Aryamā

Aryamā · aryaman, “the companion, the friend”

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

Aryamā, also called Aryaman, is one of the twelve Ādityas, the radiant sons of Kaśyapa Prajāpati and Aditi. The Agni Purāṇa, told by Agni Deva to Vasishṭha Maharshi, names him among the Ādityas of the Vaivasvata manvantara and among the twelve suns who stand with Bhagavān Sūrya. He is also one of the great divine pitṛs, the pitṛ-devatās who receive tarpaṇa (offerings of water) and are called to the śrāddha at Gayā. In the building of a house he is a guardian of the vāstu-maṇḍala, the sacred diagram of the site, and he is the devatā of the twelfth nakshatra counted from Aśvinī.

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa, told by Śrī Śuka Maharshi to Parīkshit Mahārāja, also names Aryamā among the twelve sons of Aditi, and calls him the lord of the hosts of pitṛs, the ruler of Pitṛloka, which those who keep the rites from garbhādhāna to the last rite reach by the southern path. In Hiraṇmaya varsha he serves Bhagavān Vishṇu in the form of Kūrma, the tortoise, with the people of that land, ceaselessly reciting a mantra and stotra to him. His wife is Mātṛkā, and their sons the Carshaṇīs, who had viveka-jñāna, became the basis on which Brahmā made the human race. While Yama lived on earth as Vidura, Aryamā carried out the work of punishing pāpīs according to dharma, and as the Āditya of the month of Vaiśākha he moves with Bhagavān Sūrya and his gaṇa of seven.

The Bhavishya Purāṇa counts him among the twelve Ādityas in whom Bhagavān Sūrya pervades the world. Aryamā is the sixth of those mūrtis, in the cities, surrounding and covering the people; he is the Āditya of Vaiśākha with three hundred rays, and one of the forty-five devatās of the vāstu-maṇḍala.

One of the twelve Ādityas

Those who were the Tushita devas in the Cākshusha manvantara were born again in the Vaivasvata manvantara to Kaśyapa through Aditi as the twelve Ādityas. The Agni Purāṇa names them Dhātā, Aryamā, Pūshā, Vivasvān, Savitā, Mitra, Varuṇa, Bhaga and Aṃśu (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 19).

For the mūrtis of the Ādityas, a lotus of twelve petals is drawn, and Sūrya, Aryamā and the other suns, twelve in all, are installed on its twelve petals. This host of Ādityas has four arms each, holding the mudgara (club), the śūla (trident), the cakra (discus) and the lotus (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 51).

In the mantras for the abhisheka (consecration bath) of a king, which Pushkara taught Paraśurāma, the king is blessed: “May the twelve Sūryas protect you: Dhātṛ, Mitra, Aryaman, Pūshan, Śukra, Varuṇa, Bhaga, Tvashṭṛ, Vivasvat, Savitṛ, Bhāskara and Vishṇu” (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 219).

Per Bhāgavata Purāṇa, the twelve Ādityas, the sons of Aditi, are Vivasvān, Aryamā, Pūshā, Tvashṭā, Savitā, Bhaga, Dhātā, Vidhātā, Varuṇa, Mitra, Indra, and Vāmana, who took the great steps (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapter 6).

Per Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Bhagavān Sūrya, taking the form of time, moves through the twelve months beginning with Caitra with twelve gaṇas, each of seven: an Āditya, a ṛshi, an apsarā, a rākshasa, a nāga, a yaksha and a gandharva. Sūta Maharshi tells Śaunaka Maharshi that in the month of Vaiśākha Aryamā is the Sūrya, with Pulaha the maharshi, Puñjikasthalī the apsarā, Prati the rākshasa, Kacchanīra the nāga, Athejasa the yaksha and Nārada the gandharva; these conduct the month of Vaiśākha (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 12, Chapter 11).

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 19, 51, 219; Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapter 6; Skandha 12, Chapter 11

Among the divine pitṛs

In the daily tarpaṇa, after the devas, the ṛshis and the hosts of beings are satisfied, one wears the sacred thread over the right shoulder (prācīnāvītī) and, from the root and tip of kuśa grass folded in two, offers water with sesame (tila) three times each to the divine pitṛ-devatās, with svadhā: to Kavyavāhana, Anala, Soma, Yama, Aryaman, the Agnishvāttas, the Barhishads and the Ājyapas. Then tarpaṇa is given to one’s own father, grandfather and great-grandfather (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 72).

At Gayā, the pilgrim who has bathed in the Uttaramānasa tīrtha goes in silence to the Dakshiṇamānasa tīrtha and bathes there for the satisfaction of the pitṛs. Having done śrāddha and piṇḍadāna (the offering of rice balls), he bows to Bhagavān Sūrya and prays: “Namaskāra to Sūrya who nourishes all beings. You give bhukti and mukti to all my forefathers. May the great pitṛ-devatās, Kavyavāṭ, Anala, Soma, Yama, Aryaman, Agnishvātta, Barhishad and Ājyapa, come here. I have come here with the intent of giving piṇḍa to my father, mother, grandfather and the rest, who are protected by you” (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 115).

Per Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Aryamā is the lord of the hosts of pitṛs, and Pitṛloka is ruled by him. Bhagavān Kapila teaches his mother that those whose minds are caught in saṃsāra, who do with faith not only the daily rites but the rites done for a desired fruit, and who keep the karmas from garbhādhāna, the rite of conception, to antyeshṭi, the last rite in the cremation ground, reach Aryamā’s Pitṛloka by the southern path. When their puṇya is spent they are born again as children of their own descendants (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 32; Skandha 5, Chapter 18).

The Bhāgavata also tells that when Yama, by the śāpa of Māṇḍavya Maharshi, descended as Vidura for a hundred years, Aryamā carried out in that time, according to dharma, the work of punishing pāpīs (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapter 13).

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 72, 115; Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapter 13; Skandha 3, Chapter 32; Skandha 5, Chapter 18

In the vāstu

In the vāstu-pūjā. Parameśvara taught Skanda the pūjā of the vāstu. Outside the vāstu, the four Mātṛkās beginning with Carakī are worshipped in the four intermediate directions, and then four guardians in the four directions: Skanda in the east, Aryamā in the south, Jambhaka in the west and Pilipiccha in the north. To Aryamā in the south is offered khicaḍi, rice and pulse cooked together, with a flower (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 93).

In the vāstu-maṇḍala of a house. When a house is to be built, the brāhmaṇas are honoured first, and on land free of bones and foreign matter a vāstu-maṇḍala of sixty padas (squares) is drawn, with Brahmā installed on the four padas in its middle. East of those four padas is Aryamā, the gṛhasvāmi, the lord of the house-padas; Vivasvān is marked to the south, Mitra to the west and Mahīdhara to the north (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 247).

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 93, 247

Devatā of a nakshatra

In the teaching on mantra that Agni Deva gave to Vasishṭha Maharshi, the devatās of the twenty-seven nakshatras are given in order from Aśvinī. The tenth is the Pitṛ-devatās, the eleventh Bhaga, the twelfth Aryamā and the thirteenth Sūrya (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 293).

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 293

Aryamā’s ārādhana of Kūrma in Hiraṇmaya varsha

Describing the varshas of Jambūdvīpa, Śuka tells Parīkshit that in Hiraṇmaya varsha Bhagavān Vishṇu dwells in the form of a tortoise, Kūrma. Aryamā, lord of the hosts of pitṛs, with the people of that land, serves that most dear form and recites this mantra without ceasing: “Om. O Bhagavān Ādikūrma! You, whose form is pure sattva, stay hidden, unseen, in the water. You are beyond time, all-pervading, the support of all. Many namaskāras to you.”

Then Aryamā praises him:

1. This world appears as many names and forms, and it shines by the māyā-śakti of Bhagavān Kūrma alone. When the truth of things is settled it is found to be mithyā, so no real count of its manyness is fitting. Namaskāra to him who appears as the indescribable form of the world.
2. All that is named by many names is only the one Parabrahman without a second: the beings born of the womb, of sweat, of the egg and from the split earth; all that moves and does not move; the devatās, the maharshis and the pitṛ-devatās; the five bhūtas and the senses; svarga, antariksha and the earth; the mountains, rivers, oceans and dvīpas; the grahas and the nakshatras.
3. He himself has appeared as this world, with countless names, colours and shapes. In his non-dual form the teachers of Sāṅkhya count the tattvas; when his true form is known the sight of difference disappears, and that Sāṅkhya too is his own form. “My namaskāra to you.”

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 18

His wife and sons

Per Bhāgavata Purāṇa, in the account of the line of Aditi, Aryamā’s wife is Mātṛkā. Their sons are called the Carshaṇīs. Because they had viveka-jñāna (the knowledge that discerns), Brahmā made the human race with them as its basis.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapter 6

In the Bhavishya Purāṇa

Among the twelve Ādityas

Sumantu Muni tells Śatānīka that Bhagavān Sūrya, radiant with countless rays of tejas, descended as the twelve Ādityas: Indra, Dhātā, Parjanya, Pūshā, Tvashṭā, Aryamā, Bhaga, Vivasvān, Aṃśumān, Vishṇu, Varuṇa and Mitra. By these twelve forms he pervades the whole world. Each mūrti has its station, and Aryamā, the sixth, is in the cities, so as to surround and cover the people. One who worships the twelve Ādityas thus, says Sumantu, is freed from all pāpas and goes to Sūrya Loka (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 74).

In the narrative of Nārada to Sāmba, the twelve Ādityas who rise in turn in the twelve months are Vishṇu, Dhātṛ, Bhaga, Pūshan, Mitra, Indra, Varuṇa, Aryaman, Vivasvat, Aṃśumat, Tvashṭṛ and Parjanya. Aryaman gives heat and light in the month of Vaiśākha, and he shines with three hundred rays (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 78).

Telling of the thirty-three yājñika devas who play in the Vyoma, the weapon of Bhagavān Sūrya, Sumantu names the twelve Ādityas beginning with Aryamā: Aryamā, Mitra, Bhaga, Varuṇa, Vivasvān, Savitā, Pūshā, Tvashṭā, Aṃśa, Atiteja, Vishṇu and Indra (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 125).

Brahmā tells Rudra the attendants of Bhagavān Sūrya in each season. In Caitra and Vaiśākha the Ādityas with him are Dhātā and Aryaman, with Pulastya and Pulaha, the mind-born sons of Brahmā; the nāgas Khaṇḍaka, Vāsuki and Aśvatara; the gandharvas Tumburu and Nārada among the foremost singers; the apsarās Kratusthalā and Puñjikasthalā; and the rākshasas Heti and Prati (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 52).

In the Rahasyā Saptamī, which Brahmā teaches Diṇḍi, Bhagavān Sūrya is to be worshipped in each month of the year under his own name for that month, and in Vaiśākha that name is Aryamā (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 65).

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapters 52, 65, 74, 78, 125

In the vāstu-maṇḍala

Sūta tells the brāhmaṇas, in the rules for building, that the devatās of the vāstu-maṇḍala are forty-five, and Aryamā is the thirty-seventh of them. He stands again on the side of the maṇḍala, with Skanda in the east, Aryamā in the south, Jambhaka in the west and Pilipiccha in the north.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Madhyama Parva, Bhāga 2, Chapters 10–13

In mantras and vratas

In the shashṭhī vrata of Skanda, the bhakta facing south gives arghya to Kārtikeya with a mantra that calls him the one born of Rudra, Aryamā and Agni, Rudrāryamāgni-sambhava (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 39).

In the Śubha Saptamī, the vrata of the bright half of Āśvina which Śrī Kṛshṇa teaches Yudhishṭhira, the one who keeps it sets a gold bull on one ser of tila in a copper vessel and makes its pūjā. In the evening he says “Aryamā prīyatām”, “may Aryamā be pleased”, and offers all the materials with bhakti to a brāhmaṇa (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 51).

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 39; Uttara Parva, Chapter 51

Sources

• Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 19, 51, 72, 93, 115, 219, 247, 293
• Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapter 13; Skandha 3, Chapter 32; Skandha 5, Chapter 18; Skandha 6, Chapter 6; Skandha 12, Chapter 11
• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapters 39, 52, 65, 74, 78, 125; Madhyama Parva, Bhāga 2, Chapters 10–13; Uttara Parva, Chapter 51