, and for the establishment of righteousness, I come into being age after age. Vedic literature, in particular the Puranas (ancient; similar to encyclopedias ) and Itihasa (chronicle, history, legend), narrate numerous avatars of Vishnu. The most well-known of these avatars are Krishna (most notably in the Vishnu Purana , Bhagavata Purana , and Mahabharata ;

13843-523: The qualities, attributes, or aspects of God. The Garuda Purana (chapter XV) and the " Anushasana Parva " of the Mahabharata both list over 1000 names for Vishnu, each name describing a quality, attribute, or aspect of God. Known as the Vishnu Sahasranama , Vishnu here is defined as 'the omnipresent'. Other notable names in this list include : Vishnu iconography shows him with dark blue, blue-grey or black coloured skin, and as

13970-402: The reason for his increasing emphasis and popularity in Hindu soteriology . He is also described in the Vedic literature as the one who supports heaven and earth. तदस्य प्रियमभि पाथो अश्यां नरो यत्र देवयवो मदन्ति । उरुक्रमस्य स हि बन्धुरित्था विष्णोः पदे परमे मध्व उत्सः ॥५॥ ऋग्वेद १-१५४-५ 5. Might I reach that dear cattle-pen of his, where men seeking the gods find elation, for exactly that

14097-443: The region that is the modern era state of Haryana . The Rigveda ' s core is accepted to date to the late Bronze Age , making it one of the few examples with an unbroken tradition. Its composition is usually dated to roughly between c.  1500 and 1000 BCE. According to Michael Witzel , the codification of the Rigveda took place at the end of the Rigvedic period between c.  1200 and 1000 BCE, in

14224-405: The ritual of Baliharana or purification ceremony. Sudarshana or Chakraperumal is the bali bera (icon that accepts sacrifices, as a representative of the chief deity) of Narasimha , where he stands with 16 arms holding emblems of Vishnu with a circular background halo. In Baliharana , Chakraperumal is taken to a yajnasala where a yajna (sacrifice) is performed, wherein cooked rice with ghee

14351-473: The same paramam padam . In the Atharvaveda , the mythology of a boar who raises goddess earth from the depths of cosmic ocean appears, but without the word Vishnu or his alternate avatar names. In post-Vedic mythology, this legend becomes one of the basis of many cosmogonic myth called the Varaha legend, with Varaha as an avatar of Vishnu. Several hymns of the Rigveda repeat the mighty deed of Vishnu called

14478-581: The second half of the second millennium BCE. Being composed in an early Indo-Aryan language, the hymns must post-date the Indo-Iranian separation, dated to roughly 2000 BCE. A reasonable date close to that of the composition of the core of the Rigveda is that of the Mitanni documents of northern Syria and Iraq ( c.  1450 –1350 BCE), which also mention the Vedic gods such as Varuna, Mitra and Indra. Some scholars have suggested that

14605-516: The self-immolation of Sati in the Daksha yajna, a grieving Shiva carried around her lifeless body, and was inconsolable. To liberate him from his anguish, Vishnu employed Sudarshana Chakra to cut the corpse of Sati into fifty-one pieces. The fifty-one parts of the goddess' body are believed to have scattered across the earth, venerated as the Shakti Pithas . Vishnu granted King Ambarisha

14732-418: The soul from taints and fetters which produce vasanas causing new births; so as to make the soul return to her natural form and condition which she shares with the supreme lord, namely, omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence. According to the Ahirbudhanya Samhita , "Vishnu, in the form of Chakra, was held as the ideal of worship for kings desirous of obtaining universal sovereignty", a concept associated with

14859-499: The story of Kushadhvaja , a king of the Janakas, who felt possessed by the devil causing him various ills, due to a sin from his past life in killing a righteous king. His guru advises him to build the temple, following which he performs propitiatory rites for 10 days upon which he is cured. However, the multi-armed Sudarsana as a horrific figure with numerous weapons standing on a flaming wheel comes from southern Indian iconography with

14986-417: The supreme deity (Vishnu) as his faithful attendants. While the two-armed Chakra-Purusha was humanistic, the medieval multi-armed Sudarshana (known as Chakraperumal or Chakrathalvar) was speculatively regarded as an impersonal manifestation of destructive forces in the universe; that, in its final aspect, combined the flaming weapon and the wheel of time which destroys the universe . The rise of Tantrism aided

15113-513: The tantric cults. In the Garuda purana , the chakra was also invoked in tantric rites. The tantric cult of Sudarshana was to empower the king to defeat his enemies in the shortest time possible. Sudarshana's hair, depicted as tongues of flames flaring high forming a nimbus, bordering the rim of the discus and surrounding the deity in a circle of rays (Prabha-mandala) are a depiction of the deity's destructive energy. Various Pancharatra texts describe

15240-406: The text; however, there is no discussion of rice cultivation. The term áyas (metal) occurs in the Rigveda , but it is unclear which metal it was. Iron is not mentioned in Rigveda , something scholars have used to help date Rigveda to have been composed before 1000 BCE. Hymn 5.63 mentions "metal cloaked in gold", suggesting that metalworking had progressed in the Vedic culture. Some of

15367-455: The total number of extant manuscripts known then must surpass perhaps eighty at least. Rigveda manuscripts in paper, palm leaves and birch bark form, either in full or in portions, have been discovered in the following Indic scripts: The various Rigveda manuscripts discovered so far show some differences. Broadly, the most studied Śākala recension has 1017 hymns, includes an appendix of eleven valakhīlya hymns which are often counted with

15494-536: The universe into reality." His abode is described as Vaikuntha and his mount ( vahana ) is the bird king Garuda . Vishnu was associated with the sun because he used to be "a minor solar deity but rose in importance in the following centuries." Particularly in Vaishnavism , the Trimurti (also known as the Hindu Triad or Great Trinity ) represents the three fundamental forces ( guṇas ) through which

15621-481: The universe is created, maintained, and destroyed in cyclic succession . Each of these forces is represented by a Hindu deity: The trimurti themselves are beyond three gunas and are not affected by it. In Hindu tradition, the trio is often referred to as Brahma-Vishnu-Mahesh . All have the same meaning of three in one; different forms or manifestations of One person the Supreme Being . The concept of

15748-405: The world's oldest religious text in continued use. According to Jamison and Brereton, in their 2014 translation of the Rigveda , the dating of this text "has been and is likely to remain a matter of contention and reconsideration". The dating proposals so far are all inferred from the style and the content within the hymns themselves. Philological estimates tend to date the bulk of the text to

15875-478: The worship of Vishnu is described in 22 chapters of the first part of Vishnu Purana, along with the profuse use of the synonymous names of Vishnu such as Hari, Janardana, Madhava, Achyuta, Hrishikesha and others. The Vishnu Purana also discusses the Hindu concept of supreme reality called Brahman in the context of the Upanishads ; a discussion that the theistic Vedanta scholar Ramanuja interprets to be about

16002-417: Was conceived as a terrifying deity of destruction, for whose worship special tantric rituals were devised. The iconographic conception of Sudarsana as an esoteric agent of destruction constitutes a reassertion of the original militaristic connotation of the cakra". An early scriptural reference in obtaining the 'grace of Sudarshana' through building a temple for him can be found in the Ahirbudhanya Samhita , in

16129-498: Was married to the sun god, Surya . However, due to her consort's blazing light and heat, she could not approach him. When she informed her father regarding this, Vishvakarma diminished the brilliance of the sun so that his daughter could be with him. From the splendour of the sun, Vishvakarma produced three divine objects: the aerial vehicle Pushpaka Vimana , the Trishula of Shiva , and the Sudarshana Chakra of Vishnu . Following

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