Scribd
Upload
146 views2 pages

Hayagreeva: Hayagreeva (Hayavadhana or Hayagriva), The Lesser Known Vishnu Avatar, The Horse Faced God

Hayagreeva is a lesser known avatar of Vishnu who is depicted with a horse's head. He is considered the god of wisdom and knowledge, where the Vedas reside. When demons stole the Vedas at creation, Vishnu took the form of Hayagreeva with a horse's head to fight the demons and retrieve the sacred texts. Hayagreeva later killed a demon named Hayagriva after severe penance and meditation caused his head to be severed and replaced with a horse's head, fulfilling the demon's boon to only be killed by another Hayagreeva. Hayagreeva is associated with purity of knowledge and granting wisdom to devotees.

Uploaded by

joseph
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
146 views2 pages

Hayagreeva: Hayagreeva (Hayavadhana or Hayagriva), The Lesser Known Vishnu Avatar, The Horse Faced God

Hayagreeva is a lesser known avatar of Vishnu who is depicted with a horse's head. He is considered the god of wisdom and knowledge, where the Vedas reside. When demons stole the Vedas at creation, Vishnu took the form of Hayagreeva with a horse's head to fight the demons and retrieve the sacred texts. Hayagreeva later killed a demon named Hayagriva after severe penance and meditation caused his head to be severed and replaced with a horse's head, fulfilling the demon's boon to only be killed by another Hayagreeva. Hayagreeva is associated with purity of knowledge and granting wisdom to devotees.

Uploaded by

joseph
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

12/18/2018 Mantra & Shlokas: Hayagreeva

Hayagreeva

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
theghanta (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

http://mantrashlokas-madhuri.blogspot.com/2011/07/hayagreeva.html 1/2
12/18/2018 Mantra & Shlokas: Hayagreeva

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.

Posted by Madhuri Saxena at 00:30

No comments:

http://mantrashlokas-madhuri.blogspot.com/2011/07/hayagreeva.html 2/2

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy