Sunanda (Pārshada of Vishṇu)

Sunanda · su-nanda, “the one who gives great delight”

Sunanda has other meanings too: see all meanings of Sunanda.

Sunanda is one of the chief pārshadas (attendants) of Śrī Hari in Vaikuṇṭha. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa almost always names him together with Nanda, and the two are famed as the best of the attendants of Padmanābha. Like Śrī Hari himself, he is four-armed and dark blue, holds the gadā (mace) and wears a kirīṭa (crown), kuṇḍalas (earrings) and a hāra (necklace). He is one of the eight door-keepers of Śrī Hari, who are the eight siddhis.

Wherever Bhagavān Vishṇu appears, Sunanda stands near him to serve: in Vaikuṇṭha when Brahmā received its darśana, at the yajñas of Daksha and of Pṛthu, at the appearance of Bhagavān Narasiṃha, and beside Bhagavān Vāmana at Bali‘s yajña, where he was among the fourteen pārshadas who drove back the asura army. With Nanda he brought the divine vimāna that carried the child-tapasvin Dhruva to the abode of Śrī Hari. Akrūra saw him praising Śrī Hari in the waters of the Yamunā, and in the pūjā that Śrī Kṛshṇa teaches, Sunanda is worshipped as one of the eight pārshadas of the eight directions.

In Vaikuṇṭha

Śuka tells Parīkshit how Śrī Hari, worshipped by Brahmā through tapas, showed him his own Vaikuṇṭha-loka, the highest of all, where there is only pure sattva and where time and māyā have no hold. Its residents, the pārshadas, are dark in lustre, with long lotus eyes, yellow garments and four arms, wearing gem-set pendants, kuṇḍalas, kirīṭas and garlands. There Brahmā had the darśana of Śrī Hari, Lakshmīpati, and the chief of his pārshadas, Sunanda, Nanda, Prabala, Arhaṇa and others, were serving him in every way.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 9

At the yajñas of Daksha and Pṛthu

When Daksha‘s yajña was resumed and Śrī Hari appeared there on Garuḍa, Nanda, Sunanda and the other attendants stood around him while Daksha and every assembly praised him. When Śrī Hari himself gave darśana at the yajña of King Pṛthu, the siddhas, the vidyādharas, the bhaktas among the lines of Diti and Danu and the yakshas followed him, and with them went the chief of Śrī Hari’s attendants, Sunanda, Nanda and others.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapters 7, 19

The vimāna for Dhruva

Maitreya Maharshi tells Vidura how Dhruva, at the end of his rule, saw a great vimāna coming down from the sky, lighting the ten directions like the rising full moon. With it came two great divine beings, four-armed and shining dark blue, holding gadās, their eyes red like lotuses, wearing fine garments, kirīṭas, hāras, bhujakīrtis (armlets) and beautiful kuṇḍalas. Dhruva knew them at once as attendants of Śrī Hari. He rose, and in his eagerness forgot the rite of honouring guests; he only sang the names of Śrī Hari and bowed to them with joined palms, his mind fixed on the feet of Śrī Kṛshṇa.

The two were Sunanda and Nanda. Smiling, they said: “O king, listen to our words. When you were only five years old you performed tapas and pleased Śrī Hari. We two are attendants of Śrī Hari, the father of the whole world, who bears the bow named Śārṅga. We have come to take you to his abode. The Vishṇudhāma is very hard to win, but you have won it. Even the Saptarshis cannot reach it and only look on it from afar; the Sun, the Moon, the grahas, the nakshatras and the stars move around it in pradakshiṇa. No one before you, neither your fathers nor anyone else, has attained it. Śrī Hari has sent this great vimāna; you are worthy to ascend it.”

Dhruva bathed, completed his daily rites, put on auspicious ornaments and took the blessings of the maharshis. He worshipped the vimāna, went round it in pradakshiṇa, bowed to the two attendants and took on a radiant form. Then, placing his foot on the head of Death, who had come in bodily form, he mounted the vimāna. As he rose he remembered his mother Sunīti and thought, “Am I going to svarga leaving my poor mother behind?” Nanda and Sunanda, the best of devas, knew his thought and showed him Sunīti Devī going ahead of him on a divine vimāna along the path of the devas.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 12

At the appearance of Bhagavān Narasiṃha

When Bhagavān Narasiṃha had slain Hiraṇyakaśipu, Brahmā, Indra, Rudra, the devas, the maharshis, the pitṛs and every host of beings came to praise him, and with them the famous Vishṇu-kiṅkaras (servants of Vishṇu) such as Sunanda and Kumuda. The attendants of Vishṇu said: “O Īśvara who gives refuge, today we have seen this wondrous Narasiṃha form of yours, which brings happiness to all the lokas. This rākshasa is your own kiṅkara, who became a rākshasa by the śāpa of the Sanakādis. We know that this death of his is grace to him.”

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 7, Chapter 8

With Bhagavān Vāmana

When Bhagavān Vāmana grew into the Viśvarūpa at Bali‘s yajña, his divine weapons, the lokapālas and the foremost pārshadas of Vishṇu led by Sunanda and Nanda stood ready, each in his own place, to serve him. The asuras who followed Bali rushed with śūlas and broad swords to kill Vāmana, though Bali opposed them. Then the attendants of Vishṇu laughed aloud, raised their weapons and stopped them. They were fourteen, each with the strength of ten thousand elephants: Nanda, Sunanda, Jaya, Vijaya, Bala, Prabala, Kumuda, Kumudāksha, Vishvaksena, Garutmān the king of birds, Jayanta, Śrutadeva, Pushpadanta and Sātvata. They cut down the asura army, until Bali, remembering the śāpa of Śukrācārya, held his people back.

Afterwards, when Prahlāda came to Bali’s yajña, he saw Bhagavān Vāmana seated there, served by his attendants Sunanda, Nanda, Garutmān and others, and fell before him in full prostration.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 8, Chapters 20–22

In Akrūra’s vision and in the abode of the Purushottama

As Akrūra bathed in the Yamunā on the way to Mathurā, he saw Śrī Mahāvishṇu resting on Ādiśesha in the waters. The attendants led by Sunanda and Nanda, pure in heart, were praising Śrī Hari as their master, while the Sanakādis praised him as the Parabrahman and Brahmā and Rudra as Sarveśvara.

When Śrī Kṛshṇa took Arjuna beyond the darkness to bring back the sons of the brāhmaṇa of Dvārakā, they saw the Purushottama seated on Ananta in a mansion of a thousand pillars in the waters. That Nārāyaṇa was served by the pārshadas Sunanda, Nanda and others, by the śaktis Pushṭi, Śrī, Kīrti and Māyā, by his weapons and by the eight siddhis.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapters 39, 89

In the pūjā of Śrī Hari

In the kriyā-yoga that Śrī Kṛshṇa teaches Uddhava, the worshipper honours the eight pārshadas in the eight directions: Nanda, Sunanda, Pracaṇḍa, Caṇḍa, Mahābala, Bala, Kumuda and Kumudekshaṇa, with Garuḍa in front. In the teaching on the limbs and ornaments of the Mahāpurusha, Sūta tells the ṛshis that the eight door-keepers of Śrī Hari, beginning with Nanda and Sunanda, are the eight siddhis beginning with aṇimā and mahimā.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 27; Skandha 12, Chapter 11

Sources

• Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 9; Skandha 4, Chapters 7, 12, 19; Skandha 7, Chapter 8; Skandha 8, Chapters 20–22; Skandha 10, Chapters 39, 89; Skandha 11, Chapter 27; Skandha 12, Chapter 11