Vahana
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Vahana (
Etymology
Vah in Sanskrit means to carry or transport. The word also means 'vehicle' in Sanskrit and other Indian languages[3][4]
Symbolism
In Hindu
However, the vehicle animal also symbolizes the evil forces over which the deity dominates. Mounted on Parvani, Kartikeya reins in the peacock's vanity. Seated on Dinka the rat (Mushika), Ganesha crushes useless thoughts, which multiply like rats in the dark. Shani, protector of property, has a vulture, raven, or crow within whom he represses thieving tendencies. Under Shani's influence, the vahana can make even malevolent events bring hope.
Examples
Garuda
Garuda, and his story of becoming the mount of Vishnu, is richly detailed in Hindu texts. Born to Vinata and bearing the power of Kashyapa's penance, the demigod is anguished to find that his mother is enslaved by the cruel Kadru. When he pleaded with Kadru to free his mother, the latter demanded the nectar of immortality as the price of her liberty. His legend of securing amrita, the nectar of immortality, is described in the episode known as Amṛtakalaśāpaharaṇam[5]:
Garuḍa approached the pot of nectar, and Viśvakarmā who attacked him first was felled to the ground. The dust storm raised by the waving of Garuḍa’s wings blinded everybody. The Devas and Indra, nay, even the sun and the Moon lined up against Garuḍa, but he defeated them all, and entered the particular place where the pot of nectar was kept. Two terrific wheels were rotating round the pot and they would cut into mince-meat anybody who tried to lay hands on the pot and a machine circled the wheels. Below the wheels were two monstrous serpents with glowing eyes and protruding tongues like flashes of fire, and the serpents never closed their eyes. The very look with those eyes was enough to poison anyone to death. Garuḍa blinded those eyes by raising a torrent of dust, pierced them in the middle with his beak and through the hole, his body reduced to such a tiny shape, went nearer to the pot. He destroyed the wheels and the machine, and carrying the pot of nectar in his beaks rose to the sky shielding the light of the sun by his outspread wings. Mahāviṣṇu, who became so much pleased with the tremendous achievements of Garuḍa asked him to choose any boon. Garuḍa requested Viṣṇu that he should be made his (Viṣṇu's) vehicle and rendered immortal without his tasting amṛta. Both the boons were granted.
Mushika
While the god Ganesha was still a child, a giant mouse began to terrorize all his friends. Ganesha trapped him with his lasso and made him his mount. Mushika was originally a gandharva, or celestial musician. After absent mindedly walking over the feet of a rishi (sage) named Vamadeva, Mushika was cursed and transformed into a mouse. However, after the rishi recovered his temper, he promised Mushika that one day, the gods themselves would bow down before him. The prophecy was fulfilled when the mouse became the vahana of Ganesha.
Nandi
Before becoming the vehicle of Shiva, Nandi was a deity called Nandikeshvara, lord of joy and master of music and dance. Then, without warning, his name and his functions were transferred to the aspect of Shiva known as the deity Nataraja. From half-man, half-bull, he became simply a bull. Since that time, he has watched over each of Shiva's temples, always looking towards him.
Paravani
Compared to other belief systems
The animal correspondences of Hindu vehicles are not consistent with Greek and Roman mythology, or other belief systems which may tie a particular animal to a particular deity. For example, the goddess Lakshmi of the Hindus has elephants, or an owl, or (a rare instance of a non-animal vehicle) the lotus blossom as her vehicle. The goddess Athena of ancient Greece also had an owl as her emblematic familiar, but the meanings invested in the owls by the two different belief systems are not the same, nor are the two goddesses themselves similar, despite their mutual identification with owls.
Lakshmi is, among other things, primarily the goddess of wealth, and her owl is a warning against distrust and isolationism, even selfishness. Athena, though also a goddess of prosperity, is primarily the goddess of wisdom, and her owl symbolizes secret knowledge and scholarship. Perhaps due to their shared geography, the Greco-Roman interpretation is paralleled in
Some hold that similar analyses could be performed cross-culturally for any of the other Hindu divine vehicles, and in each case, any parallels with the values assigned to animal totems in other cultures are likely to be either coincidence, or inevitable (as in linking bulls to virility), rather than evidence of parallel development. In
List of vahanas
These correspondences are not always consistent. Ganesha, for example, is sometimes shown with a peacock as his vehicle. Even more rarely, the elephant-headed Ganesh may be seen riding an elephant, or a lion, or a many-headed serpent (See Ganesha's Vahanas).[16]
The vahana, the mount or vehicle of a deity, serves the function of doubling a deity's powers. The vahana also represents the devotee's mind which allows the deity to guide the devotee. Durga the warrioress could not have destroyed the demon Mahishasura without the aid of her vehicle, lion, which was given by her father Himalaya, for the stated purpose. Lakshmi, goddess of fortune, dispenses both material and spiritual riches from her mount, Uluka the owl. Ganesha, remover of obstacles, cannot go everywhere despite his elephant-like strength. However, his vehicle, Mushika the mouse, who can crawl into the smallest crevice or Akhuketana the rat, who can survive just about anywhere, can assist Ganesha to overcome the greatest obstacles.
See also
Notes
- ^ Accoutrement = "that which accompanies".
- ^ a b c Glossary: Vahana Archived 2009-02-05 at the Wayback Machine. Undated. Accessed August 10, 2007.
- ^ www.wisdomlib.org (2021-08-12). "Animals as vehicles of Gods [Chapter 2.7]". www.wisdomlib.org. Archived from the original on 2022-08-11. Retrieved 2022-08-11.
- ^ https://www.shabdkosh.com/dictionary/kannada-english/vahana/vahana-meaning-in-english
- ^ www.wisdomlib.org (2019-01-28). "Story of Garuḍa". www.wisdomlib.org. Archived from the original on 2022-08-11. Retrieved 2022-08-11.
- ^ The Collection: St. Jerome Archived 2012-10-22 at the Wayback Machine, gallery of the religious art collection of New Mexico State University, with explanations. Accessed August 10, 2007.
- ^ Owl and Mythology Archived 2006-05-22 at the Wayback Machine, p. 3. Accessed August 10, 2007.
- ^ "Folk Deity: Lok Devta & Devis of Rajasthan". Archived from the original on 2022-07-13. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
- ^ "Goddess Chamundi". Archived from the original on 2022-07-12. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
- ^ Margaret Stutley's The Illustrated Dictionary of Hindu Iconography , p. 127
- ^ Hindu Devotion: Lakshmi Archived 2007-09-26 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed August 10, 2007.
- ^ "19. Mithapur,Shivarjpur, Nageshwar". 31 August 2016. Archived from the original on 13 July 2022. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
- ^ "Sapta Matrika | 7 Matara - Seven Forms of Goddess Shakti". Archived from the original on 2022-07-12. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
- ^ "Gods outside temples". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 2022-10-11.
- ISBN 978-81-85683-05-8.
- ^ Forms of Ganesh: The Mouse Mount and Other Ganesh Mounts Archived 2007-03-02 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed August 10, 2007.
External links
- Holy Vehicles, an illustrated list. Accessed August 10, 2007.
- Hindu Deities and Their Vehicles, a partial list at About.Com. Accessed August 10, 2007.
- Symbolism of the Vehicles of Gods and Goddesses. Accessed August 10, 2007.