Basis for divya-mangala-vigraha

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

 

On another list, a question was asked about the Vedic

basis for the description of the divya-mangala-vigraha

(auspicious form) of Lord Vishnu. That is, is there

any vAkya from the Vedas that mentions the sudarsana

chakra, the pAncajanya, the ananta-Sayana pose,

pItAmbara, etc? I know the Purana and Agama are replete

with references to these. The Vishnu Purana particularly

has an entire section (SubhASraya-prakaraNa) dedicated

to an allegorical meditation on these attributes, but

I am not aware of even indirect mention in the Vedas

of these. Are they of Tantric origin?

 

With regards,

Mani

[Guest guest]

This is not a direct answer to Mani's question, but I thought it might be

worth mentioning that for things Vedic, Bloomsfield's Vedic Concordance is

now available in electronic format from:

http://www.dslo.unibo.it/bloomsfeld/bloomsfeldeng.html

 

Regards,

MG

[Guest guest]

Dear Mani,

you wrote,

 

"I am not aware of even indirect mention in the Vedas

> of these. Are they of Tantric origin?"

 

 

This is a very interesting question.

Idol worhip or Divya Mangala Vigrahas has no mention

in Vegdas.

 

The Divya Mangala vigraha and other auspiciousness of

Idol workship are found rather in Pancharatra Agama.

 

It is beleived that Lord out of compassion, gives to

us,

Vedas, Neethi sastraas, Upanishads etc.(refer,

Thirumangai Alwar says 'Kalaigalum, vedamum, Needi

noolum, Karpaum Sor porul thanam etc...'(Periya

thirumozhi, 1-x))

 

Hence Pancaratra Agama, which is believed directly

from the Lord can also be equated to Vedas.

 

This could only be the answer to your question. If

someone says, Pancaratra Agama, is one of such

'Tantric' texts, then I would say, Idol workship has

come out of such 'Tantric' practice.

 

Thanks

Regards

KM Narayanan

 

 

 

 

 

 

Health - your guide to health and wellness

http://health.

[Guest guest]

Dear all,

I think it also depends on the definition of "veda" or "vedic text". If you

accept the KalpasUtras as "vedic texts", then idol-worship is already given

in "the veda": in The VaikhAnasasmArtasUtra idol worship of NArAyaNa is

mentioned, as well as in the BaudhAyanagRhyapariSiSTasUtra.

Best regards

Ute.

[Guest guest]

bhakti-list, "Ute Huesken" <ute.huesken@g...> wrote:

>

> Dear all,

> I think it also depends on the definition of "veda" or "vedic

text". If you

> accept the KalpasUtras as "vedic texts", then idol-worship is

already given

> in "the veda": in The VaikhAnasasmArtasUtra idol worship of

NArAyaNa is

> mentioned, as well as in the BaudhAyanagRhyapariSiSTasUtra.

> Best regards

> Ute

 

Dear Ute,

 

Thanks for the reference. I am quite unaware of the contents

of these works, though it should come as no surprise that

the vaikhAnasa-smArta-sUtra mentions image worship. Can you

cite the sUtras (particularly the baudhAyana) so we can get

a feeling for what exactly they say?

 

Thanks,

Mani

[Guest guest]

Dear Mani,

vaikhAnasasmArtasUtra, 4.12 (chapter on nityArAdhana) mentions the house and

the temple as place where NArAyaNa should be constantly worshipped with

Bhakti:

"dvijAtir atandrito nityaM gRhe devAyatane vA bhaktyA bhagavantaM nArAyaNaM

arcayet."

Thus one can indirectly conclude that at least in the temple there is an

image of NArAyaNa.

 

The BodhAyanagRhyaSeSasUtra can be considered an appendix to the

BodhAyanagRhyasUtra, ed. in the same volume by R. Shama Sastri (Panini

Vaidika Granthamala, 3), New Delhi, 1920 (repr. 1982).

There, after some details regarding domestic rituals, quite lengthy chapters

on

- viSNupratiSThAkalpa

- mahApuruSasyAhAraH paricaryAvidhi

- viSNusnapanavidhi

are given, These are followed by similar chapters on Rudra

(rudrapratiSThAkalpa, etc.), then durgA, SrI, sarasvatI etc.

 

These passages in the BodhAyanagRhyaSeSasUtra are dealt with in the Ph-D

thesis of P.N.U. Harting: "Selections from the

BaudhAyana-GRhyapariSiSTasUtra". There seems to be a close relationship

between VaikhAnasagRhyasUtra and this text.

 

There is another vaidika text which describes image worship, namley the

RgvidhAna of Saunaka (analysed by M.S. Bhatt in his excellent work "Vedic

Tantrism - A study of RgvidhAna of Saunka with text and translation", Delhi,

1987).

 

Best regards

Ute