Sūta Romaharshaṇa

Romaharshaṇa, simply known as Romaharshana, Sanskrit: रोमहर्षण, Telugu: రోమహర్షణుడు, Hindi: रोमहर्षण.

Sūta Romaharshaṇa is the foremost narrator of the Purāṇas. He was the disciple of Vyāsa. He received the whole body of the Purāṇas and passed it on to the ṛshis gathered at Naimishāraṇya. He is the narrator of the Śiva Purāṇa, the Skanda Purāṇa and other Mahāpurāṇas.

His name Romaharshaṇa means “he who makes the hair stand on end (with joy or wonder)”. His telling moved listeners to deep devotion.

Identity and name

Sūta, also written Lomaharshaṇa or Romaharshaṇa, is the title of a particular hereditary office: the reciter and carrier of the Purāṇic texts. A sūta is one born of a kshatriya father and a brāhmaṇa mother (an anuloma union), and the work given to such a person was to be charioteer and narrator. Sūta Romaharshaṇa is more than a hereditary reciter. He is known as the greatest of all narrators of the Purāṇas and as a direct disciple of Vyāsa.

The name Romaharshaṇa (or Lomaharshaṇa) means “he whose recital makes the hairs of the listeners stand on end”. This refers to romāñca (the bristling of the skin) that comes when a listener is moved by deep feeling or by devotion. His telling was so strong that the bodies of his listeners shook with devotion without their will. (Śiva Purāṇa, Vidyeśvara Saṃhitā, Chapter 1)

The line of teaching

Sūta Romaharshaṇa stands at a set point in the chain that brings the Śiva Purāṇa from its divine source to human listeners. The whole line, as the Vidyeśvara Saṃhitā gives it, is:

Śiva → Nandīśvara → Sanatkumāra → Vyāsa → Sūta Romaharshaṇa → the ṛshis at Naimishāraṇya

At each step the teaching goes from teacher to student without loss. Bhagavān Śiva is the first source. Nandīśvara received the teaching directly from Bhagavān Śiva. Sanatkumāra received it from Nandīśvara. Vyāsa received it and set it down in writing in the seven saṃhitās. Sūta received the whole body of the text from Vyāsa. (Śiva Purāṇa, Vidyeśvara Saṃhitā, Chapter 1)

The assembly at Naimishāraṇya

The Vidyeśvara Saṃhitā opens with Sūta coming to the forest of Naimishāraṇya. A great assembly of ṛshis had gathered there for a sattra (a long yajña and shared spiritual practice) of a thousand years. The ṛshis, led by Śaunaka, the chief of the assembly, came to Sūta with respect and asked him for the highest teaching. (Śiva Purāṇa, Vidyeśvara Saṃhitā, Chapter 1)

Sūta does not begin with his own wisdom. He first praises the line through which he received the teaching. He says plainly that he carries it on and did not originate it.

Sūta and kīrtana

The Vidyeśvara Saṃhitā describes a three-fold sādhanā (spiritual practice) of devotion to Bhagavān Śiva: śravaṇa (hearing), kīrtana (singing or telling) and manana (reflection). In this practice Sūta stands for kīrtana. He heard the divine narrative through śravaṇa, from Vyāsa, who had it from the chain going back to Bhagavān Śiva. He now does kīrtana by telling it to the ṛshis. Through his telling he makes it possible for others to hear it and reflect on it.

His part in other Purāṇas

Sūta Romaharshaṇa is the narrator not only of the Śiva Purāṇa but of several Mahāpurāṇas, all told at the same assembly at Naimishāraṇya. This thousand-year sattra at Naimishāraṇya is the setting that holds together the whole body of the Purāṇas. The great work of Vyāsa in compiling the Purāṇas was kept and passed on through Sūta, who told all of it to Śaunaka and the gathered ṛshis.

Sources

• Śiva Purāṇa, Vidyeśvara Saṃhitā, Chapter 1