Gandharvas in the Vāmana Purāṇa

Gandharva, “the celestial musician”

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

The Vāmana Purāṇa names the Gandharvas again and again among the hosts of beings, beside the devas, yakshas, kinnaras, apsarases, siddhas and vidyādharas. When the ṛshis taught the rākshasa Sukeśī the dharma of every class of beings, they gave the dharma of the Gandharvas as supreme upāsanā, knowledge of dance and of instruments, and steady ārādhana (devoted service) of Devī Sarasvatī. Their song fills the great festivals of the Purāṇa: Tumburu and the Gandharvas sang in the wedding procession of Bhagavān Śiva, they sang at the abhisheka of Skanda and at the four weddings at Hāṭakeśvara, and, led by Viśvāvasu, they sang in King Bali‘s court in svarga. Viśvāvasu and his Gandharvas poured their tejas into the boy Mātali, who became Indra‘s charioteer.

The Purāṇa also tells of single Gandharvas: Hūhū, freed from the śāpa of Devala when Bhagavān Vishṇu came to save Gajendra; Vedavatī, the daughter of the Gandharva Parjanya, who became the queen of King Indradyumna; and Citrāṅgada, who with Rambhā installed two liṅgas at Kurukshetra. The Gandharvas dwell at the holy places, at the Kapālamocana lake, the Sārasvata tīrtha, Kurukshetra and Phalakīvana, and they serve Mount Trikūṭa. When Prahlāda saw the infant Vāmana in Aditi‘s womb, he saw the Gandharvas within him, with the whole universe.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 3, 11, 27, 31, 36, 39, 43, 48, 58; Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 8, 12, 15, 25

Their dharma and their place among beings

When the rākshasa Sukeśī asked the ṛshis what dharma is, they taught him the dharmas of the twelve classes of beings. For the Gandharvas they named supreme upāsanā, knowledge of dance (nṛtya) and of instruments (vādya), and steady ārādhana of Sarasvatī.

When Indra led the devas out of Amarāvatī against the daitya Andhaka, each host came on its own vāhana. The Gandharvas, the mighty pannagas and the white bull-kings born of Surabhi were the vāhanas of the eleven Rudras. The Bhṛgus set out on parrots, and the Gandharvas went on foot.

When Uttarāyaṇa has passed and the month of Āshāḍha comes, Bhagavān Vishṇu, Lakshmīpati, sleeps on the bed of Śesha. As soon as Prabhu Vishṇu sleeps, the devas, the Gandharvas, the yakshas and their mothers sink one after another into deep sleep.

When Śukrācārya wandered inside the belly of Bhagavān Śiva, he saw there all the worlds from Pātāla onward, and among them the hosts of the yakshas, kinnaras, Gandharvas and apsarases. The trader Sudharma, after keeping the Śravaṇa Dvādaśī vrata and giving up his body, enjoyed bhogas (enjoyments) for a long time in the Gandharva loka before his next birth.

In the Vishṇu Sārasvata stotra, which Devī Sarasvatī spoke from the tongue of a brāhmaṇa boy, Bhagavān Vishṇu is praised as the all-pervading Sanātana from whom the suras, asuras, pitṛ-gaṇas, devas, Gandharvas, yakshas and rākshasas come forth. When Prahlāda, in dhyāna, searched for Śrī Hari in the world of his mind, the child Vāmana in Aditi‘s womb appeared to him, and within that small infant he saw the whole universe; the Gandharvas, uragas and rākshasas were there. At Bali‘s yajña, Śukrācārya told Bali that the Paramātmā coming in the form of Vāmana holds the whole universe of the five elements, with devas, asuras, Gandharvas, yakshas, pannagas and humans. In the virāṭ form that Bhagavān Vishṇu then showed, made of all the devas, the Gandharvas are his belly.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 9, 11, 17, 43, 53, 59; Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 8, 10

Their song at the great festivals

At the yajña of Daksha, when the lion-faced Rudragaṇas came with Vīrabhadra at their head, the ṛshis headed by Indra, the yakshas and the Gandharvas, seeing the terrible lion-face, were anxious and asked, “What is this?” When Vīrabhadra entered the yajñaśālā, the eight Vasus, the nine grahas, the twelve Ādityas, the eleven Rudras, the Viśvedevas, the Sādhyas, the siddhas, Gandharvas and kiṃpurushas, the pannagas, the yakshas, the birds and the cakradharas all rose.

When the Saptarshis came to the city of Himavān to ask for the hand of Devī Pārvatī for Bhagavān Śiva, they accepted the honours of the mountain-women, of the mountains led by Sunābha, and of the Gandharvas, kinnaras and yakshas. In Śiva’s wedding procession, Tumburu and the Gandharvas sang with sweet voices, the kinnaras played instruments, the apsarases danced and the munis recited stotras. The whole Gandharva-gaṇa followed Śūlapāṇi Phālāksha, the bearer of the trident with the eye on his forehead.

When Skanda was born, the devas said that he would be the leader of the armies of the devas, Gandharvas and kinnaras, able to slay Mahishāsura and Tārakāsura. At Kurukshetra, Hari, Hara, Brahmā, Indra and the munis gave him the auspicious bath of abhisheka with the river waters, the waters of the seven seas and a thousand excellent oshadhis (healing herbs). At the time when Kumāra was consecrated as leader of all the deva armies, the Gandharvas sang and the apsarases danced.

When Viśvakarmā regained his own form at the Hāṭakeśvara kshetra and the devas, Gandharvas and apsarases had all gathered there, King Indradyumna proposed four marriages. Gālava Muni took the office of ṛtvij and performed the wedding homas, and the Gandharvas danced and sang maṅgala songs (auspicious songs) as Jābāli took the hand of Devavatī, Indradyumna of Vedavatī, Śakuni of Nandayantī and Suratha of Citrāṅgadā.

When Bali ruled svarga as lord of the ten worlds, the Gandharvas led by Viśvāvasu sang in his court, the apsarases led by Tilottamā danced, and the yakshas, kinnaras and vidyādharas played many instruments together to delight him.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 4, 26, 27, 31, 39, 48

Gandharvas named in the Purāṇa

Tumburu sang with the Gandharvas in the wedding procession of Bhagavān Śiva.

Viśvāvasu is the leader of the Gandharvas. When Indra needed a charioteer, a boy, the son of the ṛshi Śamīka, flew up into the sky though he knew nothing, and the Gandharvas headed by Viśvāvasu, learning that he was going to help Indra, all poured their tejas into him. Filled with their tejas, the child came to Indra and said: “Devarāja! I will drive your chariot.” When Indra asked whose son he was, he answered: “Sureśvara! I was born from the earth by the tejas of a ṛshi. I grew by the tejas of the Gandharvas. I am skilled in driving horses.” So the boy Mātali took the reins of Indra’s chariot. Viśvāvasu also led the Gandharvas who sang in Bali‘s court.

Parjanya and his daughter Vedavatī. Vedavatī was a Gandharva maiden, the daughter of Parjanya, born of Ghṛtācī, and her home was Mount Meru. Once, as she played in a forest, a strong vānara called her “Devavatī” and chased her. She climbed a tall bandhujīva tree; the vānara broke it with a blow of his hand and hurled it into the ocean, and she fell with it, holding a branch. All beings cried out, and the siddhas and Gandharvas lamented: “Alas! What suffering! This chaste one was blessed by Brahmā himself to become the chief queen of Mahārāja Indradyumna, the great son of Manu, the hero who performed a thousand yajñas, and now this plight!” Vāyu carried her to Pushkara. Later, at the Sapta-Godāvarī kshetra, the vānara was sent to svarga to bring the Gandharva Parjanya, and the father embraced his lost daughter with eyes moist with love. Indradyumna then took Vedavatī’s hand in marriage.

Hūhū. The Gandharva Hūhū had become a makara by the śāpa of Devala, and in the lake on Mount Trikūṭa he seized the leg of Gajendra, the king of elephants. When Gajendra took refuge in Bhagavān Vishṇu, Bhagavān Vishṇu, whose vāhana is Garuḍa, came with great speed, drew both of them out of the lake and with the cakra cut the makara’s throat. Slain by Kṛshṇa, Hūhū was freed from the śāpa and went to svarga. Both the elephant and the Gandharva became muktas and worshipped Puṇḍarīkāksha. As Bhagavān Vishṇu, of wondrous deeds, went away, the ṛshis, devas, Gandharvas and yakshas offered him stotras.

Citrāṅgada. At Kurukshetra the Gandharva Citrāṅgada and Rambhā, the jewel of the apsarās, bound to each other in love, went for the darśana of Sthāṇu Mahādeva, worshipped him, and installed two liṅgas of Maheśvara as tokens of their love: Citrāṅgadeśvara and Rambheśvara. Those who have their darśana are born in a good family, with beautiful and auspicious forms.

The Gandharva women. When King Saṃvaraṇa, hunting in the Vaibhrāja forest, saw a maiden among the apsarases and fainted from moha, the Gandharva women, who take any form at will, sprinkled water on him and revived him.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 22, 27, 39, 43, 48, 58; Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 25

In the wars of the devas and asuras

When the daitya Andhaka had conquered the devas and gone to the city of Aśmaka in Pātāla, the Gandharvas, vidyādharas and apsarās went down to Pātāla and served him. In his later war against Bhagavān Śiva on Mandara, Andhaka told Śukrācārya that, relying on his support, the daityas had slain devas, kinnaras and Gandharvas, and he boasted that he would conquer all the devas, dānavas and Gandharvas, together with Indra and Maheśvara.

When the great daitya Kālanemi grew by his māyā until his body filled all the directions, the devas, Gandharvas, yakshas, siddhas and sādhyas trembled with fear and fled wherever they could.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 10, 43, 44, 47

At the holy places

Kapālamocana. When the skull of Brahmā would not leave the palm of Bhagavān Śiva, Bhagavān Vishṇu showed him a divine lake, full of padmas and utpalas (lotuses and water-lilies), a supremely holy tīrtha served by divine Gandharvas. Maheśvara bathed in it according to vidhi and the skull fell away; the place became famed as the Kapālamocana tīrtha, and Śiva as Kapālī.

Bhadreśvara. Bhagavān Śiva told Devī Umā that the clay image of Śaṅkara she had worshipped would be famed in the world as Bhadreśvara, and that devas, dānavas, Gandharvas, yakshas, kiṃpurushas, nāgas, humans and others would worship it and gain all that is auspicious.

The Sārasvata tīrtha. Bhagavān Śiva blessed the Saptasārasvata tīrtha to be a puṇya tīrtha equal to Pṛthūdaka. In that Sārasvata tīrtha the suras, asuras, Gandharvas, vidyādharas, kinnaras and others are always present; it is a mainstay of dharma and destroys every impurity of pāpa.

Mount Trikūṭa. Trikūṭa, the son of Meru, which rose out of the ocean of milk, is served by Gandharvas, kinnaras, apsarases, siddhas, cāraṇas, pannagas and vidyādharas, together with their wives.

Kurukshetra. Brahmā and the devas, the ṛshis, siddhas, yakshas, Gandharvas, apsarās and the rest serve the kshetra of Kurukshetra to keep their own positions.

The Anyajanma kshetra. When Bhagavān Vishṇu, having slain a cruel rākshasa in the form of Narasiṃha, remained in that lion form, the devas, Gandharvas and others worshipped Bhagavān Śiva, bowed to him in sāshṭāṅga praṇāma, and told him of Vishṇu’s terrible form. Maheśvara then took the form of Śarabha, and from what followed the Anyajanma kshetra on the bank of the lake at Nārada‘s āśrama came to be.

Phalakīvana. At Phalakīvana, on the river Dṛshadvatī, the devas, Gandharvas, sādhyas and ṛshis have been performing tapas for a thousand divine years.

The Amṛta kshetra. The Amṛta kshetra is the holy Śiva-kshetra where Hanumān was made manifest by the devas and Gandharvas. Bathing there gives amṛtatva (deathlessness).

The liṅgas south of Svāmi. In the holy land around the Sthāṇuvaṭa at Kurukshetra, the liṅgas installed by the Gandharvas, yakshas and kinnaras to the south of Svāmi are beyond counting.

The Sarasvatī flowing with blood. When the śāpa of Viśvāmitra made the Sarasvatī flow with blood for a year, the devas, Gandharvas and apsarās grieved greatly to see it.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 3, 25, 36, 58; Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 12, 15, 16, 19, 25

Sources

• Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 3–4, 9–11, 17, 22, 25–27, 31, 36, 39, 43–44, 47–48, 53, 58–59
• Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 8, 10, 12, 15–16, 19, 25