Yajña (Deva)

Yajña, “the sacred offering”

Yajña has other meanings too: see all meanings of Yajña.

Yajña is the yajña (the sacred fire rite) in person, the yajña-devatā, the devatā of the yajña. The Vāmana Purāṇa, told by Pulastya Maharshi to Nārada Maharshi, tells of him at two great yajñas. When Bhagavān Śiva destroyed the yajña of Daksha, the devatā of the Yajña took the form of a divine deer and fled into the sky with Dakshiṇā. Maheśvara, in the form of Kāla (Time), pursued him with the Pāśupatāstra and struck him with arrows, and the yajña-deer, freed of all pain, remained in the sky among the stars.

When Bhagavān Vishṇu set out as Vāmana for the Aśvamedha of the daitya king Bali, Yajña was greatly troubled and asked whether Vāsudeva too would burn him, as Maheśvara had done before, and the yajña fires would not take the offerings. When the gift of the three worlds was made, Bhagavān Vishṇu took Yajña with him to the city of Indra and gave the devas back their portions of the yajña. In Bhagavān Śiva’s own stotra to Bhagavān Vishṇu, yajña is named among the things that are Vishṇu himself.

Yajña is Vishṇu

Bhagavān Śiva, wandering from tīrtha to tīrtha with Brahmahatyā clinging to him, came to the land of Kurujāṅgala and had darśana of Bhagavān Vishṇu, Garuḍadhvaja, holding the śaṅkha, the cakra and the gadā. Joining his palms, Śaṅkara praised him with a stotra. In it he said:

“Dharma, yajña, tapas, satya (truth), ahiṃsā, śauca (purity), ārjava (straightness), kshamā (forbearance), dāna, dayā (compassion), Lakshmī, brahmacarya: all are you.”

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 3

The yajña-deer at Daksha’s yajña

When Bhagavān Śiva came to the yajña of Daksha, flames of fire poured from his three eyes, and in a moment the whole yajñaśālā was burned to ash. As soon as the yajña fires went out, the devatā of the Yajña took a divine deer form and flew up into the path of the sky, together with Dakshiṇā.

Seeing the Yajña going away, Maheśvara, in the form of Kāla, fixed the Pāśupatāstra on his bow and went after it. At the end of that yajña, Śaṅkara became renowned with half his portion as Jaṭādhara, and with the other half as Kālarūpī, the form of Time, in the sky. Wishing the welfare of the worlds, Tripurāntaka became Kālarūpī and filled the sky, his limbs made of the twelve rāśis and the nakshatras.

Taking that endless form of Kāla, the Three-eyed one struck the yajña-deer with his arrows. By the force of those arrows the yajña-deer was freed from all its pains, and it remained in the sky together with the stars.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 5

At the yajña of Bali

The daitya king Bali performed the Aśvamedha at Kurukshetra, and Bhagavān Vishṇu, born as Vāmana, set out for his yajñaśālā. As soon as he set out, the earth shook, the mountains moved, the oceans were stirred and the stars lost their courses. Yajña, spoken of as a person, was greatly troubled and said: “Alas! What is Madhusūdana going to do to me? As Maheśvara did before, will this Vāsudeva also burn me?” Though the brāhmaṇas offered the oblations well with the Ṛk and Sāma mantras, the yajña fires, in fear of Bhagavān Vishṇu, would not accept the portions of havis (the offerings).

Bhagavān Vāmana asked Bali for three steps of ground and, as Trivikrama, measured the worlds. When he had sent Bali with his wife to Sutala, he took Yajña with him and went, surrounded by the devas, to the city of Indra. There he gave Indra back Trivishṭapa (svarga) and restored to the devas their yajña-bhāgas, their portions of the yajña. Then, while Indra and the others watched, Bhagavān Vishṇu withdrew from their sight.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 64–65

Sources

• Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 3, 5, 64–65