Sādhyas

Sādhya

The Sādhyas are a gaṇa, a host, of devatās. The Vāmana Purāṇa places their home in Tapoloka, the world of tapasvīs far above the earth, where the very breath of the Sādhya devatās is a wind the daityas cannot bear. They are named again and again in the deva host beside the Vasus, the Viśvedevas, the Maruts and the Aśvins: they rose when Vīrabhadra entered Daksha‘s yajña, they marched in the middle of Indra‘s army against Andhaka, and they went out with Indra against Bali and Kālanemi.

The Purāṇa gives them a share in sacred things. When the devas’ tejas came together as Kātyāyanī Devī, her eyebrows were formed from the tejas of the Sādhyas; the haricandana trees arose from their hearts; and in the sleep of the devas in Śrāvaṇa, the Sādhyas sleep on the ekādaśī of the dark fortnight. Prahlāda saw them within the infant Vāmana in Aditi‘s womb, and Bhagavān Vāmana declares that devas, humans and Sādhyas alike gain all four purushārthas through his forms. In Kurukshetra they have been doing tapas at Phalakīvana for a thousand divine years, and they served the tīrthas and liṅgas around the Sthāṇuvaṭa with śraddhā. The Purāṇa also calls two sons of Dharma by the name Sādhya: Nārāyaṇa Ṛshi and Sanatkumāra.

Their home in Tapoloka

When the daitya Dhundhu, in the time of Hiraṇyakaśipu, wished to go to Brahmaloka to conquer the devas who had taken shelter there, the daityas told him that the way was beyond them. Beyond Maharloka, they said, at a distance of six crore yojanas, lies Tapoloka, full of tapasvīs: “We cannot bear the force of the breath-wind of the Sādhya devatās who live there, and live.” Beyond that again lies Satyaloka, whose lord is Brahmā.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 52

In the deva host

At Daksha‘s yajña, when Vīrabhadra entered the yajñaśālā, all the devas there rose to face him: the eight Vasus, the nine grahas, the twelve Ādityas headed by Indra, the eleven Rudras, the Viśvedevas, the Sādhyas, the siddhas, gandharvas and kiṃpurushas, and the rest. When Bhagavān Śiva himself came and the Vasus and the eleven Rudras fled, the Viśvedevas, the Aśvins, the Sādhyas, the Maruts, Sūrya and the Agnis ate the puroḍāśa, the rice-cake offering of the yajña.

When the daitya Andhaka marched on Meru, Indra (Devendra) went out on Airāvata, and the deva army advanced in order: the twelve Ādityas in front, the Rudras behind, and in the middle the eight Vasus, the Viśvedevas, the Sādhyas, the Maruts, the Aśvins, and all the yakshas and vidyādharas, each on his own vāhana. In that war Andhaka struck with his arrows Candra, Sūrya and Vāyu, the Rudras, the Aśvins and the Vasus, the Sādhyas and the Nāgas, and every one who stood with weapons in hand, and made them flee the field.

When Skanda bowed to Bhagavān Vishṇu, Janārdana performed svastivācana, the recitation of blessings, for him and gave him leave. Among its blessings: “May the Viśvedevas, the Aśvins, the Rudras with śūla in hand, the Sādhyas, the Maruts, the Agnis, the Yakshas, the Piśācas, the Vasus and the Kinnaras, all of these, always help your rise.”

When Bali set out with the daityas for war, Indra mounted the chariot brought by Mātali, and the deva host went out with him: the Ādityas, Vasus, Yakshas, Rudras, Sādhyas, Viśvedevas, the Aśvins, vidyādharas, rājarshis, siddhas and many bhūtagaṇas, on elephants, horses, chariots, vimānas and bird-vāhanas. When Kālanemi grew his body until it filled all the directions, the devas, gandharvas, yakshas, siddhas and Sādhyas trembled with fear and fled wherever they could, and the daityas turned their weapons on Śrī Hari.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 4–5, 9–10, 32, 47

Their tejas, their trees and their sleep

Pulastya Maharshi tells Nārada Maharshi how the devas sleep in turn. When Sūrya enters Karkaṭa, the night of the devas, Dakshiṇāyana, begins, and from pāḍyami the devas sleep in order: Brahmā, Viśvakarmā, Devī Pārvatī, Vināyaka, Yama, Kumārasvāmī, Sūrya, Kātyāyanī, Mahālakshmī, the serpents who live on air, and on the kṛshṇa-paksha ekādaśī, the Sādhyas.

In the month of Āśvayuja, when the lotus was born from the navel of Jagannātha, from the other devatās too their own flowers and plants arose, from Kāmadeva the kadamba, from Bhagavān Śiva the dhattūra, from Mahālakshmī the bilva, and from the hearts of the Sādhyas the haricandana trees. “The trees and plants born from them became dear to those devatās.”

When the daitya Mahisha drove the devas from svarga, the tejas that blazed forth from Śrī Hari, Bhagavān Śiva, Brahmā and the devas joined with the tejas of Kātyāyana Maharshi in his āśrama, and from it came forth Kātyāyanī Devī, shining like a thousand suns. Each part of her form came from the tejas of a deva, her face from Śiva, her eighteen arms from Vishṇu, her lotus feet from Brahmā, and her eyebrows from the tejas of the Sādhyas.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 17–19

Within Vāmana

When Bali asked his grandfather Prahlāda why the daityas had lost their tejas, Prahlāda searched in dhyāna for Śrī Hari and saw the child in the form of Vāmana in Aditi‘s womb. Within that small infant he saw the Vasus, the Rudras, the Aśvins, the Maruts, the Sādhyas, the Viśvedevas and the Ādityas, the gandharvas, uragas and rākshasas, Virocana and Bali, himself, the elements, the earth, Brahmā and Bhava, and the whole universe.

Bhagavān Vāmana, telling Bharadvāja the places where his forms abide on earth, in the seven dvīpas and beyond, ends with their phala: “If one practises darśana, sparśana, kīrtana and smaraṇa of these devatās, then devas, humans and Sādhyas attain all four purushārthas. This is certain.”

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 63; Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 8

At the tīrthas of Kurukshetra

At Phalakīvana, on the river Dṛshadvatī, the devas, gandharvas, Sādhyas, ṛshis and others have been performing tapas for a thousand divine years. One who bathes in the Dṛshadvatī there and offers tarpaṇa to the devas and pitṛs gains the phala of the Agnishṭoma and Atirātra; a śrāddha there on a Monday of the kṛshṇa paksha gives the same fruit as a śrāddha at Gayā; and merely by remembering Phalakīvana with the whole heart, a man’s pitṛs are fully satisfied.

Around the Sthāṇuvaṭa lie four tīrthas, the Śukratīrtha to the north, the Somatīrtha to the east, the Dakshatīrtha to the south and the Skandatīrtha to the west, with Sthāṇu at their centre, by whose mere darśana the paramapada is gained. These tīrthas were served with śraddhā by the munis, the Sādhyas, the Ādityas, the Vasus, the Maruts, the Agnis and others. East of the Mahādeva where Bhagavān Vishṇu received the Sudarśana cakra, Mitra and Varuṇa installed two liṅgas that fulfil all desires; the munis, the Sādhyas, the Ādityas and the Vasus served them with śraddhā and bhakti and were freed of all pāpas.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 15, 25

Sons of Dharma called Sādhya

The Purāṇa gives the name Sādhya to two sons of Dharma. In Prahlāda‘s battle with Nara and Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa, son of Dharma, is called “the Sādhya”: Prahlāda’s gadā struck that Sādhya on the head and broke into a hundred pieces, and Bhagavān Vishṇu told Prahlāda, “Even the devas and the rākshasas cannot conquer this wise Sādhya, best of brāhmaṇas,” and said that he himself had undertaken that tapas for the welfare of the worlds.

Sanatkumāra, eldest of the four sons of Dharma and Ahiṃsā, went to Brahmā and asked for the knowledge of yoga, and Brahmā addressed him as “O Sādhya” and “O Dharmaputra”. At Brahmā’s word the Sādhya remembered his parents, they came, and Dharma and Ahiṃsā gave him to Brahmā as his son; then Pitāmaha taught him the dvādaśa-patraka yoga, the yoga of the twelve leaves.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 8, 34–35

Sources

• Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 4–5, 8–10, 17–19, 32, 34–35, 47, 52, 63
• Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 8, 15, 25