Abhaya
Abhaya · a-bhaya, “fearlessness”
Grammar: neuter noun; a (not) with bhaya (fear): “the absence of fear”.
Meaning: fearlessness, freedom from fear; the protection that Śrī Hari, a king or a righteous person gives to the frightened and the distressed. The raised hand of Bhagavān Narasiṃha and of Śrī Kṛshṇa gives abhaya.
In the scriptures: the Bhāgavata Purāṇa uses the word for the protection a king owes the distressed, for moksha, and above all for the fearlessness that Śrī Hari gives with his own hand.
When Parīkshit came upon Dharma in the form of a bull, beaten by Kali, and promised him protection, Dharma answered that the Pāṇḍavas had won Śrī Kṛshṇa to be their envoy, and that for one born in the line of Pāṇḍu to give abhaya like this to those in distress was entirely fitting (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapter 17).
Svāyambhuva Manu, calming Dhruva after his war with the yakshas, told him that all beings are alarmed when they see a person filled with anger. So the discerning person who wishes for abhaya, which the text glosses as moksha, must not come under the sway of anger. The text explains abhaya as this: that no one should fear him, and that he should not fear others (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 11).
When Bhagavān Narasiṃha raised the child Prahlāda and placed his lotus-like hand on his head, the Purāṇa says that with that same hand he gives abhaya and takes away from the hearts of his devotees the fear that comes from Kāla, time and death (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 7, Chapter 9).
When Varuṇa‘s servant carried Nanda away, Śrī Kṛshṇa, who gives abhaya to his own, went to Varuṇa to bring him back (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 28). In the rāsa night the gopīs said that his arms, like staffs, give abhaya to the devotees (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 29). In the Gopikā Gīta they sang: “When those afraid of saṃsāra take refuge at your feet, you give them abhaya with your lotus-like hand. Place on our heads that hand of yours which holds the hand of Lakshmī Devī and fulfils the wishes of your devotees” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 31).
Related terms: Bhaya · Śaraṇa · Moksha · Dayā · Abhaya-hasta
Other meanings
Abhaya has more than one meaning in the Purāṇas and Itihāsas. Besides the meaning above, it names those listed here, each with where it is told.
- Abhaya, son of Dharma: Abhaya is the son of Dharma and Dayā. Dayā, compassion for beings, is a daughter of Daksha and Prasūti and a wife of Dharma, and she bore Abhaya; the text explains that one who has dayā gives fearlessness to all beings and is himself without fear. Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 1
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapter 17; Skandha 4, Chapters 1, 11; Skandha 7, Chapter 9; Skandha 10, Chapters 28–29, 31