Sudarshana Chakra
The Sudarshana Chakra (
In the Rigveda, the Sudarshana Chakra is stated to be Vishnu's symbol as the wheel of time.[3] 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.
Etymology
The word Sudarshana is derived from two Sanskrit words – Su (सु) meaning "good/auspicious" and
Literature
Rigveda
The Rigveda mentions the Sudarshana Chakra as a symbol of Vishnu, and as the wheel of time.[7]
Mahabharata
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 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.[citation needed]
Ramayana
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.[citation needed]
Ahirbudhnya Samhita
The
In the Ahirbudhnya Samhita,
Puranas
The
Following the self-immolation of
Vishnu granted King Ambarisha the boon of the Sudarshana Chakra to reward him for his devotion.[13]
The Sudarshana Chakra was also used to behead
Historical representations
The chakra is found in the coins of many tribes with the word gana and the name of the tribe inscribed on them.[14] Early historical evidence of the Sudarshana-Chakra is found in a rare tribal Vrishni silver coin with 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.[15][16] It is dated to around 1st century BCE.[14] Vrishni copper coins dated to later time were found in Punjab. Another example of coins inscribed with the chakra are the Taxila coins of the 2nd century BCE with a sixteen-spoked wheel.[14]
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.[17][18] In Nepal, Jaya Cakravartindra Malla of Kathmandu issued a coin with the chakra.[19]
Among the only two types of Chakra-vikrama coins known so far, there 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.[20][21]
Anthropomorphic form
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 the supreme deity (Vishnu) as his faithful attendants.[22] 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.[22][23]
The rise of Tantrism aided 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,[24] with the chakra in this manner possibly associated with the Vrishnis.[14] 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 the 13th century onwards and increasing in large numbers only after the 15th century.[24]
The Chakra Purusha in Pancharatra texts has either four, six, eight, sixteen, or thirty-two hands,[25] 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.[26] Unique images of Chakra Purusha, one with Varaha in Rajgir possibly dating to the 7th century, [27] and another from Aphsad (Bihar) detailing a fine personification dating to 672 CE have been found.[28][29]
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 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.[30][31] 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 the king should resolve the threat by making and worshiping images of Sudarshana.[23]
Though similar motives induced the
The worship of Sudarshana Chakra is found in the Vedic and in the tantric cults. In the Garuda purana, the chakra was also invoked in tantric rites.[14] The tantric cult of Sudarshana was to empower the king to defeat his enemies in the shortest time possible.[24] 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.[24]
Representation
Philosophy
Various Pancharatra texts describe the Sudarshan chakra as prana, Maya, kriya, shakti, bhava, unmera, udyama and saṃkalpa.[14] 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 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 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.[33]
Weapon
According to the
"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 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".[23]
An early scriptural reference in obtaining the 'grace of Sudarshana' through building a temple for him can be found in the
Worship
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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):
- Sri Sudarshana Bhagavan Temple, Nagamangala
- Chakrapani Temple, Kumbakonam – located on the banks of the Chakra Bathing Ghat of the Kaveririver. Here, the god is Chakra Rājan and his consort is Vijayavalli.
- Thuravur (Alappuzha, Kerala) Narasimha temple is two sanctum temple where Narasimha and Sudarshana are the main deities.[36]
- Jagannath Temple, Puri, where Jagannath (a form of Vishnu-Krishna), Subhadra, Balabhadra and Sudarshana are the main deities.
- Sreevallabha Temple, Thiruvalla where Sudarshana is worshipped with Sreevallabha (Vishnu) in the sanctum
- Narayanathu Kavu Sudarshana Temple, Triprangode, Kerala
- The temple of Chakraperumal in Gingee on the banks of Varahanadi is now defunct[37]
- Thrichakrapuram Temple, Puthenchira, Thrissur, Kerala – is an ancient temple is dedicated to Sudarshana Chakra.[38]
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 is considered the god of destruction and is rarely found. The Chakraperumal shrine inside the
The Simhachalam Temple follows 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,[41] where he stands with 16 arms holding emblems of Vishnu with a circular background halo.[41] In Baliharana, Chakraperumal is taken to a yajnasala where a yajna (sacrifice) is performed offering cooked rice with ghee 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.[41]
Other temples with shrines to Sudarshana Chakra are
The Sudarshana homam is performed by invoking Sudarshana along with his consort Vijayavalli into the sacrificial fire. This homam is very popular in South India.
See also
- Ayudhapurusha
- Ahirbudhnya Samhita
- Panchajanya
- Chakram
- Chakri dynasty of Thailand, named after this weapon.
- Sampo
Further reading
- Vishnu's Flaming Wheel: The Iconography of the Sudarsana-Cakra (New York, 1973) by W. E. Begley
References
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- ^ a b c d e f Wayne Edison Begley. (1973). Viṣṇu's flaming wheel: the iconography of the Sudarśana-cakra, pp. 18, 48, 65–66, 76–77. Volume 27 of Monographs on archaeology and fine arts. New York University Press
- ^ a b c d Saryu Doshi, (1998). Treasures of Indian art: Germany's tribute to India's cultural heritage, p. 68. The National Museum of India.
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- ^ The Orissa Historical Research Journal, Volume 31, p. 90. Superintendent of Research and Museum, Orissa State Museum, 1985.
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- ^ "Kilmavilangai Cave Temple". Retrieved 31 March 2017.
- ^ Wayne Edison Begley (1973). Viṣṇu's flaming wheel: the iconography of the Sudarśana-cakra, p. 77. "attempt+to+resolve" Volume 27 of Monographs on archaeology and fine arts. New York University Press
- ^ a b Otto, Schrader (1916). Introduction to the Pancaratra and the Ahirbudhnya Samhita. pp. 114–115, 135.
- ^ Wayne Edison Begley (1973). Viṣṇu's flaming wheel: the iconography of the Sudarśana-cakra, p. 48. Volume 27 of Monographs on archeology and fine arts. New York University Press
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- ^ "Thuravoor Sree Narasimha Moorthy and Sundarsana Moorthy Temple | Temples in Alappuzha | Kerala Temple Architecture". Temples of Kerala. Retrieved 2021-08-15.
- ^ C.S, Srinivasachari (1943). History Of Gingee And Its Rulers.
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- ^ Jayaraj Manepalli (5 May 2006). "Vijayanagara period statues saved from rusting". The Hindu. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
- ^ Swati Chakraborty, (1986). Socio-religious and cultural study of the ancient Indian coins, p. 102
- ^ a b c Sundaram, K. (1969). The Simhachalam Temple, pp. 42, 115. Published by the Simhachalam Devasthanam.