Krodha

Krodha, “anger”

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

Grammar: masculine noun, from the root krudh (to be angry): anger.

Meaning: anger, the heat of the mind against one who acts against oneself. It is one of the inner foes a person must overcome, and in the teaching on kāvya it is the abiding feeling (sthāyibhāva) of the fierce rasa.

In the scriptures:

  • In the account of creation, when Bhagavān Hiraṇyagarbha had split the golden egg into Dyuloka and Bhūloka and made the earth and the ten directions, he made Kāla (time), Manas (mind), Vāk (speech), Kāma (desire), Krodha (anger) and Rati (delight). Prajāpati created these first, for the creation to come (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 17).
  • In the line of Adharma, Māyā bore Mṛtyu, who destroys beings, and the children of Mṛtyu are Vyādhi (disease), Jarā (old age), Śoka (grief), Tṛshṇā (craving) and Krodha (anger) (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 20).
  • In the rāja-nīti which Śrī Rāma told Lakshmaṇa, the king becomes happy if he wholly gives up the arishaḍvarga, the group of inner foes: kāma, krodha, lobha, moha, harsha, mada, mātsarya and māna (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 238). The best king is free of the faults krodha, lobha, fear, treachery, obstinacy and fickleness (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 239). Among the kinds of vigraha (war) is the one caused by anger born of harsh words (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 240).
  • In the teaching on vyavahāra (lawsuits), a man enters into a lawsuit through kāma, krodha and lobha, and so vyavahāra is called tri-yoni, “having three sources”. The king, free from anger, should examine cases together with a learned brāhmaṇa (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 253).
  • In the teaching on the rasas, krodha is one of the eight sthāyibhāvas, defined as sharpness towards one who acts against oneself. From tīkshṇatva (sharpness) comes the raudra (fierce) rasa (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 339).

In the Bhāgavata Purāṇa:

  • Born of Brahmā. Maitreya Maharshi tells Vidura that from Brahmā’s body came Kāma from his heart, Krodha from his eyebrow, Lobha from his lower lip and Vāk from his mouth (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 12).
  • In the line of Adharma. Lobha and Nikṛti had a son, Krodha, and a daughter, Hiṃsā (violence); Krodha and Hiṃsā had a son, Kali (strife), and a daughter, Durukti (evil speech); and from them came Bhī (fear) and Mṛtyu (death), and from those Yātanā (torment) and Niraya (naraka). Maitreya teaches: when deceit joins hypocrisy, greed is born; anger always clings to greed, and when greed does not bear fruit, anger at once breaks out; from anger arise quarrel and mutual abuse (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 8).
  • It cannot enter Nara-Nārāyaṇa. Brahmā tells Nārada of the tapas of Nara-Nārāyaṇa, which the apsarās sent against them could not break: great ones can burn up Manmatha with a glance full of krodha, yet krodha itself trembles even to enter the pure heart of Nara-Nārāyaṇa; then where is there room for kāma there? (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 7).
  • The three enemies. When Jaya and Vijaya barred them at the door of Vaikuṇṭha, the Kumāras pronounced a śāpa: “Leave this Vaikuṇṭha and go to the births full of pāpa. There, jīvas have three enemies: kāma, krodha and lobha” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 15). Śrī Hari then told the Kumāras that the two would take birth as rākshasas and hold a fury of anger toward him, which would make their minds one-pointed on him and grow as yoga, and told Jaya and Vijaya: “By holding anger toward me ceaselessly, you will lose the pāpa of having refused the brahmavettās, and in a short time you will return to my presence” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 16).
  • Not in Śrī Kṛshṇa. After the Govardhana līlā Indra praised Śrī Kṛshṇa: “Greed, anger and such states are the marks of the ignorant, born of ignorance and the causes of saṃsāra. Where could they come from in you? Even so, to punish the wicked and protect dharma, you carry out punishment” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 27).
  • How it is conquered. Nārada Maharshi teaches Yudhishṭhira: give up imagining the objects of enjoyment and desire is conquered; give up desires and victory over anger comes; see that heaping up wealth leaves only calamity and greed goes away (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 7, Chapter 15). Śrī Kṛshṇa tells Uddhava that true śaurya (valour) is victory over one’s own nature, such as anger, not over enemies (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 19), and that from quarrel comes fierce anger, delusion follows close on anger, and through delusion the memory of what is to be done and not done is lost; the one who has lost it is equal to a dead man (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 21).

Related terms: Kāma · Lobha · Moha · Mada · Mātsarya · Arishaḍvarga · Sthāyibhāva · Raudra

Sources

  • Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 17, 20, 238–240, 253, 339
  • Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 7; Skandha 3, Chapters 12, 15–16; Skandha 4, Chapter 8; Skandha 7, Chapter 15; Skandha 10, Chapter 27; Skandha 11, Chapters 19, 21