Bhaga
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| Bhaga | |
|---|---|
God of Wealth | |
| Affiliation | Adityas |
| Planet | Sun |
| Genealogy | |
| Parents | |
| Spouse | Siddhi (according to Bhagavata Purana)[1] |
| Children | Mahiman, Vibhu and Prabhu (sons) Āśis (daughter)[1] |
Bhaga (
Etymology
The cognate term in Avestan and Old Persian is baga, of uncertain meaning but used in a sense in which "lord, patron, sharer/distributor of good fortune" might also apply. The cognate in Slavic languages is the root bogъ ("god"). The semantics is similar to English lord (from hlaford "bread-warden"), the idea being that it is part of the function of a chieftain or leader to distribute riches or spoils among his followers. The name of the city of Baghdad derives from Middle Persian bag-dād, "lord-given".
Role
In Sanskrit religious literature
In the Rigveda Samhita, Bhaga is invoked and praised as the "sustainer of the world", "giver of wealth", "chief leader of rites", and "possessor of opulence". He is asked to bestow upon his adherents cattle and horses, male issue, felicity, and riches.[5]
In the Sanskrit
The 5th/6th-century BCE Nirukta (Nir. 12.13) describes Bhaga as the god of the morning. In the Rigveda, the Bhaga is named as one of the Adityas, the seven (or eight) celestial sons of Aditi, the Rigvedic mother of the gods. In the medieval Bhagavata Purana, the Bhaga reappears with the Puranic Adityas, which are by then twelve solar gods.
Legacy
Elsewhere, the Bhaga continues as a god of wealth and marriage, in a role that is also attested for the Sogdian (Buddhist) equivalent of the Bhaga.
The common noun bhaga survives in the 2nd century CE inscription of Rudradaman I, where it is a fiscal term; in bhagavan for "one who possesses (-van) the properties of a bhaga-", hence itself "lord, god"; and in bhagya, and "that which derives from bhaga", hence "destiny" as an abstract noun, and also Bhagya personified as the proper name of a son of Surya.
Bhaga is sometimes said to be the presiding deity of the
References
- ^ a b Bhagavata Purana, Book 6 - Sixth Skandha, Chapter 18
- ISBN 978-81-7022-374-0.
- ISBN 978-81-8382-010-3.
- ISBN 978-0190633394.
- ^ Rig-Veda Sanhitá a Collection of Ancient Hindú Hymns, Constituting the Fifth Ashtaka, Or Book of the Reg-Veda ... Translated from the Original Sanskrit by the Late H. H. Wilson. N. Trübner. 1866.
