II Saurabh Raaj Jain/Vishnuji AT#3 .II - Page 42

Hindu iconography[edit source | editbeta]

Vedanta Desika's dhyana-sloka (meditative verse) on Hayagriva typifies this deity's depiction in Hindu iconography:

He has four lotus hands, with one in the mode of bestowing knowledge; another holds books of wisdom, and the other two hold the Conch and Discus. His beauty, like fresh cut crystal, is an auspicious brilliance that never decays. May this Lord of speech who showers such cooling rays of grace on me be forever manifest in my heart! In the Mahavairocana-sutra [Sutra of the Great Sun] translated and copied in 1796 by I-hsing it says: "Beneath the buddhas is Hayagriva. His body is the color of the sun at dawn. He wears flaming effulgence and skulls as a garland. His nails are long and sharp; his face shows a pair of bare tiger's fangs. His hair is that of a burning lion's mane. He is awesomely powerful and fierce! This is the fierce Vidyaraja [wrathful vehicle] of the Lotus section. He is just like a horse-jewel of a Cakravartin that wanders the four continents, nowhere and never does he rest, having all the great and terrible force of all the buddhas'. This is his nature, and therefore he possesses this terrible and all-mighty light. Amidst the greatest obstacles of death and evil he is without the slightest care for his own welfare, his conspicuous and uncommon gallantry, intrepidity, and wrath is legendary among the gods, and therefore he easily and quickly vanquishes all who oppose him! Many others submit to him at first sight! This is because though he is fierce and terrible; his heart is full of compassion (unbiased, dispassionate understanding)." -- Hayagriva Stotram, v.32

Later on Hayagriva is referred to as the "Horse necked one", Defender of faith", the "Terrible executioner", the "Excellent Horse", and the "Aerial horse".

This said, the Horse god is seen as pulling the sun up to the heavens every day, bringing light to darkness. Hayagriva's consort is Marichi (Marishi-Ten/????) and or Lakshmi (possibly an avatar of Marichi or Kan'non), the goddess of the rising sun, more accurately the sun's light which is the life force of all things, and which is seen as the female [in, yin] aspect of Hayagriva. This relationship is the classic nonduality of the Hindu tantra. Marichi represents the essence of the power of creation of the cosmos, and is the in/yin half of Dainichi Nyrai. Whereas Hayagriva represents the other yang/y aspect, that of the of the manifestation of the power of yin/in as action. In other words, Hayagriva represents the manifestation of yin/in as the power and action of the cosmos manifested as action. This is the very definition of tantra, that of action.

In several other sources he is a white horse who pulls the sun into the sky every morning. In others such as the great epic Taraka-battle where the gods are fallen on and attacked by the danava's [demons], Vishnu appears as a great ferocious warrior called Hayagriva when he comes to their aid. It says;

"Hayagriva appears in his chariot, drawn by 1,000 powerful steeds, crushing the enemies of the gods beneath him!"

There are many other references to Hayagriva throughout the Mahabharata. It is said that Vishnu comes from battle as a conqueror in the magnificent mystic form of the great and terrible Hayagriva;

"The great Hayagriva having been praised in this way by the different saints and ascetics, assumes a great white horses head. The verda's [mantras] made up his shape, his body built of all the great gods; in the middle of his head was Shiva, in his heart was Brahma [god of heaven]; the rays of sun (Marichi) were his mane, the sun and moon his eyes; the Vasus and Sadhyas were his legs, in all his bones were the gods. Agni [Ka-ten; god of fire] was his tongue, the goddess Satya his speech, while his knees were formed by the Maruts and Varuna. Having assumed this form, a awesome wonder to behold to the gods, he vanquished the asura, and cast them down, with eyes that were red with anger."

Invariably, Hayagriva is depicted seated, most often with his right hand either blessing the supplicant or in the vyakhya mudra pose of teaching. The right hand also usually holds a ak?a-mala(rosary), indicating his identification with meditative knowledge. His left holds a book, indicating his role as a teacher. His face is always serene and peaceful, if not smiling. Unlike his Buddhist counterpart, there is no hint of a fearsome side in the Hindu description of this deity. Indeed, the two deities seem to be totally unrelated to one another.

Hayagriva is sometimes worshiped in a solitary pose of meditation, as in the Thiruvanthipuram temple. This form is known as Yoga-Hayagriva. However, he is most commonly worshipped along with his consort Lakshmi and is known as Lakshmi-Hayagriva. Hayagriva in this form is the presiding deity of Mysore's Parakala Mutt, a significant Sri Vaishnavism monastic institution.

In Sakta mythology[edit source | editbeta]

In the Sakta tradition of Hinduism, Hayagriva occupies a different role. Here, a demon named Hayagriva first appears as son of Kasyapa Prajapati. Through great penance the demon managed to obtain a boon from the Goddess Durga that he can only be killed by another "Hayagriva". This instilled a sense of invincibility and he started harassing the Devas. The Devas turned to Vishnu for aid, but despite a long struggle he was also unable to kill Hayagriva.

Tired and drained after the battle, Vishnu proceeded to Vaikuntha Dharma to rejuvenate and meditate in padamasana (a yoga posture) with his head supported by the upper end of his taut bow. The Devas once again approached Vishnu for help against Hayagriva but were unable to rouse him from his meditation. The Devas asked a swarm of termites to assist in waking Vishnu by gnawing away the string of the bow upon which he was resting. However, the snapping of the bow string produced such a resonant sound that the universe trembled, and the broken string lashed out with such force that Vishnu's head was severed from his body.

The Devas were mortified, and prayed to the goddess Durga for guidance. Durga was pleased with their prayers and told the Devas that they need not fear, as no incident in this universe was without some purpose. She then told them of her boon to Hayagriva and asked them to attach the head of a horse to Vishnu so that he in the guise of "Hayagriva" (that is, one with a horse's neck) could kill his foe.

Brahma attached the head of a white horse to Vishnu's body and the revived Vishnu entered into battle with Hayagriva and eventually killed him.

Another legend has it that during the creation, the demons Madhu-Kaitabha stole the Vedas from Brahma, and Vishnu then took the Hayagriva form to recover them. The two bodies of Madhu and Kaitabha disintegrated into twelve pieces (two heads, two torsos, four arms and four legs). These are considered to represent the twelve seismic plates of the Earth. Yet another legend has it that during the creation, Vishnu compiled the Vedas in the Hayagriva form.

Some consider Hayagriva to be one of the Dashavataras of Maha Vishnu.^{[citation needed]} He along with Sri Krishna, ShriRama and Shri Narasimha is considered to be an important avatar of Maha Vishnu.

Lord Hayagriva's Sannithanam is there in Sri rangam Temple. Hayagreev in Srirangam is very famous for children's education. The Sannithanam is very beautiful and all rituals done according to Vedic principles very strictly.

Varaha Avatar

Lord Vishnu's second incarnation was as a Varaha (boar) and the story related to it is:

In ancient times, when monster Hirnyaksh had hidden the earth in the sea, Lord Vishnu came out of Brahma's nose in form of a boar. Seeing this form of Lord Vishnu, all other Gods sage praised him. On everyone's request, Lord Vishnu began his search of earth. Finally, he found earth and brought it from outside the sea in his teeth.

When Hirnyaksh saw this, he challenged Lord Vishnu's Varah avatar to fight with him. And Hirnyaksh was killed by Lord Varaha. After this Lord Varaha disappeared.