Hala
Hala, “the plough”
Grammar: masculine and neuter noun, “the plough”; the same tool is also called sīra.
Meaning: the plough, the tool for turning the earth; and the plough used as a weapon, borne by Vishṇu.
In the scriptures: the Vāmana Purāṇa uses the plough both as a weapon and as a tool:
- At Daksha‘s yajña, when his divine astras had failed, Hari used the plough and the musala (pestle) against Vīrabhadra, who warded them off with his gadā (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 4).
- In the Vishṇupañjara stotra one prays, “Vishṇu, holding the Saunanda plough, protect me in the west” (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 18).
- In Kātyāyanī Devī’s battle with the army of Namara, some rākshasas had their throats split by blows of the plough (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 21).
- King Kuru yoked Rudra‘s bull and Yama‘s buffalo Pauṇḍraka to a golden plough and ploughed the land himself, seven krośas around each day, to make it a dharmakshetra; that land is Kurukshetra (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 23).
- In the svastivācana Śrī Hari made for Skanda, he prays that in the intermediate directions those who bear the musala, the plough, the cakra and the bow protect him; the Telugu names them Saṅkarshaṇa and Vāsudeva. In Skanda’s battle the gaṇa Śaṅkukarṇa dragged rākshasas towards himself with a plough and smashed their heads with a pestle (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 32).
- When the devas wondered how Hari and Hara could be one, Bhagavān Vishṇu took the viśvarūpa, Śiva joined in Hari, holding the cakra, sword, śaṅkha, plough, Śārṅga, Pināka, śūla, Ajagava, khaṭvāṅga, kapāla, ghaṇṭā and other weapons, “the weapons of Śiva and Keśava”; seeing it, the devas headed by Brahmā bowed to him as the all-pervading (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 36).
Related terms: Musala · Saunanda · Sīradhvaja · Kurukshetra · Saṅkarshaṇa
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 4, 18, 21, 23, 32, 36