Hayagrīva

Hayagrīva is a name of two beings in the Purāṇas. It is the name of a fierce asura who stole the Vedas from Brahmā during the pralaya (the dissolution at the end of a kalpa). It is also the name of the sacred horse-headed form of Bhagavān Vishṇu. In this form Bhagavān Vishṇu is the embodiment of wisdom and the keeper of the Vedas.

The Agni Purāṇa shows Hayagrīva as the narrator of the śālagrāma pūjā and of the science of sacred images. The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa shows him as the narrator of the Lalitopākhyāna. The Skanda Purāṇa and the Mahābhārata each tell how he rose to recover the Vedas.

The asura Hayagrīva

At the end of the previous kalpa, Brahmā fell into his great cosmic sleep, which comes with the pralaya. All the worlds were under the primal ocean. In that time of dissolution and darkness, an asura named Hayagrīva, whose name means “horse-necked”, saw his chance. He stole the Vedas from Brahmā. With the sacred knowledge of the Vedas gone from the world, the base of the next cycle of creation was in danger.

Matsya-Vishṇu was protecting Vaivasvata Manu through the great flood. He also killed the asura Hayagrīva and took back the stolen Vedas. When the waters of the pralaya went down and the new kalpa began, the Vedas were given back to Brahmā, and creation could go on. This recovery is part of the Matsya avatāra (descent of Bhagavān Vishṇu). (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 2)

Vishṇu as Hayagrīva

The Agni Purāṇa also shows Hayagrīva as an avatāra of Bhagavān Vishṇu. He is the horse-headed form that is wisdom itself and sacred learning. He gives the highest understanding.

The Agni Purāṇa has parts on temple pūjā, the forms of sacred images and the setting up of mūrtis (sacred images), and Hayagrīva himself tells them. In the forty-seventh adhyāya (chapter), Hayagrīva tells the ṛshis (seers) who have gathered how to do the śālagrāma pūjā. The śālagrāma-śilā is the sacred fossil stone in which Bhagavān Vishṇu is present.

Hayagrīva teaches that the pūjā of Śrī Hari is of three kinds.

  • Kāmya: pūjā done with some wish in view.
  • Akāmya: pūjā done with no personal wish, only for the joy of Bhagavān Vishṇu.
  • Kāmyākāmya: pūjā that is both.

He also names three grades of śālagrāma pūjā.

  • The nishphala-pūjā done on a shoḍaśa-dala-maṇḍala (a maṇḍala of a sixteen-petalled lotus) is uttama (the highest).
  • The mūrti-pūjā (the pūjā of an image) is madhyama (the middle grade).
  • The saphala-pūjā on an ashṭa-dala-maṇḍala (an eight-petalled lotus) is kanishṭha (the lowest).

Hayagrīva describes in detail the layout of the maṇḍalas, the nyāsas (placing of mantras on the body or the maṇḍala), the places of Guru and the other attendants in the main and in-between directions, the mudrās (hand signs) to be shown, and the steps of the rite for each of the three grades. (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 47)

Hayagrīva as narrator of the Lalitopākhyāna

The Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa gives Hayagrīva his widest role as the narrator of the Lalitopākhyāna, in its Upasaṃhāra Pāda.

Agastya Maharshi was on a pilgrimage at Kāñcīpura. He worshipped Ekāmreśvara and Kāmākshīdevī. He asked Hayagrīva, the form in which Bhagavān Vishṇu appeared before him, about the way to moksha (liberation) for ordinary people. Hayagrīva answered that Indra had once asked the same question. The answer, he said, was the Lalitopākhyāna, the account of Lalitā Mahātripurasundarī.

Hayagrīva then told Agastya the whole Lalitopākhyāna at Kāñcī (Chapters 5–43). It has these parts.

  • The coming forth of Lalitā.
  • Her marriage with Kāmeśvara.
  • The description of Śrī Nagara.
  • The war against Bhaṇḍāsura.
  • The full teaching of Śrī Vidyā. This includes the Pañcadaśī mantra, the Śrī Cakra, the nine mudrās and the Lalitā Sahasranāma. (Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Lalitopākhyāna, Chapters 5–43)

Hayagrīva at Badarīkāśrama: the Brahmakuṇḍa

The Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa (Badarī Kshetra Māhātmya, Chapter 6) tells a Hayagrīva account set at Badarīkāśrama. During a pralaya, Madhu and Kaiṭabha stole the Vedas from Brahmā. Brahmā could not get them back by himself. He came to Badarīkāśrama, the highest Vaishṇava kshetra (sacred ground), and offered an earnest stotra (hymn of praise) to Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa.

In answer, Hayagrīva rose directly from a sacred kuṇḍa (pool) at Badarī. He had four arms and a horse’s head, and he blazed with light. He killed Madhu and Kaiṭabha and brought back the Vedas.

After this the Vedas took two forms. Their sound form, śabda, went back with Brahmā for creation. Their liquid form stayed at Badarī as the river Sarasvatī, the four Vedas in the form of water. Brahmā named the kuṇḍa from which Hayagrīva rose the Brahmakuṇḍa, also called the Brahma Tīrtha. The ṛshi Vyāsa composed the Purāṇas by the grace of this Sarasvatī. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Badarī Kshetra Māhātmya, Chapter 6)

Hayagrīva at Dharmāraṇya: the origin of the horse head

The Dharmāraṇya Khaṇḍa tells how the horse-headed form of Bhagavān Vishṇu began, and how he later did tapas (austerity) at Dharmāraṇya. It tells this in answer to a question from Skanda.

Long ago the devas held a great yajña (fire ritual) and called Bhagavān Vishṇu. They found him deep in yogic sleep, with his chin resting on his bow for support. They could not wake him. They asked white ants (vamrī) for help, and the ants chewed through the bowstring. When the string snapped, the stored force cut off Bhagavān Vishṇu’s head. It flew upward and was lost.

The devas were horrified. They took the head of one of Sūrya’s chariot horses at midday, and Viśvakarma fixed it to Bhagavān Vishṇu’s body. Bhagavān Vishṇu rose up shining as Hayagrīva. He said that the horse face was not a fault but a divine form, served by all the devas.

The deeper cause was then made known. At an earlier assembly, Bhagavān Vishṇu had said that Brahmā and all the worlds were under his māyā (power of illusion). Brahmā was angry and spoke a śāpa (a curse) that Vishṇu’s head would fall. Bhagavān Vishṇu accepted the śāpa, and the bowstring event was its fulfilment.

Brahmā then did 300 years of tapas at Dharmāraṇya to deal with the results of his words of śāpa. Hayagrīva also did 300 years of tapas there. Their time there made the kshetra still more sacred. Through Hayagrīva’s tapas, the holy Devavarma lake came into being. Its waters are as holy as the Gaṅgā. The Mukteśvara liṅga was set up by Brahmā, Vishṇu and Śiva together. It gives moksha to all who seek it, and especially to those who have no children. (Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa, Dharmāraṇya Khaṇḍa, Pūrvārdha, Chapters 14–15)

The Hayagrīva avatāra in the Mahābhārata

The Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 347, gives a Hayagrīva avatāra in the Nārāyaṇīya section.

The birth of Madhu and Kaiṭabha. In this account the two asuras were born from two drops of water on the petals of the lotus where Brahmā sat. One drop of tamas (darkness) became Madhu. One drop of rajas (passion) became Kaiṭabha. Both came into being at the very start of creation. They seized the four Vedas and fled to the north-eastern ocean, going down to Rasātala.

Brahmā’s stotra of seven births. Brahmā could not create without the Vedas. He praised Nārāyaṇa in a stotra that lists seven of his births and cosmic forms.

The Sāmaveda plan. Nārāyaṇa did not face the asuras head-on. He took the form of Hayagrīva and went down to Rasātala unseen. There he sang the Sāmaveda with perfect svara (the pitches udātta, anudātta and svarita) and with complete chandas (metre). The sound was so beautiful that even the asuras, who hated the Vedas, could not resist it. They left the Vedas where they were and went toward the music. While they were drawn away, Hayagrīva took back all four Vedas and gave them to Brahmā.

Killing the asuras and his home. The asuras came back and found the Vedas gone. They came out to fight, and Hayagrīva killed both. Nārāyaṇa then set up his Hayagrīva form for all time at the north-eastern ocean as guardian of the Vedas. The account ends with a phalaśruti (a statement of the fruit of hearing it) by the ṛshi Gālava. (Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 347)

Sources

  • Agni Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 2 and 47
  • Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Lalitopākhyāna, Chapters 5–43
  • Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Badarī Kshetra Māhātmya, Chapter 6
  • Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa, Dharmāraṇya Khaṇḍa, Pūrvārdha, Chapters 14–15
  • Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 347