Cāraṇas

Cāraṇa, “the wandering singers”

The Cāraṇas are devayonis, beings of divine birth, who are named again and again in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa beside the siddhas, gandharvas and vidyādharas. They were born when Bhagavān Śrī Hari remembered the musical notes, and singing is their nature: they sing and praise when Bhagavān Śrī Hari takes avatāra, when he slays the asuras who trouble the good, and when his devotees do great deeds. Their abodes lie in the sky ten thousand yojanas below Rāhu, and they roam the caves of Trikūṭa and gather wherever the devas gather, in the sabhā of Indra, at the Rājasūya of Dharmarāja and at the departure of Śrī Kṛshṇa.

The Bhāgavata shows them as servants of the glory of Śrī Hari. At Bhagavān Narasiṃha‘s appearance they took refuge in his feet, which free from saṃsāra; they played the mṛdaṅga and drums when Śrī Kṛshṇa danced on Kāliya; and Śrī Kṛshṇa names them among the beings who reached his own state through satsaṅga, the company of the good, without study of the Vedas, vratas or tapas.

Their birth

Śuka tells Parīkshit of the Virāṭ form of Bhagavān Śrī Hari: the wondrous craftsmanship of Parameśvara took shape as the birds, and when he remembered the svaras (musical notes) beginning with shaḍja, those memories took shape as the devayonis called gandharvas, vidyādharas, cāraṇas and apsarases. Śuka, telling of creation, names the Cāraṇas among the beings that Īśvara, Śrī Hari in the form of Brahmā, creates: Prajāpatis, Manus, devatās, ṛshis, the hosts of pitṛs, siddhas, cāraṇas, gandharvas, vidyādharas, asuras, yakshas, kinnaras, apsarās, nāgas and all the rest. Maitreya tells Vidura that the deva sarga, the creation of divine beings, has eight kinds, and the siddhas, cāraṇas and vidyādharas together are the sixth.

They are part of the Virāṭ Purusha himself. Brahmā tells Nārada that he, Nārada, Śaṅkara, the devas, asuras and humans, the gandharvas, siddhas, vidyādharas and cāraṇas, and all creatures of water, land and sky are only the Virāṭ Purusha; and the chiefs of the gandharvas, vidyādharas, cāraṇas, yakshas and the other hosts are forms of Parabrahma.

Śrī Kṛshṇa tells Uddhava that the Veda he first gave to Brahmā passed to Svāyambhuva Manu and to the seven prajāpatis, and that their sons, among them the devatās, dānavas, yakshas, humans, siddhas, gandharvas, vidyādharas and cāraṇas, received it from their fathers.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapters 1, 6, 10; Skandha 3, Chapter 10; Skandha 11, Chapter 14

Their abode

Śuka tells Parīkshit of the regions between Sūrya and the earth. The text prints this line:

ततोऽधस्तात्सिद्धचारणविद्याधराणां सदनानि तावन्मात्र एव ।

tato’dhastāt siddha-cāraṇa-vidyādharāṇāṃ sadanāni tāvanmātra eva

Just as far below that, ten thousand yojanas below Rāhu, are the abodes of the Siddhas, Cāraṇas and Vidyādharas.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 24

Below them is the antariksha (the middle air), the pleasure-ground of yakshas, rākshasas and bhūtas, and below that the earth. The Cāraṇas also frequent the caves of Trikūṭa with the siddhas, gandharvas, vidyādharas, great nāgas, kinnaras and apsarases. Their world is one of those the nine Yogeśvaras, the sons of Ṛshabha, roamed freely.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 24; Skandha 8, Chapter 2; Skandha 11, Chapter 2

In the service of the devas

In the sabhā of Indra the Cāraṇas stand with the Maruts, Vasus, Rudras, Ādityas, Ṛbhus, Viśvedevas, Sādhyas, siddhas, gandharvas, maharshis, vidyādharas, apsarās and kinnaras, serving and praising him. When Vṛtra, his arm cut off, struck Indra on the jaw with an iron club and the vajra fell from Indra’s hand, the devas, rākshasas, cāraṇas and siddhas gathered in crowds praised that wondrous deed and cried out at Indra’s danger. Hiraṇyakaśipu conquered them with the gandharvas, nāgas, siddhas, vidyādharas and maharshis. When Devī Lakshmī rose from the ocean of milk and sought a husband faultless, eternal and of unfailing virtue, she found none among the gandharvas, yakshas, siddhas, cāraṇas or devas.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapters 7, 12; Skandha 7, Chapter 4; Skandha 8, Chapter 8

Their praise of Śrī Hari and his devotees

In the order of the text:

• With the siddhas, gandharvas, munis and apsarās they praised Bhagavān Kapila as he went north-east from his father’s āśrama, and Samudra gave him a place to dwell. (Skandha 3, Chapter 33)
• With the yakshas and kinnaras they praised Kubera as he came to Dhruva. (Skandha 4, Chapter 12)
• Pṛthu, at the end of his yajñas, greeted the devatās, maharshis, gandharvas, siddhas, cāraṇas and all who had come as Śrī Hari himself, bowed to them and honoured them. (Skandha 4, Chapter 20)
• All along the way they praised Brahmā as he came down to Priyavrata. (Skandha 5, Chapter 1)
• When Bhagavān Śrī Hari appeared to Daksha after the Haṃsaguhya stotra, siddhas, gandharvas and cāraṇas sang his praise behind him. (Skandha 6, Chapter 4)
• With the maharshis and siddhas they praised Citraketu, the lord of the vidyādharas. (Skandha 6, Chapter 17)
• When Bhagavān Narasiṃha had slain Hiraṇyakaśipu, the Cāraṇas came with Brahmā, Rudra, Indra and the devas and praised him: “O Śrī Hari, we have taken refuge in your lotus feet, which free from saṃsāra, for you have slain this rākshasa who caused fear in the hearts of the good.” (Skandha 7, Chapter 8)
• With the maharshis and siddhas they praised Śrī Hari, Purushottama, at the release of Gajendra. (Skandha 8, Chapter 4)
• At the birth of Bhagavān Vāmana they sang, danced and rained flowers on the āśrama of Aditi. (Skandha 8, Chapter 18)
• With the devas, gandharvas, vidyādharas and siddhas they praised Bali‘s truthfulness when he gave his all and showered flowers. (Skandha 8, Chapter 20)
• With the siddhas and gandharvas they sing the deeds of Paraśurāma, who dwells on Mount Mahendra even today. (Skandha 9, Chapter 16)
• At the birth of Śrī Kṛshṇa, siddhas and cāraṇas offered praise; when Devī Yogamāyā, born after Śrī Hari, flew up from Kaṃsa‘s hand into the sky with her eight arms, they brought her great offerings and praised her. (Skandha 10, Chapters 3–4)
• When Śrī Kṛshṇa made ready to dance on the hoods of Kāliya, his devotees the Cāraṇas played mṛdaṅgas, drums and bherīs. (Skandha 10, Chapter 16)
• When he held up Govardhana, they rained flowers and praised him; at his abhisheka as Govinda they sang with Nārada and Tumburu the glory of Śrī Hari, which removes the pāpas of people. (Skandha 10, Chapters 25, 27)
• In the waters of the Yamunā Akrūra saw Ādiśesha with siddhas, cāraṇas and gandharvas praising him with bowed necks. (Skandha 10, Chapter 39)
• They came to the Rājasūya of Dharmarāja, sang Śrī Kṛshṇa’s victory over Dantavakra and Vidūratha and rained flowers, and at the end of Vasudeva‘s yajña at Samantapañcaka they were honoured by him. (Skandha 10, Chapters 74, 78, 84)
• They went to Dvārakā with the devas for the darśana of Śrī Kṛshṇa, and they came to see his departure from the world, singing his līlās. (Skandha 11, Chapters 6, 31)

They appear too among the beings Citralekhā drew for Ushā, and among those who came in vimānas to watch the battle at Bāṇa‘s city. (Skandha 10, Chapters 62–63)

Bhakti and satsaṅga

Yama tells his dūtas that the dharma taught by Bhagavān Śrī Hari is beyond even maharshis and devatās: how then could asuras, humans, vidyādharas, cāraṇas or kinnaras know it? Yet Śrī Kṛshṇa tells Uddhava that in every yuga many beings reached his state through satsaṅga alone, without study of the Vedas, service of mahātmās, vratas or tapas, and among them he names the Cāraṇas, with the asuras, gandharvas, siddhas, yakshas and vidyādharas. Bali, praising Śrī Kṛshṇa in Sutala, names the cāraṇas with the daityas, dānavas, gandharvas, siddhas and others, and himself, among those who have always held firm enmity towards him whose form is pure sattva.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapter 3; Skandha 10, Chapter 85; Skandha 11, Chapter 12

Sources

• Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapters 1, 6, 10; Skandha 3, Chapters 10, 33; Skandha 4, Chapters 12, 20; Skandha 5, Chapters 1, 24; Skandha 6, Chapters 3–4, 7, 12, 17; Skandha 7, Chapters 4, 8; Skandha 8, Chapters 2, 4, 8, 18, 20; Skandha 9, Chapter 16; Skandha 10, Chapters 3–4, 16, 25, 27, 39, 62–63, 74, 78, 84–85; Skandha 11, Chapters 2, 6, 12, 14, 31