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Hayagreeva
(Hayavadhana or Hayagriva),
the lesser known Vishnu Avatar, The Horse Faced God
He
is the ocean of knowledge, Wisdom, where Brahma & Goddess
Saraswathi risides. He is the Four form of Veda, viz. Rg,
Yajur, Sama and Atharva Vedas. From the Eternal abode, Lord Sri Maha
Vishnu who creates the life & world from His Lotus throne,
He who is everywhere. It was Madhu & Kaitibha the two
demons are associated with the true Lord, The Brahmma &
Vishnu.
Kaitibha & Madhu who are known to have infamously stolen the Vedas
when at the time the worlds were being created. The vedas, the
sookshama or the Secrets of the three worlds & the root of all
knowledge, carrying the essence of living had to be retrieved from the
demons known as Asuras. Fearing greater loss, the Devas
pleaded with the Goddess who directed them towards Sri Maha Vishnu to
retrieve the
Vedas. In pure whiteness, dressed in blue, Lord Vishnu
descended onto the earth in the form of Hayagriva, human by
nature but horse headed in form, to fight the demons and
destroy them.
In Sakta tradition,
Hayagriva is also the name of a demon who was the son of
Kashyapa Prajapati. He did severe penance and won the favor of
Goddess Durga, and asked for a boon that he should be killed
only by another Hayagriva. This almost made him invincible and
he began to harass the Devas. The Devas turned to Vishnu for
aid, who despite a long struggle was unable to kill him.
Vishnu returned to Vaikuntham and started severe penance in
padmasana with his head supported by his bow. The Devas went
back to request him again but were unable to shake him out of
his meditation. They tried to break his deep concentration with
the help of termites gnawing at the string of the bow, but the
snapping of the bow resulted in the string lashing out with
such force that Vishnu's head was severed from his body. It
was now that Devi revealed the boon of the demon Hayagriva to
the devas and told them to have Vishnu's head replaced with
that of a pure white horse, making him another Hayagriva, in
order to kill the demon...
Hayagriva
is depicted with 4 armed, carrying a
Conch & Wheel known as Shanka
and chakra in
His two hands, a rosary (aksha-mala)
in the third and his fourth is in the vyakhya
mudra. He is also found holding the vedas in some
occasions. Hayagreeva is associated with the purity of
knowledge and is represented in the same way as Saraswati.
White is a symbolism of purity that is depicted in the
"white horse" face he adorns.
In the Sri Vaishnavite tradition, Swami Sri Vedanta Desika (born in 1317 A.D. in Thoopul near
Kanchipuram)
is considered to be the incarnation of the ghanta
(bell)
of the Lord of the Seven Hills, The Tirupati. He was a child prodigy
who had
risen to the status of "Acharya"
at the age of 27. On initiation into the realm of the Garuda
mantra, among his all Stotra, Swami Desikan went to Thiruvahindrapuram and began chanting.
Pleased with his devotion, Garuda initiated him into the Hayagriva
Mantra, encompassing all knowledge. Lord Hayagriva
appeared to Desika and presented him an idol of Himself, hence
all temples dedicated to Desika have an idol of Hayagriva
installed near him. Thiruvahindrapuram has one of the most
ancient temples dedicated to Lord Sri Hayagriva.
The rough English phonetic version of the Hayagriva
stotra, the first two stanzas of the Shloka is given below:
Njaananandamayam Devam , Nirmalam Spadikakrutham |
Aadaram Sarva Vidhyaanaam, Hayagreevam Upaasmahe ||
Vidyaarambam (the first step of learning) begins with a prayer to Sri Hayagreeva, praising
him as the presiding deity for all knowledge. May He grant us
the power to imbibe this knowledge & wisdom we seek with the recitation
of this mantra.
The following photographs are of Sri Hayagreeva from different temples in Tamilnadu.
Many more such nice photographs from other temples to adorn these pages shortly.
Sri Lakshmi Hayagriva, Pondicherry (Puducherry)
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