Vaijayantī
Vaijayantī, “the garland of victory”
Vaijayantī is the divine garland of Śrī Hari, worn by Bhagavān Vishṇu and by Śrī Kṛshṇa. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa shows it in many places. At the churning of the ocean Varuṇa gave the flower-garland named Vaijayantī, with bees drunk on the honey of its flowers clustering round it. Bhagavān Ananta in Pātāla wears his Vaijayantī of forest flowers, fragrant with unfading tulasī, like the golden chain on the great elephant of Mahendra. Śrī Kṛshṇa wore the vaijayantī garland as he roamed the forest with the gopīs on the rāsa night, and when he gave darśana to Mucukunda it shone on his four-armed form as a garland of five kinds of gems. After Śrī Kṛshṇa slew Naraka, Bhūdevī offered him Vaijayantī, a garland of eight kinds of gems. Śrī Hari names it among his own forms to be remembered at dawn, and it is worshipped with his other divine weapons and ornaments in the pūjā he taught Uddhava.
Varuṇa’s gift at the churning
Śrī Śuka Maharshi tells King Parīkshit that when Lakshmī Devī rose from the ocean of milk and received her abhisheka, the devatās brought her gifts. Samudra gave a pair of yellow silk garments. Varuṇa gave the flower-garland named Vaijayantī; bees, drunk on the honey of its flowers, clustered round it. Viśvakarmā Prajāpati gave ornaments of many colours, and Sarasvatī gave a necklace.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 8, Chapter 8
Among the forms of Śrī Hari remembered at dawn
After he freed Gajendra, Śrī Hari spoke to him while all beings listened: those who rise in the last watch of the night, become pure, and with one-pointed mind remember him and these forms of his are freed from all pāpas. In that list, after the Śrīvatsa and the Kaustubha jewel, he names the Vaijayantī garland, and after it the Kaumodakī mace, his Sudarśana cakra and the conch named Pāñcajanya.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 8, Chapter 4
The garland of Ananta
Śuka tells of Bhagavān Ananta, who dwells below Pātāla. He rests his tender, beautiful arm on the top of his plough. He wears his garland of forest flowers called Vaijayantī, strung of many-coloured flowers, like the golden chain of Mahendra‘s great elephant. That garland has the fragrance of fresh, unfading tulasī, and swarms of bees, drunk with honey, hover humming round it and heighten its beauty.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 25
Worn by Śrī Kṛshṇa
On the rāsa night Śrī Kṛshṇa was the leader of a throng of hundreds of gopīs. As they sang his glory, he too sang, praising their love. Wearing the vaijayantī garland, he roamed with them and became the ornament of the forest itself.
When Kālayavana had become ash, Śrī Kṛshṇa gave his darśana to the wise king Mucukunda. Mucukunda saw him dark like a rain-cloud, in yellow silk garments, with Śrī in the form of a mark on his chest and the Kaustubha jewel at his neck, four-armed, shining with the garland called Vaijayantī, a garland of five kinds of gems, his gracious face beautiful with shining makara-kuṇḍalas.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapters 29, 51
Bhūdevī’s offering
When Śrī Kṛshṇa had struck off the head of Narakāsura with his cakra at Prāgjyotishapura, and the maharshis and the chiefs of the devas showered flowers on him, Bhūdevī came to Śrī Kṛshṇa and offered him the pair of Aditi‘s kuṇḍalas set with gems in refined gold; Vaijayantī, a garland of eight kinds of gems; a garland of forest flowers, the vanamālā; the chatra of Varuṇa; and a great maṇi.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 59
In the pūjā of Śrī Kṛshṇa
In the kriyā-yoga that Śrī Kṛshṇa teaches Uddhava, once Śrī Kṛshṇa has been invoked into the pratimā and the seat of nine śaktis and the lotus have been formed, the worshipper honours his divine weapons and ornaments in this order: the cakra named Sudarśana, the conch named Pāñcajanya, the mace named Kaumodakī, the sword named Nandana, the arrows, the plough, the pestle, the Kaustubha gem, the Vaijayantī garland and the mark named Śrīvatsa. Then the eight pārshadas, Nanda, Sunanda, Pracaṇḍa, Caṇḍa, Mahābala, Bala, Kumuda and Kumudekshaṇa, are worshipped in the eight directions, and Garuḍa in front.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 27
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 25; Skandha 8, Chapters 4, 8; Skandha 10, Chapters 29, 51, 59; Skandha 11, Chapter 27