Vāmadeva
Vāmadeva · vāma-deva
Vāmadeva has other meanings too: see all meanings of Vāmadeva.
Vāmadeva Maharshi is one of the foremost jñānīs (knowers of the Self) of the Vedic and Purāṇic tradition. He is known for knowing the oneness of the ātman with Brahman while he was still in the womb. The Kailāsa Saṃhitā places this in the Rathantara Kalpa, a named kalpa (age of the cosmos) of great antiquity.
In the Kailāsa Saṃhitā of the Śiva Purāṇa, Vāmadeva is the main student of Kumārasvāmi (Skanda) at Kumāraśikhara on Meru. In the Nārada Purāṇa he is the rāja-guru (royal teacher) of King Rukmāṅgada. In the Padma Purāṇa his consecration changes the mortal body of Candrabhāgā into a divine one. In the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa he is one of the purohitas (household priests) of King Daśaratha.
In the Bhāgavata Purāṇa he is among the maharshis who serve as ṛtviks at the yajñas of Yudhishṭhira and Vasudeva and who go with Śrī Kṛshṇa to Videha.
As Daśaratha’s purohita, Bāla Kāṇḍa
In the Bāla Kāṇḍa of the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Vāmadeva is one of the four chief purohitas of King Daśaratha at Ayodhyā. Chapter 7 names the king’s council of priests: Vāmadeva, Vasishṭha, Jābāli and Suyajña. Vāmadeva served as a brāhmaṇa adviser in royal yajñas and in governing by dharma. This is a different role from his main appearances in the Śaiva Purāṇas. (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Chapter 7)
Knowledge in the womb and the Rathantara Kalpa
The Kailāsa Saṃhitā confirms that Vāmadeva is the ṛshi who knew his oneness with Brahman while still in the womb. It places this event in the Rathantara Kalpa, one of the named kalpas of deep cosmic time. This shows that Vāmadeva’s jñāna is very old, and not limited to the present manvantara or yuga.
Kumārasvāmi says this to him when Vāmadeva comes to Kumāraśikhara:
“You are the great jñānī who knew the Brahman-identity even in the womb during the Rathantara Kalpa. Your antiquity of knowledge is extraordinary.”
After these words Kumārasvāmi does not teach Vāmadeva out of ignorance on his part. He formally hands on a teaching of the paramparā (line of teachers), which Vāmadeva will carry to later generations. (Śiva Purāṇa, Kailāsa Saṃhitā, Chapter 11)
The Kailāsa Saṃhitā: Vāmadeva as student of Kumārasvāmi
Journey to Kumāraśikhara
Sūta Romaharshaṇa finishes his pilgrimage, visiting Kanyākumārī and Śrīkāḷahasti. He then reaches Kumāraśikhara on Meru, the peak sacred to Kumārasvāmi. There he sees Vāmadeva Maharshi arrive with devoted students. Kumārasvāmi sits in great splendour with his two śaktis, Gajavalī and Suyaśā. (Kailāsa Saṃhitā, Chapters 10–11)
The twelve-verse stotra
Vāmadeva praises Kumārasvāmi with a stotra (hymn of praise) of twelve verses. It praises these things:
- his divine birth from the seed of Bhagavān Śiva, through Agni and Gaṅgā
- his six-faced form
- his role as Senāpati (commander) who killed the asura Tārakāsura
- his rule at Kumāraśikhara
- above all, his role as the supreme jñāna-guru
The last verses make a formal request. Vāmadeva asks Kumārasvāmi to teach the whole path of sannyāsa and the highest jñāna. (Kailāsa Saṃhitā, Chapter 11)
The teaching received
Kumārasvāmi accepts Vāmadeva as his student and gives the great teaching that runs through Chapters 12–23:
- Sannyāsa-dharma: the qualities of one fit to receive it, the ceremony and the daily sādhanā (practice)
- Pañcabrahma theology: the five faces of Bhagavān Śiva, with their elements, tanmātras (subtle elements) and prāṇas (life-breaths)
- the four cosmic cakras: Sṛshṭi (Brahmā), Sthiti (Vishṇu), Saṃhāra (Rudra) and Tirodhāna (Maheśvara), all part of Śiva’s pañcakṛtya (five acts)
- Śivādvaita jñāna: the 36 tattvas, the Sohaṃ and Haṃsa mahāmantra and the declaration Śivo’ham
- the yogapaṭṭa ceremony, taught in answer to Śaunaka‘s questions
- the eight mahāvākyas (great sayings) with a Śaiva meaning
- the rules of kshaura-snāna (shaving and bathing) for yatis (renunciants)
- the antima saṃskāra (last rites): burial rites for sannyāsīs, and the five ātivāhika devatās
- the rites of the 11th and 12th day for a departed sannyāsī
(Kailāsa Saṃhitā, Chapters 12–23)
Vāmadeva’s place in the guru-paramparā
At the end of the teaching, Kumārasvāmi names the chain through which this Oṃkāra-vijñāna passes:
“In the past, Vyāsa Maharshi narrated this jñāna to the mahārshis at Naimishāraṇya — he is the first guru (jagadguru). You, revered one, will be famous as the second guru (in this chain). Sanatkumāra, filled with śiva-bhakti upon hearing this from your lotus-mouth, will narrate it to Vyāsa. That foremost Śiva-bhakta will then teach it to Śuka.”
In the line that leads to Śuka, Vāmadeva is the parameshṭhiguru (guru of the third order):
- Kumārasvāmi, the parātparaguru (the highest source)
- Vāmadeva, the parameshṭhiguru
- Sanatkumāra, the paramaguru
- Vyāsa, the guru
- Śuka, the student
Kumārasvāmi also names Vāmadeva’s own direct students in this line: Agastya, Pulastya, Pulaha and Kratu. (Kailāsa Saṃhitā, Chapter 23)
Return to Kailāsa
When the teaching ends, Vāmadeva and his students bow to Kumārasvāmi with great respect and go to Kailāsa. There he comes before Parameśvara. He bows again and again in sāshṭāṅga-praṇāma (full prostration) at the feet of Pārvatī and Bhagavān Śiva and receives their darśana. His whole being trembles with bhakti (devotion), and he loses awareness of his body in their presence.
He then praises Parameśvara with a great stotra made from the essence of all the Vedas and Śāstras. He places the lotus feet of the divine pair on his head with deep respect. Vāmadeva then makes his permanent home at Kailāsa, in their presence (sannidhi). (Kailāsa Saṃhitā, Chapter 23)
In Rukmāṅgada’s court
Vāmadeva was chief minister and spiritual adviser (rāja-guru) to King Rukmāṅgada. He went with the king on his journey to the Mandara mountain to perform Vishṇu–pūjā. Rukmāṅgada was taken by the music and the beauty of Mohinī. Vāmadeva at once saw the signs of a divine creation sent to put obstacles in the way of dharma. He urged the king to hold back and warned him. (Nārada Purāṇa, Uttarārdha, Chapter 10)
Rukmāṅgada’s past life
In Chapter 11, Rukmāṅgada asked why he had received such great bhoga (enjoyment) and why his kingdom was so rich. Vāmadeva told him:
“O King, in a previous birth you were born in a śūdra family. You endured poverty and served others to survive. One day, accompanying brāhmaṇas on a tīrtha-yātrā, you arrived at Mathurā and bathed in the Yamunā at the Viśrānti tīrtha. There you heard the śūnya-śayana vrata narrated from the Varāha Purāṇa. You observed it: the worshipping of Lakshmī-sahita Śrī Hari on Śrāvaṇa dvitīyā. That one vrata, observed with sincere devotion, was the seed of all the prosperity and devotion of your current birth. In this life the Dvādaśī vrata has elevated you further. You will certainly attain Śrī Hari’s sāyujya.”
So a single vrata (vow) kept with true devotion in one life grew into a whole life of bhakti and great karma in the next. (Nārada Purāṇa, Uttarārdha, Chapter 11)
Candrabhāgā’s journey to Mandara (Padma Purāṇa)
In the Rāmā Ekādaśī account of the Padma Purāṇa, Vāmadeva’s āśrama (hermitage) is near the Mandara mountain. Candrabhāgā, daughter of King Mucukunda, wished to go to the divine city of her dead husband Śobhana. She wished to make it steady with the puṇya of her lifelong Ekādaśī vrata. The brāhmaṇa Somaśarman first brought her to Vāmadeva’s āśrama.
Vāmadeva listened to her whole account. He then performed a rite of consecration for Candrabhāgā. He sprinkled her with water made holy by Vedic hymns (mantropavīta). The power of this sprinkling joined with the power of her own decades of faithful Ekādaśī vrata, and her mortal body became a divine form. Her eyes opened wide with great joy, and she went on to her husband’s city on the peak of Mandara. (Padma Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 60)
The Vāmadeva Gītā: teacher of rājadharma
In the Śānti Parva of the Mahābhārata, Bhīshma tells Yudhishṭhira an ancient teaching that Vāmadeva gave to King Vasumana. Vasumana was steady (dhṛtimān), wise (jñānavān) and pious, and he asked for guidance on keeping to dharma in ruling. The teaching runs through three chapters (92–94). It is called gītam, “sung”.
Vāmadeva’s basic teaching is that dharma stands above artha (wealth and gain). A king who puts artha before dharma loses both. A king who is adhārmika (against dharma) and lets pāpa grow becomes the pattern for his whole realm. Vāmadeva says, “Whatever conduct the king follows in his realm, the people follow that same conduct.” He also says that a king with ministers who go against dharma deserves to be killed by his own people.
Vāmadeva names several things that destroy a king: sāhasya (rashness without thought), self-praise, failure to protect those who have taken shelter with him, and acting without teachers of dharma. He names several things that keep a king strong:
- openness to what is good
- freedom from envy
- victory over the senses
- the right balance between severity (tīkshṇatā) and gentleness (mṛdutā)
A king who is only gentle is used and killed “as they slay a mouse”. A king who is only severe drives his people away. The king who finds the right balance, always guided by buddhi (reason), lasts.
The teaching also speaks of svadharma (one’s own duty). A kshatriya may give up the hard duties of rule, such as using daṇḍa (punishment), making enemies when justice needs it, and protecting those in his care, and choose an easier paradharma (another’s duty). Then he has broken his own true nature. Kshatriya dharma is hard because it asks him to do what is difficult and not what is easy. (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Rājadharmānuśāsana Parva, Chapters 92–94)
The vāmya horses, Maṇḍūkopākhyāna
In the Vana Parva (Chapter 192), Mārkaṇḍeya Maharshi tells the Pāṇḍavas the Maṇḍūkopākhyāna. Vāmadeva Maharshi appears in a side episode of it, about King Parīkshit of the Ikshvāku line.
Parīkshit had three sons by his wife Suśobhanā, daughter of Āyu, the king of the frogs (Maṇḍūka-rāja): Śala, Dala and Bala. The eldest, Śala, did a grave wrong. He took Vāmadeva Maharshi’s horses, the vāmya horses, by force. While Śala travelled through the forest with the horses, rākshasas killed him and his company.
The second son, Dala, kept up a hostile relation with Vāmadeva’s tradition. As a result, Dala’s own son Śyenajit was killed by an arrow. Dala’s wife in the end stepped in to end the conflict, and the horses were put back in their rightful place. (Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 192)
Per Bhāgavata Purāṇa
In the Bhāgavata Purāṇa Vāmadeva appears in the lists of maharshis around Śrī Kṛshṇa, as Śuka Maharshi tells them to Parīkshit.
At the Rājasūya. When Yudhishṭhira, with Śrī Kṛshṇa’s leave, began his Rājasūya at the fit time, he chose as ṛtvijas worthy brāhmaṇas who knew the Veda. Vāmadeva is the thirteenth of the thirty ṛtvijas named, after Viśvāmitra and before Sumati and Jaimini.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 74
At Samantapañcaka. When the Yādavas, the Pāṇḍavas, the kings and the people of Gokula were gathered at Samantapañcaka kshetra, maharshis came to see Balarāma and Śrī Kṛshṇa; Vāmadeva is named among them, after Yājñavalkya and before Dhaumya. When the maharshis told Vasudeva how to free himself of his debt by yajña, he bowed to them and chose them as his ṛtviks, and they had him perform excellent yajñas there with the proper mantras and materials.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 84
On the way to Videha. When Śrī Kṛshṇa, gracious to the brāhmaṇa Śrutadeva and King Bahulāśva of Janaka‘s line, set out for Videha in the chariot brought by Dāruka, the maharshis who went with him were Nārada, Vāmadeva, Atri, Vyāsa, Paraśurāma, Asita, Aruṇa, Śuka himself, Bṛhaspati, Kaṇva, Maitreya, Cyavana and others.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 86
At Piṇḍāraka. Vāmadeva is among the maharshis who took leave of Śrī Kṛshṇa in Vasudeva’s house and went to Piṇḍāraka-kshetra: Viśvāmitra, Asita, Kaṇva, Durvāsa, Bhṛgu, Aṅgiras, Kaśyapa, Vāmadeva, Atri, Vasishṭha, Nārada, Gautama and others. There the young Yādavas dressed Sāmba as a woman with child and mocked the maharshis by asking whether she would bear a son, and the maharshis together said that she would give birth to a musala that would bring the whole vaṃśa to its end. The text names no single ṛshi as the speaker.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 1
Vāmadeva elsewhere in the tradition
Vāmadeva appears in other places in the Vedic and Purāṇic tradition:
- He is a ṛshi who composed hymns in Ṛgveda Maṇḍala IV.
- He is linked with the insight of Aham Brahmāsmi (“I am Brahman”), which he is known to have realised even in the womb, in the Rathantara Kalpa.
- In the Śiva Purāṇa (Kailāsa Saṃhitā) he receives Kumārasvāmi’s full teaching on sannyāsa, and he is the parameshṭhiguru in Śuka‘s line.
Vāmadeva is also the name of the second face of Bhagavān Śiva in the Pañcabrahma system, the north-facing Vāmadeva Brahma.
Sources
- Śiva Purāṇa, Kailāsa Saṃhitā, Chapters 11–23
- Nārada Purāṇa, Uttarārdha, Chapters 10–11
- Padma Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 60
- Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Chapter 7
- Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 192
- Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Rājadharmānuśāsana Parva, Chapters 92–94
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapters 74, 84, 86; Skandha 11, Chapter 1