Dharma-Vyādha (Varāha Purāṇa)
Dharma-Vyādha · dharma-vyādha, “the hunter who knew dharma”
Dharma-Vyādha has other meanings too: see all meanings of Dharma-Vyādha.
Dharma-Vyādha is the virtuous hunter whose account Bhagavān Varāha tells to Bhūdevī in Chapter 8 of the Varāha Purāṇa. He killed only one animal a day, kept his family and guests, and kept the fire and the śrāddha. Through a stotra to Bhagavān Vishṇu he reached Brahman.
The setting
Bhagavān Varāha tells this account to Bhūdevī after the narrative of Raikhya’s moksha at Gayā. It shows the path to moksha through a stotra to Bhagavān Vishṇu.
The brahma-rākshasa and the king
A brahma-rākshasa (a fearful rākshasa born in a brāhmaṇa’s form) had lived for many lifetimes inside the body of a man. This man was the future king Vasu. The rākshasa came out of the man’s body after Bhagavān Vishṇu’s Puṇḍarīkāksha stotra was recited.
Freed from his dreadful form, the rākshasa told his own story and the past of the virtuous hunter. The king then gave him the name Dharma-Vyādha.
Dharma-Vyādha the hunter
The text also tells of a virtuous hunter named Dharma-Vyādha, who lived by these rules:
- He killed only one animal a day to feed his family, and no more.
- He fed his servants and his guests (atithis), and he kept the fire (agni).
- He spoke only the truth.
- He never killed from greed or for more than he needed.
- He performed śrāddha for his ancestors every Amāvāsyā at Mithilā.
- He kept the household fire every day.
He had a son, Arjunaka, a dharma-minded man, a great tapasvī and master of his senses.
Later Arjunaka’s daughter Arjunakī was given in marriage to Prasanna, the son of the ṛshi Mataṅga. She followed her husband and his family with full devotion.
The argument with Mataṅga
Arjunakī’s mother-in-law insulted her: “You are the daughter of a killer!” Arjunakī went back weeping to her father. Dharma-Vyādha went to Mataṅga’s house to settle the matter.
A sharp debate followed.
- Mataṅga’s sons kept stores of grain: rice, wheat and barley. Dharma-Vyādha pointed out that the grain also holds living beings (jīvas).
- He challenged them: “If you can show me food in your house that is truly without life (prāṇa-śūnya), I will eat it.”
- Mataṅga showed him grains. Dharma-Vyādha said: “If these are planted, they give thousands more. They are no different from fish and other creatures.”
Dharma-Vyādha then taught the five Mahāyajñas:
“Brahmā first made plants for the yajñas, and they became food for beings. The five Mahāyajñas (Deva-yajña, Bhūta-yajña, Pitṛ-yajña, Manushya-yajña and Brahma-yajña) were set up from the beginning.”
“Food used for these yajñas becomes pure. Otherwise each grain is like a living creature, and giving or eating such a grain is like eating meat.”
After this speech Dharma-Vyādha laid a śāpa (a curse) on Mataṅga’s wife and on his daughters-in-law, and he left.
Dharma-Vyādha’s tapas and the darśana of Bhagavān Vishṇu
Dharma-Vyādha gave his family into the care of his son Arjunaka. He went to the tīrtha Purushottama and did hard tapas there. He recited this stotra:
His stotra
“May I always bow to Vishṇu, the destroyer of the pride of the asuras, who bears Lakshmī on his broad chest, the highest refuge of the righteous, who filled the three worlds in three steps, the bearer of the Mandara mountain.”
“Dāmodara, the one who lights the earth, made pure in fame and light, dark like shining bees, the bearer of the earth, the destroyer of Naraka, much praised, the protector of all, Janārdana, Vishṇu: to him my praṇāma.”
“Nara-rūpa, Nṛsiṃha-rūpa, Hari, Īśvara, the Master, the abode of the three mūrtis, whose body-power has no limit, whose face is pure, the protector, Purushottama, Acyuta: I always take refuge in him.”
“O you who slew the ancient Madhu and Kaiṭabha, who always bears Bhūdevī on his head, Vishṇu: may he give me great happiness the moment I praise him.”
“O Mahā-Varāha! O Havis-feeder! O Janārdana! O giver of good to me! O you whose face is lit with wisdom! O lifter of the earth! O dweller in the ocean! O Śrī Mahāvishṇu, protect me, who have taken refuge!”
Bhagavān Vishṇu appears and gives the vara
Bhagavān Vishṇu appeared before the hunter. He was ancient, with endless feet, belly, arms and faces, in a wondrous form. He said: “Ask for a vara.”
Dharma-Vyādha asked:
“May my sons, those born in my line, and those who follow them, may all such people always shine with noble karma!”
“May knowledge arise for this line wherever they may be or go. May I be absorbed into Brahman, O Sanātana.”
Bhagavān Vishṇu gave the vara:
“This vara is given to you and to your line. You will merge for ever into Brahman.”
A great light came out of Dharma-Vyādha’s body. He became one with the eternal, ancient Kavi, Bhagavān Vishṇu.
The teaching on upāsanā
Bhūdevī is told:
“Especially on Ekādaśī, fasting, worshipping Hari and reading this excellent stotra: the one who reads or hears it lives happily in the presence of Keśava for seventy manvantaras.”
The hunter and the brāhmaṇa Sanyamana
Earlier in the same chapter comes another episode. A hunter (called Nishṭhuraka or Vyādha) and the brāhmaṇa Sanyamana spoke together on a riverbank. They discussed non-violence and the nature of the Self.
The hunter said:
“I do not kill beings by myself. Bhagavān Paramātman himself plays with beings. Just as men make bulls of clay, so this too is, without doubt.”
“For those who seek moksha, the ‘I’ (aham) that arises from ignorance is born of ajñāna. This whole world is a tīrtha. It is tied only to keeping life. The word ‘I’ in this sense is not noble.”
The hunter then gave an example of a flaming iron net. When the one source-flame is put out, all the flame-threads from the net die too. “So too is the Ātman, the support of all bhūtas.”
Flowers rained on the hunter. Divine vehicles appeared. The hunter was seen in many divine forms, through the power of advaita-vāsanā (the impression of non-duality) by yoga-śakti.
The brāhmaṇa went home glad. He understood: “One who has true knowledge, whatever karma his varṇa has laid down, such a one truly reaches moksha.”
Sources
- Varāha Purāṇa, Chapter 8