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The worship of Kārtavīrya-Arjuna: On the deification of a royal personage in India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

Gaya-Charan Tripathi
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Extract

Of the ten incarnations of Viṣṇu which he is believed in classical Hinduism to have undergone for the welfare of the human beings on earth, the sixth is that of Paraśurāma, a Brahmanic hero whose characteristic feature was the axe (paraśu) with which he is reported to have slain innumerable Kṣatriya warriors in 21 combats. We may perhaps recall here the most important events of the legend as it occurs in the Mahābhārata (III.116, XII.49.27–60, cf. also XIII.153) and in the Purāṇas: Harivaṃśa (I.33), Vāyu (Adhy.94), Matsya (Adhy.43), Viṣṇu (IV.11.9–20), Bhāgavata (IX.15, 16), Mārkaṇḍeya (Adhy.17), Brahmāḍḍa (III.26–47, very extensive!), and Viṣṇudharmottara (I.Adhy.25–7 ff.):

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Articles
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 111 , Issue 1 , January 1979 , pp. 37 - 52
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Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1979

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References

1 cf. the following traditional verse (Varāha-purāṇa 4.2, Matsya-purāṇa 285.6):

matsyaḥ kūrmo varāhaś ca nārasiṃho'tha vāmanaḥ/

rāmo rāmaśca kṛṣṇaś ca buddhaḥ kalkîti te daśa//

For a short description of all these incarnations, see Daniélou, Alain, Hindu polytheism, London, 1963, ch. xiiiGoogle Scholar (“The Avatārs or incarnations of Viṣṇu”), and Kane, P. V., History of Dharmaśāstra, Poona, 1930–1962, II, 717–24;Google Scholar V(2), 992 ff.

2 Pargiter, F. E., The purāṇa text of the dynasties of the Kali age, Oxford, 1913 (repr. Varanasi, 1962), 23, 69,Google Scholar and Ancient Indian historical tradition, London, 1922, 257–68;Google ScholarMajumdar, R. C. and Pusalkar, A. D. (eds.), The Vedic age (The history and culture of the Indian people, I), London, 1951, 278 f., 282 f.;Google ScholarSmith, R. Morton, Dates and dynasties in earliest India, Delhi, 1973, 26, 27, 166, 167.Google Scholar On the basis of archaeological evidence (radio-carbon dating of the material from Navda Toli) Smith comes to the conclusion that Māhiṣmatī, the capital of the Haihayas, was founded c. 1475 B.C. and, examining the Purāṇic geneologies, considers it highly likely that Kārtavīrya-Arjuna lived c. 1370–1310–05 B.C.

3 Majumdar, and Pusalkar, (eds.), The age of imperial Kannauj (The history and culture of the Indian people, IV), Bombay, 1955, 86–93;Google ScholarBhattacharya, S., A dictionary of Indian history, Calcutta 1967, 502Google Scholar (under “Kalacuris”). For the history of Māhiṣmatī, see Pargiter, F. E., JRAS, 1910, 445–6,Google Scholar and Law, B. C., Indological studies, IV, Allahabad, 1962, ch. vii (“Early history of Mahiṣmati”).Google Scholar

4 Pargiter, F. E., The Mārkaṇḍeya purāṇa (Eng. tr.), Bibliotheca Indica, Calcutta, 1904 (repr. Varanasi, 1969), 310 (footnote), 656 (footnote).Google Scholar

5 The wife of Ṛcīka or the mother of Jamadagni was a daughter of Gādhi, the king of Kānyakubja. For details see Bhāgavata-purāṇa IX.15.5–7 and f.

6 Dattātreya has been raised in later Hinduistic tradition to the status of a divinity, a divine guru and preacher whom one worships to acquire supreme knowledge. On the worship of Dattātreya, see Joshi, H. S., Origin and development of Dattātreya worship in India, Baroda, 1965.Google Scholar

7 Sometimes also included in the list of the “ten” incarnations; e.g. Brahma-pur. (Anandaśrama ed.) 180.81 (the 5th incarnation), Bhāgavata-pur. 1.3.11 and II.7.4 (the 4th), VI.8.16 (the 6th); cf. also Śiśupālavadha 14.79, Naiṣadhiyacarita 21.93; said to be a prādurbhāva (a “manifestation” in contrast to an “incarnation”) in Brahma-pur. 213.106, Harivaṃśa 1.41.4, and Devī-Bhāgavata IV.16.8; all references from Joshi, H. S., op. cit., 55.Google Scholar

8 cf. the article on Śivānanda Gosvāmin in the Kunhan Rājā Presentation Volume, 365 f.,Google Scholar quoted by ProfessorRaghavan, in the New Catalogus catalogorum, Madras, 1968 ff., III, 388–9.Google Scholar

9 These three may, however, also be the different titles of one and the same work. This general description of the manuscripts is given on the basis of Raghavan's, New Catalogus, III, 386 ff.Google Scholar

10 avyāt sarvabhayāt prabhākaranibhaḥ pradyotanodyotanaḥ

svarṇasrakparivītakandharadharo raktāṃśukoṣṇiṣavan/

nānākalpavibhūṣitaḥ karasahasrārdhāttbāṇāsano

bāṇāttārdhasahasrabāhur aniśaṃ bhūvallabho naḥ prabhuḥ//

dordaṇḍeṣu sahasrasammitavareṣv eteṣv ajasraṃ lasat

kodaṇḍeṣu śarair udagraviśikhair udyadvivasvatprabhuḥ/

brahmāṇḍaṃ paripūrayaṃs tad akhilaṃ gaṇḍasthalālolita-

prodyatkuṇḍalamaḍḍito vijayate śrīkārtavīryārjunaḥ//

saptadvīpaikanāthaḥ savitṛsamaruciḥ sarvaduṣṭāntako naḥ

pāyād abjāyatākṣo rathavaranilayaḥ sthūlakāyo' tibhīmah/

cāpānteṣus trilokīṃ dhṛtaśaradhanuṣam nisvanais trāsayānah

śrīmāñ chrīkārtavīryaḥ sakalanṛpadhṛtānghryambujaḥ kṣiprakārī//

Śrīkārtavīryastotram, pp. 2–3, 47Google Scholar (śl. 1, 3, 4 of kavaca, and 206, 207 of stotra)

11 cf. the famous Tantric work Śāradātilaka of Lakṣmaṇa Deśika (Kāśi Sans. Ser. 107, Varanasi, 1934, repr. 1963), 17.121:Google Scholar

brahmā bhūmyāsamāsīnaḥ śāntir-bindusamanvitaḥ/

bījaṃ manobhuvaḥ proktaṃ jagattritayamohanam//

(Brahmā = ka; bhūmi, i.e. the bīja of the Element Earth, = la;śānti = ī; bindu = ṃ; together klīṃ, the bīja of manobhū.) The kāmabīja is also used for the worship of Kṛṣṇa in his gopījanavallabha aspect. The Kramadīpikā of Bhaṭṭa, Keśava, a treatise on the worship of Kṛṣṇa (Varanasi, 1917, also Shrinagar, 1929),Google Scholar for example, refers to this mantra in association with Kṛṣṇa in its mangalācaraṇa:

…śriye'stu gopījanavallabho vaḥ//

Here māyā stands for the vowel ī and lava(ka), a fraction or particle, for the nasal sound ṃ. Together with the letters ka and la mentioned in the beginning, the full form of the mantra turns out to be klīṃ; cf. the commentary of Govinda Bhattacārya on this: saṃmohanamantra-rūpaṃ kāmabījam uddharati| kaś ca laś ca kalau tābhyām āttau gṛhītau sabaddhau māyālavakau caturthasvarānusvārau tābhyām āttā svīkṛtā bījarūpā mūrtiḥ….

12 Viṣṇu, with whom Kārtavīrya is identified, is also worshipped with his nine śaktis in a yantra consisting of an eight-petalled lotus. Eight of these śaktis are placed on the eight petals of the lotus and the last one, his special śakti from whom he is never separated, in the centre together with Viṣṇu himself. All of these śaktis are enumerated in the following verse occurring in the Kramadīpikā of Keśava Bhaṭṭa:

vimalôtkarṣiṇī jñānā kriyā yogêti śaktayaḥ/

prahvī satyā tathêśāna'nugrahā navamī smṛtā//

I. 43

The “special” śakti of Viṣṇu is anugrahā, i.e. “the potence or the nature (of Viṣṇu) to do favour or be graceful to his devotees”.

13 A typical example of such formulae is the following text:

oṃ namo bhagavate bho bhoḥ kārtavīryārjuna oṃ phroṃ oṃ mama hṛdaye (udare, nābhau, etc.) duṣṭaṃ dāraya dāraya duritaṃ hana hana pāpaṃ matha matna arogyaṃ kuru kuru haṃ hāṃ huṃ hūṃ phaṭ hana hana dviṣa dviṣa mama sarvārthaṃ sādhaya sāadhaya/

p. 8 ff. of Śrīkārtavīryastotram.

14 In the Benares edition of the kavaca of Kārtavīrya (included in Śrikārtavīryastotram) the ślokas 123 to 144 constitute an independent text piece containing the aṣṭottaraśatanāma (108 names) of Kārtavīrya and the merit of reciting them. This text piece has crept into the kavaca erroneously.

15 uttiṣṭha kiṃ tvaṃ svapiṣi kiṃ tiṣṭhasi cirāyasi/

pāhi naḥ sarvadā sarvabhayebhyaḥ svasu tān iva//

This is the so-called utthānamantra and is to be recited usually at the end.

16 In the group of 27 constellations or lunar mansions (nakṣatras), Bharaṇī (now No. 2 in the serial order) was the last and Kṛttikā (No. 3) the first in older times (before the 6th century A.D.). It is a well-known fact of astronomy that because of the constant movement of the heavenly bodies the years (i.e. the equinoxes and solstices) slowly recede or move backwards on the lunar mansions (approximately 2 1/4 Nakṣatras in 2,000 years). The reason for Kṛttikā being at the head of the constellations in the older series of Nakṣatras (mukhaṃ vai nakṣatrāṇāṃ yat kṛttikā, cf. the lists in Taitt.S. IV.4.10, Mait.S. 1.13.20, and Taitt.Br. 1.5.1, which start with Krttikā) is that from 2350 B.C. onwards the Krttikās (Pleiades) rose exactly in the eastern horizon (cf. Śatapatha Br. II.1.2.3: eta ha vai prācyai diśo na cyavante…) at the time of the autumnal equinox which marked the beginning of the year. The beginning of the year with the month of Mārgaśīrṣa represents a still earlier tradition when the consellation Mṛgaśras (Orion) was in this position. Though Aśvini was placed at the head of the constellations already before Varāhamihira (6th century A.D.) by taking into account the recession of the seasons till then, Kṛttikā is still deemed as first in some astrological calculations, e.g. in finding out the Viṃśottari-daśâ (i.e. the periods of different planets in the life-span of a person). For more details on Nakṣatras see Macdonell, and Keith, , Vedic index of names and subjects, London, 1912, II, s.v.Google Scholar

17 These text pieces have been translated into German and exhaustively commented upon by Meyer, J. J., Trilogie der altindischen Mächte und Feste der Vegetation, Zürich, Leipzig, 1937, II, 1–267;Google Scholar cf. also Kane, P. V., History of Dharmaśāstra, V, Part 1194 ff.Google Scholar

18 Meyer, J. J., Trilogie, II, 53 n. 1, 59, 67.Google Scholar

19 Tripathi, G. C., Der Ursprung und die Entwicklung der Vāmana-Legende in der indischen Literatur, Wiesbaden, 1968 (Freiburger Beiträge zur Indologie 1), 135–9.Google Scholar

20 Meyer, J. J., Trilogie, II, 57, 59.Google Scholar

21 op. cit., II, 70.Google Scholar

22 cf. Nowotny, Fausta, “Das Pūjāvidhinirūpaṇa des Trimalla”, IIJ, I, 1957, 143–4Google Scholar (especially n. 177, where she quotes relevant passages from the Mahānirvāṇatantra); Tripathi, G. C., “The influence of some philosophical systems on the mode of worship of Kṛṣṇa-Jagannātha”, Z. für Religions- und Geistesgesch., XXVII, 1975, 211–12.Google Scholar

23 I owe this suggestion to my esteemed friend and former colleague Śri D. N. Chaturvedi of the University of Udaipur who also took me to Nāgdā on his motorbike in 1969 and showed me around there. I express my sincere thanks to him.

24 Published by Kalyaṇa Mandira, Prayāga (Allahabad), 1965. Another still shorter stotra containing only eleven verses and entitled Paraśurāmāṣṭāviṃśatināmastotram, is included in the Bṛhatstotraratnākara compiled by Miśra, Pt. Śavadatta (Varanasi, 1968), 311–12.Google Scholar

25 cf. Pargiter, F. E., JRAS, 1913, 889.Google Scholar