Trailokya-vijaya Kavaca
The Trailokya-vijaya Kavaca is the armour (kavaca) of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa that Bhagavān Śiva gave to Paraśurāma when Paraśurāma visited Śivaloka. Its name means “victory over the three worlds”. It is found in the Madhyama Bhāga of the Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, in Chapters 32 and 33. It is built on the Gopī-jana-vallabha mantra, a ten-syllable mantra of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa.
The setting
Paraśurāma had finished his vow of twenty-one destructions of the kshatriyas. Brahmā then advised him to seek direct initiation from Bhagavān Śiva.
Paraśurāma went up to Śivaloka, which the Purāṇa describes with great beauty and splendour. There he made a stotra to Bhagavān Śiva. In it he praised Śiva’s five faces (pañcamukha), his ten arms (daśabhuja) and all his forms in the universe.
Bhagavān Śiva was pleased with Paraśurāma’s devotion. He gave him two gifts: the Pāśupatāstra, now confirmed to him, and the Trailokya-vijaya Kavaca.
The root mantra
The kavaca is built on the Gopī-jana-vallabha mantra. It is a daśākshara mantra, a mantra of ten syllables, of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa. It calls him vallabha, the beloved, of the gopīs (gopī-jana).
The structure of the kavaca
The kavaca, as given in Chapter 33, has these parts.
Pūrvāṅga, the first assignments
- Ṛshi: the ṛshi through whose line the mantra is handed down.
- Chandas: the metre of the mantra.
- Devatā: Bhagavān Kṛshṇa as Gopī-jana-vallabha.
- Bīja: the seed-syllable that holds the main power of the mantra.
- Śakti: the power-syllable.
- Kīlaka: the pin, or lock, of the mantra.
Aṅga-nyāsa, placing the mantra on the limbs
The complete aṅga-nyāsa places syllables or phrases of the mantra on set parts of the reciter’s body: the head, face, throat, chest, arms, navel, hips, knees and feet. In this way the body itself is made holy as a form clothed in armour. The mantra’s protecting power is spread over every weak point.
The verses of the kavaca
The verses of the kavaca give the protection of particular forms or names of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa to each direction, each limb, each sense organ and each vital force (prāṇa). The reciter is guarded in every direction, protected at every point and held up in every function by the presence of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa.
The phalaśruti
The kavaca ends with a phalaśruti that tells what reciting it gives:
- victory over all three worlds (trailokya-vijaya);
- protection from all enemies, human and divine;
- freedom from disease;
- long life;
- prosperity;
- and in the end moksha (liberation).
The name Trailokya-vijaya shows that the protection reaches all three worlds: bhūloka, bhuvarloka and svarloka. No power in any of these three worlds can overcome one who is guarded by this armour.
How it was passed on
The kavaca passed from Bhagavān Śiva to Paraśurāma. In the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa it comes straight after Paraśurāma’s stotra to Śiva and before the account of his sādhana (spiritual practice) at Pushkara. It leads Paraśurāma into the devotion to Kṛshṇa that reaches its height when he meets Agastya and hears the Kṛshṇāmṛta-stava.
Sources
- Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapters 32–33