meaning of vashatkara

[Dr. k. Viswanathan]

sir,

what is the meaning of word vashatkara in vishnusahasranama??

[Nityanand Misra]

Please refer to any of the available commentaries.

Refer attached extracts of
1) English translation of commentary by Śaṅkarācārya
2) Sanskrit commentary by Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa
3) Sanskrit commentary by Satyadeva Vāsiṣṭha

[Shrivathsa B]

hariH OM,

In a yaj~na, the following happens (my humble prostrations to my R^igveda AchArya, shrii kR^iShNabhaTTa ghanapAThI who gave me, a worthless person, an opportunity to be an Agniidhra in a yaj~na and be able to mumble the following):

1. The adhvaryu (expert in yajurveda) asks the Agniidhra  (a person who is given the responsibility of driving away duShTa shaktis.) to look around (and ensure that there are no rAkShasas to disturb the yaj~na). For this, he utters the word: AshrAvaya or O shrAvaya (make us listen).

2. The Agniidhra gives his consent by saying astu = may it be, shrauShaT = the word which removes duShTa shaktis. He has a wooden sword with him which he brings down ceremonially while pronouncing so.
3. After listening to shrauShaT, the adhvaryu tells the hotaa (expert in R^igveda) to recite the shastra (shastra not shaastra. shastra is the recitation of R^igvedic mantras in a monotone ending with OM). the order given by the adhvaryu is "yaja" = may you call the devas.

4. the hotaa accedes to the order and says, "ye yajAmahe" = here we invite.

5. after the shastra is pronounced, he finishes it by saying OM and vauShaT. concurrent to hearing of vauShaT, the adhvaryu gives Ahuti to agni.

vauShaT and vaShaT are the same.

Why should viShNu be called vaShaTkAra?

चतुर्भिश्च चतुर्भिश्च द्वाभ्यां पञ्चभिरेव च।
हूयते च पुनर्द्वाभ्यां स मे विष्णुः प्रसीदतु॥

The one who is called by four syllables (A shrAvaya), four syllables (astu shrauShaT), two syllables (yaja), 5 syllables (ye yajAmahe), and again by two syllables (vauShaT), such a viShNu be happy with me.

So, no matter which of these words you use, you are calling viShNu only. yaj~no vai viShNuH (taittiriya sam. 1.7.4) i.e. verily, viShNu is yaj~na and verily yaj~na is viShNu.

svasti,

       JAYA BHAVAANII BHAARATII,

                                                       shrivathsa.

2014-10-19 11:38 GMT+05:30 Dr. k. Viswanathan <kviswanat...@gmail.com>:

sir,

what is the meaning of word vashatkara in vishnusahasranama??

--
निराशीर्निर्ममो भूत्वा युध्यस्व विगतज्वरः।। (भ.गी.)
--- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to bvparishat+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to bvpar...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/bvparishat.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Nagaraj Paturi]

What a wealth of information! I can not tell you how indebted I am for this ethnography based on participant observation!

 

After recollecting and rereading the theoretical material on the word vashatkara, believe me I was praying, 'how I wish some S'routi gave an authentic account of this great Vedic expression'. When I read your post, I felt my prayers were granted.

 

The theoretical stuff is:

 

1. ( The S'ankarabhashya page supplied by aadaraNIya Nityanandji already covered the following): vaṣaṭkāra = vau+ṣaṭ + kāra.

 

2. vaṣaṭkāra is considered to be one of the 33 devatas ( The Soma-drinking gods are : eight Vasus, eleven Budras, twelve Adityas, Prajapati, and Vashat-kara. )

 

3. I was contemplating on the beauty of idea of a Vedic recitation being taken as a divinity and ultimately being equated with the ultimate concept of Viṣṇu.

 

Thanks again. Thanks a lot.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to bvparishat+...@googlegroups.com.

To post to this group, send email to bvpar...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/bvparishat.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

Prof.Nagaraj Paturi

Hyderabad-500044