Viśvarūpa

Viśvarūpa · viśva-rūpa, “the one of every form”

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

Viśvarūpa was the son of the brāhmaṇa Tvashṭā, and a ṛshi known for tapas (austerity) and self-control. When the asuras overwhelmed the devas, Brahmā told the devas to ask Viśvarūpa to be their purohita (priest). He accepted, taught Indra the Nārāyaṇa Kavaca, and served the devas faithfully. But he also offered part of the yajña (fire ritual) share to the asuras in secret. Indra found out and killed him. Tvashṭā then made Vṛtrāsura. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa tells this in Skandha 6, Chapters 6–13.

In the Bhāgavata Purāṇa Viśvarūpa is the son of Tvashṭā and Racanā, sister of the daityas, and the brother of Sanniveśa and the elder brother of Vṛtra. He had three heads. When Indra slighted Bṛhaspati and the devas were routed, Brahmā sent them to him; they embraced him, called themselves his fathers and chose him as their ācārya, and though the office of purohita wastes a brāhmaṇa’s radiance he would not refuse them, vowing to spend even his life and his tapas for them. By the Nārāyaṇa Kavaca, which had come to him from Dadhīci through his father, he won for Indra the wealth that Śukrācārya had hidden away, and taught Indra the kavaca, by whose strength Indra conquered. Yet, drawn by his mother’s love for the rākshasas, he gave them a secret share of the havis. Indra cut off his three heads while he was in dīkshā; the heads became birds, and the brahmahatyā was shared among the earth, the waters, the trees and women. From the homa of Tvashṭā, who had lost his son, came Vṛtra, who never forgot his brother.

Birth and identity

Viśvarūpa was the son of Tvashṭā, who is also known as Viśvakarmā, the divine craftsman. He was a brāhmaṇa by birth and a great tapasvin (one who practises tapas). The sixth Skandha calls him a brahmajñānī (knower of Brahman) and a knower of the Veda, full of great tejas (radiance). He lived in his āśrama (hermitage) in austerity and brahmacarya (self-control). This is told in chapter 7.

Per Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapter 6, Tvashṭā’s wife was the maiden Racanā, famed as the sister of the daityas, and to the two of them were born Sanniveśa and the mighty Viśvarūpa. Śuka tells Parīkshit that Viśvarūpa had three heads: with one he drank soma, with the second he drank liquor, and with the third he ate food. His fathers were the devas, but his mother was born in the rākshasa race. His younger brother Vṛtra later called him “our elder brother”, a brāhmaṇa who knew the ātmā, without pāpa (Skandha 6, Chapters 9, 11).

The Agni Purāṇa names him in its account of the line of Svāyambhuva Manu, which Agni tells to Vasishṭha Maharshi. Right after the eleven Rudras whom Surabhi bore by the grace of Mahādeva, among them the Rudra Tvashṭā, it says: “The glorious and very famous Viśvarūpa is the son of Tvashṭā.” (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 18)

Called to serve the devas

Indra insulted his guru Bṛhaspati, and Bṛhaspati vanished through his power of yoga. The devas were left without a purohita. The asuras, led by the advice of Śukrācārya, seized the chance and attacked, and they overwhelmed the army of the devas.

The devas fled to Brahmā. He told them they had been foolish to disrespect Bṛhaspati, a brahmajñānī who deserved the highest honour. He sent them to Viśvarūpa. Brahmā told them to go at once to Tvashṭā‘s son Viśvarūpa, a tapasvin who knows the Veda and keeps his senses in check. Brahmā said that if they served him, and also put up with his leaning towards the asuras now and then, he could achieve what they wanted.

The devas went to Viśvarūpa’s āśrama and spoke to him with respect. They called themselves his fathers, as elders of the three worlds. This is told in chapter 7.

Śuka tells Parīkshit how it came about. Proud of the wealth of the three worlds, Indra sat in the deva-sabhā on his high seat beside Śacī Devī, under a white umbrella, served and praised by the Maruts, Vasus, Rudras, Ādityas, Ṛbhus, Viśvedevas, Sādhyas, gandharvas, maharshis and all the beings of svarga. When Bṛhaspati came into the sabhā, Indra did not rise, go forward to meet him or offer him a seat. Bṛhaspati, who knew how pride is born of wealth, went silently home. At once Indra knew his fault and reproached himself aloud, resolving to lay his head at his guru’s feet; but Bṛhaspati vanished from his house by his yogic power, and Indra could find no trace of him. The rākshasas, on the counsel of Śukrācārya, took up arms, and with their arrows cut down the devas, who took refuge in Brahmā with bowed heads.

Brahmā, moved with compassion, told them that this was the fruit of failing to honour a brahma-jñānī: the rākshasas, who had once slighted their own guru Śukrācārya and grown weak, had worshipped him again with bhakti and grown strong, and misfortune never comes near rulers who hold as their deity the knowers of the Veda, Govinda and the cows. “So serve at once Viśvarūpa, son of Tvashṭā,” he said. Their distress gone, the devas went to Viśvarūpa Maharshi and embraced him.

The devas said: “Vatsa, we have come to your āśrama as guests. We are like fathers to you, and we have a wish; fulfil it. Even men with wives and children must serve their mother and father; how much more is it dharma for brahmacārīs.” They told him that the ācārya is the Veda in bodily form, the father the mūrti of Brahmā, the elder brother the mūrti of Indra, the mother Bhūdevī herself, the sister the mūrti of compassion, the guest unknown before Dharma Devatā himself, the guest who is known the mūrti of Agni Deva, and all beings forms of the ātmā. “We have been overcome by our enemies. Remove our grief by your tapas. You are a brahma-jñānī, a knower of the Veda, a guru; by your tejas we shall easily conquer. We choose you as our ācārya.”

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapters 6–7

He accepts the work of purohita

At first Viśvarūpa did not want the work. He said that ṛshis condemn the role of purohita, because it lessens brahmatejas (the radiance of a brāhmaṇa). Yet he said it was his duty not to refuse those who guard the worlds and who are like fathers to him. He accepted, and said he would give even his life and his tapas to fulfil their wish.

Śuka tells Parīkshit that Viśvarūpa, great in tapas, was pleased, and answered them with soft, sweet words: “O fathers, those devoted to dharma have strongly condemned the office of purohita, for it wastes brahma-varcas. Yet you, the guardians of the worlds, ask me. How can one like me, your disciple, refuse you? Fulfilling your wish is itself my purushārtha. The poor can carry on the journey of life by gleaning the ears of grain left in reaped fields and the grains fallen near the rice-mills…” Here the printed reply breaks off. “Yet I do not refuse your wish. What you ask is small. I will win it for you in full, staking my very life, even spending my tapas.” So the devas chose him as purohita, and he made this vow.

He settled his mind in deep ekāgratā (one-pointed attention) and carried out the work of purohita with full commitment. This is told in chapter 7.

The Nārāyaṇa Kavaca

At Indra‘s request, Viśvarūpa taught him the Nārāyaṇa Kavaca, the most powerful protective text in the tradition of Vaishṇava upāsanā (devotional practice). It uses nyāsa (placing mantras on parts of the body) with two main mantras.

1. Oṃ namo nārāyaṇāya (eight syllables) is placed in order on the feet, knees, thighs, abdomen, heart, chest, mouth and head.
2. Oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya (twelve syllables) is used in kara-nyāsa (placing mantras on the hands) across the eight fingers and the four thumb segments of both hands.

The kavaca calls on the protection of Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa in all his avatāra forms. These include Matsya in water, Vāmana on land, Nārāyaṇa in the sky, Nṛsiṃha in forests and on battlefields, Varāha on the road, Paraśurāma on mountain peaks, and Śrī Rāma in foreign lands, among many others.

It also calls on his protection through the hours. Keśava guards at dawn, Govinda in the morning, Nārāyaṇa at midday, Vishṇu in the afternoon, Madhusūdana in the late afternoon, Mādhava at sandhyā (the twilight hour), Hṛshīkeśa at the start of night, Padmanābha at midnight, Śrīvatsa-dhara in the last watch of the night, Janārdana before dawn, Dāmodara at the two sandhyās, and Jagannātha at the moment of dawn.

The kavaca also calls on the divine weapons. The Sudarśana cakra burns enemy armies as a wind-fed fire burns dry grass. The Kaumodakī gadā crushes kūshmāṇḍas, vināyakas, bhūtas, yakshas and rākshasas. The great śaṅkha (conch) drives away rākshasas, pretas, piśācas and brahmarākshasas. The divine khaḍga (sword) and kheṭaka (shield) are also named.

The kavaca ends by declaring that all that exists, the five bhūtas (elements) and everything that appears, is Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa himself. It says that meditating on this truth removes all upadravas (troubles). This is told in chapter 8.

Viśvarūpa, of generous nature, taught that vidyā to Mahendra, and protected by it the thousand-eyed deva conquered the armies of the rākshasas. Śuka closes the kavaca saying that Indra, who had performed a hundred yajñas, received this kavaca mantra from Viśvarūpa, conquered the rākshasas in battle by its strength, and enjoyed the wealth of the three worlds. Later, when Śrī Hari gave darśana to the devas and sent Indra to Dadhīci Maharshi, he told Indra how the kavaca had come to him: Dadhīci gave the kavaca, which is Śrī Hari’s own form, to Tvashṭā; Tvashṭā gave it to his son Viśvarūpa; and from Viśvarūpa Indra received it and wore it.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapters 7–9

The secret offering to the asuras

Through his mother’s family, Viśvarūpa kept a private tie with the asuras. While the yajña offerings were being made for the devas, he secretly gave a share to the asuras as well.

Śuka Maharshi says that Śukrācārya, by the power of his nīti (policy), had hidden away the wealth of the rākshasas, the haters of the suras. Viśvarūpa, through the strength of the Vaishṇava upāsanā of the Nārāyaṇa Kavaca, brought it and gave it to Mahendra (Indra). This is told in chapter 7.

Śuka tells Parīkshit that because his fathers were the devas, Viśvarūpa would humbly and loudly announce the havis-portions to the devas in the yajña and offer them. But while doing the yajña he secretly offered havis-portions to the rākshasas as well, for his mother was born in the rākshasa race, and he was overpowered by her love for them.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapters 7, 9

His death and what followed

Indra learned of Viśvarūpa’s secret offering to the asuras during the yajña, and killed him. Per Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapter 9, seeing this deceit in dharma and this offence against the devas, Indra, afraid and angry, swiftly cut off his three heads. The head that drank soma became a kamuju bird (a kind of partridge), the head that drank liquor became a sparrow, and the head that ate food became a tītuvu bird (a kind of lapwing). Vṛtra later reproached Indra that he had won the trust of Viśvarūpa, his own guru, and cut off his heads with a sword while he was in dīkshā for a rite, as one cuts off the head of a paśu.

By this Indra took on brahmahatyā (the guilt of killing a brāhmaṇa). He then shared this dosha (fault) among four.

• The earth took it, and in return received the vara (a boon) that it would always grow back.
• Trees took it as their sap and resin.
• Women took it as their monthly cycle, and in return kept undiminished kāma (desire).
• Water took it, and it cleanses but keeps the dosha as foam.

Per Bhāgavata Purāṇa, though Indra was the ruler of svarga (svargādhipati), the brahmahatyā did not leave him; he received it in his cupped hands, and after a year, for the purity of the four elements of his body, he divided it among the earth, the waters, the trees and women, each with a vara. The earth took a fourth with the vara that any pit on it should fill up of itself, and the barren salt land is the form of that brahmahatyā. The trees took a fourth with the vara that a cut branch should sprout again, and it is seen in the gum that flows when a branch is cut. Women took a fourth with the vara of abundant kāma, and it is seen in their monthly course. The waters took a fourth with the vara that water should always well up in wells, and it is seen in the bubbles and foam that one pushes aside when drawing water. Later, when the devas begged him to slay Vṛtra, Indra said: “The brahmahatyā from killing Viśvarūpa was shared by women, the earth, the waters and the trees, and they showed me grace. If I kill Vṛtra, where am I to wash away that pāpa?”

Tvashṭā, Viśvarūpa’s father, was overcome with grief and rage. He performed a great yajña meant to destroy Indra. From its fire was born the daitya Vṛtrāsura. This is told in chapter 9.

Per Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Tvashṭā, who had lost his son, offered the homa with a mantra whose meaning was: “O slayer of Indra, grow! Without delay kill the enemy!” From the dakshiṇāgni came a being of fearsome form, who covered the worlds with darkness and so was named Vṛtra. When Vṛtra met Indra in battle, he remembered the deed and was filled with grief and love for his brother. “You are the killer of Viśvarūpa,” he told Indra, “who was my brother, your guru and a brāhmaṇa. Today I will pay off my debt to my father.”

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapters 9, 11, 13

Later events

Viśvarūpa’s death started the chain of events that led to Tvashṭā‘s yajña, the birth of Vṛtrāsura and the later events concerning Dadhīca. This makes him a key figure in the account of the sixth Skandha.

Sources

• Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapters 6–9, 11, 13
• Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 18