Bhargavas, the liberal/reformist Brahmins of Ancient India

The Bhargavas also called Bhrigus claim descent from the primaeval rishi Bhrigu. Bhrigu is one among the primaeval progenitors (Prajapatis) created by Brahma. While other Prajapatis are said to have issued from different limbs of Brahma, Bhrigu is represented as having sprung from Brahma’s heart, the noblest of the internal organs of man or god. The Bhargavas claim that their ancestors taught men to kindle fire by friction and thus they are the originators of the fire cult. The Bhargavas along with the Atreyas and the Kashyapas were the oldest priestly families of ancient India.

Bhrigu’s son was Dadhicha and his sons were Chyavana and Kavi. One of the descendants of Chyavana was Richika who married Satyavati, daughter of Gadhi or Gathi, the king of Kanyakubja and the sister of the famous sage Vishwamitra. Richika’s son was the illustrious Jamadagni, and his son was the famous Parashurama. Kavi’s son was Ushanas Shukra, who was a teacher of the Asuras. His daughter was married to king Yayati and gave birth to Yadu and Turvasa.

Composers of Vedic hymns

The hymns of the Rigveda are ascribed to about two dozen rishis belonging to the Bhargava family like Bhrigu, Chyavana, Gritsamada, Jamadagni, etc., and the word Bhrigu is mentioned 21 times in the Rigveda. The Bhrigus were also the founders of the Atharvanic religion along with the Angirases and the Atharvans.

Angirases, a branch of Bhrigus ?

V.G.Rahurkar opines that Bhrigus may be a section of the Angirases because Bhriguangiras is a seer of a number of hymns of the Atharvana Veda. But according to P.L.Bhargava, Angiras and Atharvan, both of which words are connected with the meaning of fire, were only epithets of the primaeval rishi Bhrigu who is regarded as the originator of the fire cult. Thus Dadhyanch (Dadhicha), Bhrigu’s son is called son of Atharvan in the Rigveda, an Angirasa in the Panchavamsha Brahmana and a Bhargava in the Puranas. Dadhicha’s son Chyavana is called both Bhargava and Angirasa in Shatapatha Brahmana. The fourth Veda is alternatively called Bhriguangiras, Atharvangiras or simply Atharvana Veda. A rishi of the Rigveda who belonged to this family called his ancestors by all the three names, Angirases, Atharvans and Bhrigus. In later times the word Atharvan fell into disuse and the word Angirasa was appropriated by a branch of this family, so that the parent stock retained only the name Bhargava.

Bhargavas feud with the Kshatriyas

The Bhargavas were a Brahmin clan perhaps more intimately associated with the ancient Kshatriyas by matrimonial ties than other Brahmin clans. On the other hand some of them seem to have come seriously into conflict with the Kshatriyas resulting in a blood feud.

The Bhargavas were priests of king Kartavirya of the Haihayas and he had bestowed great wealth on them. After his death, the princes of his family demanded it back but the Bhargavas refused to give it up. The princes tried to forcibly extract the wealth resulting in the Bhargavas to flee to other countries for safety. Later Kartavirya’s son Sahasrabahu Arjuna killed Jamadagni, who in turn was killed by Jamadagni’s son Parashurama who probably was helped by the rulers of Kanyakubj and Ayodhya with whom the Bhargavas had matrimonial alliance.

Bhargavas, the redactors of the Mahabharata

The theory – Bhrigusation of the Mahabharata was proposed by V.S.Sukthankar based on the following factors. First of all in the original saga of the Bharata, the Bhargavas are completely absent. Secondly, though not accorded any high status in the Vedic literature, they came all of a sudden into prominence in the Mahabharata with the highest number and frequency of the Bhrigu references and myths when compared to other Brahmanic families. Also the Bhargava heroes are magnified to the colossal proportion in the Mahabharata. The conclusion of V.S.Sukthankar is that the Bhrigus with ulterior motives deliberately grabbed a pre-existing text and engrafted the fabricated myths to boost their own social position and prestige.

P.K.Choudhary challenges this hypothesis and says that while the name of Bhrigu are referred 1500 times in the Mahabharata, that of the Angirasas are referred 3200 times and hence probably for this reason N.J.Shende had proposed that the Mahabharata was the creation of Bhrigu-Angiras redactors. V.G.Rahurkar also opines that the Bhrigus along with Angiras were responsible for the final redaction of the Mahabharata and making it a Dharmashastra, Nitishastra and an encyclopaedia of the Brahmanical tradition.

As scholars of repute

The Bhargava family was famous for its scholarly works on various subjects. Bhrigu is described as one of the eighteen authors on the art of building (Vastu Shilpa). Yaska, the author of Nirukta, Shaunaka, the author of Rigveda Pratishakhya and Anukramanis were Bhargavas. Their role in the composition of the Atharvana Veda was prominent. Vyasa’s disciple, Vaishampayana who was a teacher of Yajurveda is believed to have narrated the story of Bharata War to king Janamejaya, was also a Bhargava. So also was Valmiki, the author of Ramayana, Chanakya, the author of Arthasashtra and Banabhatta, the famous court poet of Harshavardhana.

Liberal and reformists

The Bhargavas were a very open minded group which accepted many outsiders in their fold happily. This was done either by fusion (through marriage alliance) or by imbibing their (outsiders) customs and manners, let it be to any limited extent. In the Vedic literature it is said that if someone has no particular gotramantra, then he should recite the Bhrigu mantra. The Bhrigus launched the concept of vrata, puja, dana and tirthas in the place of usual Vedic sacrifice.

The Bhrigus and Kaundinyas played a crucial role in the Brahmanization of several south Indian communities. Even today Parashurama is worshipped as an Avatara of Vishnu and his mother Renuka (called as Yellamma) is the Kuladevi (caste deity) in many parts of the country. It is interesting to know that Parashurama and Yellamma are more popular among the lower castes than the higher ones in certain regions.

Reference

  • V.S.Sukthankar – Epic Studies VI The Bhrgus and the Bharata. A Text-Historical Study, ABORI, Vol -XVIII, 1936-37
  • F.E.Pargiter – Ancient Indian Historical Traditions, Oxford University Press, London, 1922
  • A.P.Karmakar – Dr. V.S.Suthankar’s theory of the Bhrguisation of the original Bharata and the light it throws on the Dravidian problem, ABORI, vol -20, No.1, October 1938
  • P.K.Choudhary – Bhrguisation of the Mahabharata reconsidered, Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, vol – 59, 1998
  • V.G.Rahurkar – The Vedic Priest of the Fire Cult, Viveka Publications, Aligarh, 1982
  • Purushottam Lal Bhargava – India in the Vedic Age, The Upper India Publishing House Ltd, Lucknow, 1956
  • Vettam Mani- Puranic Encyclopedia, Motilal Banarsidass, 1975
June 1, 2026 – 3:01 am Categories: essay | Comments Off on Bhargavas, the liberal/reformist Brahmins of Ancient India

Facts about the Ramayana and the Mahabharata

The two great epics of India, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata were composed by Valmiki and Vyasa respectively. The Ramayana consists of seven Kandas namely Balakanda, Ayodhyakanda, Aranyakanda, Kishkindhakanda, Sundarakanda, Yuddhakanda and Uttarakanda. The first and the last Kandas are considered as later additions to the original five kandas which are ascribed to Valmiki. The Ramayana is considered as a kavya (poem), and is confined to the life of Rama and his brothers and their vicissitudes.

The Mahabharata consists of 18 books, each called a parva and an annexe called Harivamsha which deals with the life and history of Sri Krishna. The 18 parvas are Adiparva, Virataparva, Udyogaparva, Bhishmaparva, Aranyaka or Vanaparva, Shantiparva, Anushasanaparva, Sabhaparva, Karnaparva, Dronaparva, Shalyaparva, Sauptikaparva, Striparva, Ashvamedhikaparva, Ashramavasikaparva, Mausalaparva, Mahaprasthanikaparva and Svargarohanaparva. The Mahabharata is considered as a ithihasa (history) and hence has utilized and incorporated a large mass of ballads and bardic verses preserved in many prominent families.

Ramayana and Mahabharata are Bardic literature

According to P.L.Vaidya, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Puranas form a class of literature by themselves and should be styled as bardic literature. The main characteristic of this literature is that originally it consisted of small songs, ballads and even stray verses called Gatha narasamsi and continued to be sung by traditional bards and transmitted by them to succeeding generations by oral traditions. These songs or ballads later developed into Epics, Puranas and early Kavyas. According to R.N.Dandekar, ancient Indian literature was characterized by two distinct literary traditions, called the suta tradition and the mantra tradition. The mantra tradition relating to religious thought and practice, soon came to be consolidated and began to manifest itself in fixed literary forms. The suta tradition, comprising a large number of popular bardic, legendary and historical material, however continued to remain fluid for a petty long period. The historical epic poem which dealt with the Bharata War and was appropriately called Jaya, was the first literary monument belonging to the suta tradition. Jaya gradually became transformed into the epic Bharata by subsequent additions.

Orally transmitted during earlier days

Both Ramayana and the Mahabharata were in the early stages transmitted by oral traditions. Vyasa who composed Mahabharata narrated it to his five pupils who each one of them had a separate samhita of his own. Of these five samhitas of Mahabharata, we possess the full text of Vaishampayana’s samhita, transmitted through Lomaharsana Suta and his disciple Shaunaka.

Similarly Valmiki first taught the poem, Ramayana to his two disciples, Lava and Kusha, who first sung it at the court of Rama. It must have been committed to memory by several bards and sung to people in regions far and wide. In course of this propagation of Ramayana or Ramakatha, the bards must have added and even altered the story in a number of ways in the direction of its wordings or even contents. These recitations of the bards got localized and when they were reduced to writing, they assumed the form of recensions and versions current in that particular locality.

The Mahabharatha

The theme of the epic Mahabharata is the fight between the two lines of princes belonging to the dynasty of Bharata. That is why the book is called Mahabharata. The Mahabharata is the national saga of India and according to German Indologist Hermann Oldenberg – “In the Mahabharata breathe the united soul of India, and the individual souls of her people”. In the words of C.V.Vaidya, “the Mahabharata is the national poem of India and the store house of Indian genealogy, mythology and antiquity”.

Vyasa was a contemporary of Pandavas and Kauravas and he was a witness to many of the events of the Mahabharata. Vyasa composed the Mahabharata over a period of three years after the passing away of Sri Krishna and the Pandavas and the story was propagated by his disciple Vaishampayana at the time of the serpent sacrifice of Janamejaya, the great grandson of Arjuna. As the great Bharata War was a great catastrophe for the nation and its culture, the surviving Vyasa should have deemed it necessary to preserve all the traditional lore, which might have already assumed a literary form. Vyasa had composed only the essence of Mahabharata comprising 8800 shlokas and that work was called Jaya. Vaishampayana added a few verses of his own and brought the number to 24,000 verses and the book was named Bharatasamhita and finally Suta made more additions and inflated the work to 1,00,000 verses and named it Mahabharata.

The Mahabharata text was originally committed to memory and recited freely and differently by different rhapsodists. Hence from generations to generations, from place to place, from bard to bard, the wording, even the contents would vary a little, until the text is committed to writing. According to P.V.Kane, in the present text of Mahabharata there are three elements- 1. The bare story of the Pandavas and the Kauravas, 2. The Upakhyanas, concerning gods, sages, brahmins, kings and others and 3. Didactic matters insisting on doing one’s duties and the role of dharma and philosophy. It is clear that the Mahabharata had become, long before the 7th century A.D., a work for popular education and was being recited before general audiences of men and women in India.

Critical Edition of the Mahabharata

The need for a critical or correct edition of the Mahabharata was first mooted by Prof. M. Winternitz in 1897. The task of preparing the critical edition was taken by the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona in 1919 and scholars like Utgikar, V.S.Sukthankar, S.K.Belvalkar, R.N.Dandekar, S.K.De and and others worked as editors of various parvas. The manuscripts of Mahabharata selected for preparing the critical editions were written in eight scripts, namely Sharada, Nepali, Maithili, Bengali, Devanagari, Telugu, Grantha and Malayalam scripts. Of the two recensions of Mahabharata, northern and southern, the northern was found to be more authentic while the southern was found to contain later elements. Hence the editors preparing the critical edition of Mahabharata accepted the northern text as the principle and southern as a secondary text.

The Mahabharata was composed earlier than the Ramayana

According to P.V.Kane, the main characters of the Mahabharata were known long before Panini and tales related to Pandava heroes had been embodied in a work or in works in verse long before Patanjali wrote and that the core of the Mahabharata existed before 500 B.C. The same cannot be said about the Ramayana and there is no evidence to show that the principal characters of the Ramayana were known to Panini or even to Patanjali. At the most one can say that the three names, Dasharatha, Rama and Sita were probably known about 250-200 B.C., but not described as endowed with the qualities they bear in the extant Ramayana. In the view of P.V.Kane, the core of the Ramayana story may be only as old as 300 -250 B.C. at the most. According to V.S.Sukthankar, Ramayana was composed in the interval which separated Bharata from the Mahabharata. Ramayana was a well-known work before the Mahabharata reached its ultimate form and it is also possible that when the Ramayana was composed by the poet Valmiki, the heroic poem Bharata, the nucleus of our Mahabharata was already long in existence.

Mahavibhasha, a commentary on the Jnanaprasthana of Katyayaniputra composed perhaps during the reign of king Kanishka, has a short passage which says that in the book called Ramayana, there are 12,000 shlokas and they refer to two topics – the abduction of Sita by Ravana by violence and the rescue of Sita by Rama and their return. This is the earliest record mentioning the word Ramayana and its size. A terracotta from Kausambi dated 2nd century B.C., (in the Allahabad museum) depicts the abduction of Sita by Ravana.

Based on the reference to Rama in the Nasik cave inscription of Shatavahana king Vasisthi Putra Plumavi (131-159 A.D.), D.C.Sircar says that the Rama tradition seems to have been popular before the middle of the 2nd century A.D., about the period when the Ramayana is supposed to have received its final form and when Kumaralata speaks of its public recitation.

H.D.Sankalia is of the view that even the critical edition of the Ramayana is not only later than Mahabharata but also later than the Puranas like Vayu Purana and Matsya Purana. According to him the Ramayana in its present state cannot be earlier than 5th century A.D.

The Bharata and the Ramayana may have been indeed more or less independent products, different in origin and treatment. But when the Bhargava redactors set to work and convert the Bharatha into the Mahabharata, they had already the archetype of our Ramayana text before them and they made full use of it, absorbing in their own encyclopaedic work and perhaps also influenced by it in no small degree.

The Ramayana

Of the two epics, the appeal of the Ramayana has been deeper and larger than that of the Mahabharatha, the main reason being that the Ramayana is a homogeneous text, with a simple and straightforward story. The Ramayana is a living tradition not only in India but in several countries world wide. Since ancient times it has been in the limelight and the source of ethical and moral values to Indian society. The immortality of the Ramayana is proclaimed by Brahma – “As long as the hills endure and rivers flow, till that date Ramayana will continue to flourish”.

The original Ramayana composed by Adikavi Valmiki must have been a text quite brief and probably without embellishments. No manuscript of this text is available today. It consisted of only five Kandas and it represented Rama as a human hero, while the Balakanda and the Uttarakanda glorify Rama as an incarnation of Vishnu. According to Ananda Guruge, the development of the Ramayana took place in various stages. First there were the ballads and cycles of ballads centering round Ayodhya, Kishkindha and Lanka. Secondly they were put together by the poet Valmiki into an epic of about 12,000 verses. Thirdly the poem which was originally divided into Adhyayas came to be divided into five Kandas. Fourthly the original text developed into recensions and interpolation took place. Finally the legendary portion of the Balakanda and the Uttarakanda were added probably under Brahmanical influence. The extant Ramayana consists of 24,000 verses.

Later the text must have gone on expanding and through the course of centuries several additions must have been made to the text of the Adikavi and later transmitted to south India. Later more additions were made to the southern recession texts also.

Antecedents of sage Valmiki

The Drona Parva of the Mahabharata mentions a Bhargava Valmiki, a brahmin born in the Bhargava gotra or family. The popular legend connected with Valmiki, identifies Valmiki with a certain robber who later became a poet. The earliest reference to Valmiki as a robber is found in the Skanda Purana which is dated 800 A.D. and according to scholars is not a very reliable source of information about Valmiki. Indian traditions believe Valmiki to be a contemporary of Rama and an eye witness to at least some of the important events of the story. He lived in an ashram on the banks of river Tamasa and his hermitage was visited by both Sita and Shatrughna and Lava and Kusha were born in his hermitage. Alfred Bloch assumes Valmiki to be a court poet of the Ikshvaku dynasty and a contemporary of Rama while Minoru Hara opines that Valmiki was a singer of tales and according to J.L.Brockington Valmiki used and to some extent incorporated older material in his epic. The view that Valmiki incorporated older material in his epic is also echoed by C.Rajagopalachari, one of the foremost interpreters of the Ramayana and Ananda Guruge, the Sri Lankan scholar. According to C.Rajagopalachari, the story of Rama had been in existence long before Valmiki wrote his epic and gave form to a story that has been handed down from generation to generation. Similarly Ananda Guruge opines that ballads centering round Ayodhya, Kishkindha and Lanka were put together by the poet Valmiki into an epic of about 12,000 verses. But according to Kamala Ratnam, nowhere in the Indian literature, Valmiki is called a compiler and the Ramayana itself shows that it is no haphazard collection of cycles of ballads but a unitary poem, mostly the work of a single poet.

Morning Star of Indian Classical Poetry

Hailed as Adikavi, the first poet, and the mentor of all later poets, especially of those of the Rama narrative tradition, Valmiki is described by Prof. M.Hiriyanna as the Morning Star of Indian Classical Poetry, while the great poet Bhavabhuti regards Valmiki as the essence of poetry. According to G.K.Bhat, Valmiki is a Maha Kavi and Bharata Kavi. While other poets could be remembered for their great poetic achievements and read for pleasure and enjoyment of beauty, Valmiki is a national memory, never to be forgotten. Monier Williams opines that in the whole range of worlds literature, there are few, more charming poems than the Ramayana.

Beginning of Sanskrit language

The composition of the Ramayana marks a distinct stage in the development of Sanskrit language and poetry. Actually the denomination ‘Sanskrit’ is used for the first time in the Ramayana. Sanskrit means Samskrita, refined or cultured. The language of the earlier Vedic literature, in fact, had no name. It was called just Vak, speech. Panani used the term Chhandas to refer to the language of the Vedas and Bhasha (Sanskrit) as the language spoken by the people during his times.

Critical edition of the Ramayana

The task of preparing the critical edition of the Ramayana was taken by the Oriental Institute of Baroda in 1954 on the lines of the critical editions of Mahabharata published by the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona. A number of scholars like G.H. Bhatt, P.L.Vaidya, D.R.Mankad and others brought out critical editions of the various Kandas of Ramayana with the help of original manuscripts. In the preparation of the critical editions of Ramayana, two major groups of recessions of Ramayana, the northern and the southern were utilized. Manuscripts of the northern group included those of Sharada (Kashmiri), Nevari (Nepali), Bengali and Devanagari scripts. The southern group had manuscripts in Telugu, Grantha and Malayalam scripts and also in Devanagari. The date of these manuscripts range from 1020 A.D. to 1860 A.D. and no manuscript of the Ramayana older than 1020 A.D. was found. Though inflated, the southern recension of the Ramayana contained a more archaic text and was adopted as the main text by the editors preparing the critical version of the Ramayana.

Reference

  1. G.K.Bhat – The Genius of Valmiki, ABORI, vol -67, No 1/4, 1986
  2. Kamala Ratnam, R.Rangachari – Valmiki and Vyasa, Publication Division, Government of India, 2012
  3. Dinesh Sakalani – Questioning the Questioning of Ramayanas, ABORI, vol – 85, 2004
  4. P.V.Kane – The Two Epics, ABORI, vol – XLVII, 1966
  5. P.Nagaraja Rao – Sri Rama and the moral ideal (Dharma), Journal of the Ganganatha Jha Research Institute, vol -xvii, May-Aug, 1961
  6. Vettam Mani- Puranic Encyclopedia, Motilal Banarsidass, 1975
  7. Guruge Ananda W.P. – The Society of the Ramayana, Abhinava Publications, New Delhi, 1991
  8. A.D.Pusalker – Studies in the Epics and Puranas, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay
  9. Vaidya P.L. – Edited – The Ayodhya Kanda, 2nd Book of Valmiki Ramayana, Oriental Institute, Baroda, 1962
  10. Vaidya P.L. – Edited – The Yuddha Kanda, 6th Book of Valmiki Ramayana, Oriental Institute, Baroda, 1971
  11. D.R.Mankad – Edited – The Kishkinda Kanda, 4th Book of Valmiki Ramayana, Oriental Institute, Baroda, 1965
  12. P.K.Gode – Edited, V..S.Sukthankar – Critical Studies in the Mahabharata, Vol – I, V.S.Sukthankar Memorial Edition, Karnatak Publishing House, Bombay, 1944
  13. H.D.Sankalia – The Ramayana in Historical Perspective, Macmillan India Ltd, 1982
  14. C.V.Vaidya – The Mahabharata – A Criticism, 1905
  15. D.C.Sircar – Problems of the Ramayana, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, 1979
May 16, 2026 – 3:29 am Categories: essay | Comments Off on Facts about the Ramayana and the Mahabharata

Kali the Sinner and Kalki the Savior

The concept of Yuga and Avatara

The terms Kalpa, Manvantara and Yuga were used by the ancient Hindus to measure time. Accordingly, one Kalpa consisted of 14 Manvantaras and one Manvantara consisted of 71 Mahayugas and one Mahayuga consisted of four Yugas (ages) namely Krita or Sathya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga and Kali or Tisya Yuga.

The doctrine of the avataras of Vishnu is one of the most firmly established tenets of Hinduism. In the Bhagavad Gita (IV:7:8), Sri Krishna says that whenever there is decline of virtue and an insurrection of vice and injustice in the world, he will appear from age (yuga) to age for the preservation of the just, the destruction of the wicked and the establishment of virtue.

In Vishnu Purana it is said that Lord Vishnu appears in the form of Kapila and preaches paramajnana in the Krita yuga (period) and in Treta yuga, he assumes the form of an emperor and destroys the wicked people. In Dvapara yuga, he assumes the form of Vyasa and divides the Vedas into four sections and at the end of Kali yuga, he assumes the form of Kalki and restores the vicious to the path of righteousness.

Kali the sinner

The present age is the age of Kali, the sin god who lords over the world. Kali was the 15th son of Kashyapa and after Sri Krishna’s departure to Vaikunta, Kali began to extend his power and influence and religious and moral decline advances rapidly. Sage Markandeya had prophesied about the happenings in Kaliyuga thus: In Kaliyuga all people will be dishonest and their life expectancy will come down. Righteous persons will decrease and sinners will increase. Brahmins would do duties of Shudras and Shudras will become prosperous, Kings will be sinners and merchants will cheat. Rainfall will be less and everywhere there will be murders.

Agni Purana says that in Kaliyuga all people will lose their faith in god and become irreligious. There will be an inter mixture of castes and people will become thieves and evil doers. Barbarians under the guise of rulers will harass the people. At last Vishnu will appear as Kalki, destroy the barbarians and reestablish all those pure customs and morals which are based upon the due observance of the duties prescribed to the castes and the four orders. Thereafter Hari will return to heaven; and the Sathya yuga then again returning, will restore to the world purity, virtue and piety.

Kalki the savior

All Puranas mentioning the various avataras of Vishnu end with Kalki. In this avatara Vishnu will incarnate as Kalki towards the end of Kaliyuga and come riding a white horse, with a drawn sword to destroy the wicked. Kalki was (or will be) born in a village Shambhalagrama to a Brahmin couple, Vishnuyashas and Sumati. He was married to Padmavathi and had two sons, Jaya and Vijaya. Kalki was a military hero and commanded a large army by which he defeated the Mlechchas and the Bauddhas; conquered kingdoms and restored the varnashrama dharma. (About Kalki’s expedition against the Bauddhas, H.C.Norman opines that it may seem strange to find an avatara of Vishnu marching to subdue those who have been converted by Vishnu himself as Buddha).

Inconsistent statements about Kalki

According to the Puranas, Vishnu will be incarnated as Kalki/Kalkin in a village Shambhala and will destroy all Mlechhas, Shudra kings and heretics and will establish dharma, so that Krita age will then be ushered. While the Vayu Purana (58.75-90) and Matsya Purana (144. 50-64) state that it will be Pramati Bhargava who will be the avatara of Vishnu, Vayu Purana (98.104,110) and (99.396-7), Vanaparva (190. 93-97) of Mahabharata and Bhagavata Purana (X.2.16-23) state that Kalkin will become a universal emperor (Chakravartin) of dharmavijayin type and will start the Krita age. In some Puranas, he is referred as Kalki and in some as Kalkin. In some Puranas, he is said to be the son of a Brahmin Vishnu Yashas and in others he is himself styled as Vishnu Yashas. In some texts he is said to have already flourished and in some to incarnate in future.

Kalki identified with historical personalities

While Hindu sources depict Kalki as a savior, Jain sources depict Kalki as a persecutor of Jains. Based on these Jain sources several historians have tried to identify Kalki with historical personalities. K.P.Jayaswal identifies Kalki with Yashodharman, the famous ruler of Malwa while K.B.Pathak identifies Kalkiraja with Mihirkula, the Huna ruler. According to D.R.Mankad, the Kalki referred by Jaina sources is different from the Kalki referred in the Puranas and he identifies Kalki mentioned in Jain works with Pushyamitra Sunga. But H.B.Bhide after critically examining the works of the Jaina authors who have referred to one Kalki or Kalkiraja says that there is absolutely no evidence in their works (which he claims as not trustworthy from the point of view of history) to identify Kalkiraja either with Yashodharman or Mihirkula.

Kalki defeated Sishunaga?

According to D.R.Mankad, Kalki lived in 1986 B.C., and was born in the dominion of Vishakhayupa of the Pradyota dynasty ruling from Avanti. It is said that the latter came to pay his homage to Kalki as soon as he was born. In the view of D.R.Mankad, Kalki was like Chanukya, a practical politician and an accomplished warrior who gathered all the prominent rulers of the day (the rulers of Kashi, Vaishali, Avanti, etc., who had long standing grudge against Magadha), into a confederacy and dealt a crushing defeat to the Magadha king Sishunaga.

Kalki Purana

The Kalki Purana is one of the late Upapurana and it claims to be a continuation of the Bhagavata Purana and to deal with future events and is a purely Vaishnava work. It describes the deeds of Vishnu to be performed at the close of the Kali Yuga when he will be born as Kalki. According to R.C.Hazra, as all the manuscripts of Kalki Purana are in Bengali scripts, this Purana was written in Bengal and is probably a 18th century A.D. work.

Iconography of Kalki

The image of Kalki, according to Vaikhanasagama should have the face of a horse and the body of a man with four hands carrying respectively, the shankha, the chakra, the khadga and the khetaka and should possess a terrific look. According to Agni Purana, Kalki should carry the dhanus and the bana and should ride on a horse.

Development of the concept of Kalkin

According to P.V.Kane it is probable that the dismal accounts of Kaliyuga were put forth in the first centuries of the Christian era when the ancient varnashrama dharma had suffered a great set-back owning to the ascendancy of Buddhism and Jainism and the invasion of foreigners like the Shakas and the Hunas. When Yashodharman defeated the great Huna invader Mihirakula, people believed that the dark ages were at an end and that an era of perfect dharma was at hand. Passages in a prophetic vein were added about the time of Yashodharman to those already existing about the decline of dharma in Kaliyuga. This necessitated that all passages about Kalkin in any work whatever, were put in later than about 530 A.D.

According to Sunil Kumar Singh, the descriptions of the Kali age in the Puranas should be analysed as symptoms of a changing society. The death of an old order, wherein the social relationships weighed heavily in favour of the Brahmins, was a matter of great concern as it inaugurated the beginning of a phase of uncertainty. It was this fear psychosis and a grave concern for the uncertain future that finds full expression in the Kaliyuga descriptions of the Mahabharata and the Puranas.

It can be presumed that the development of the concept of the arrival of Kalkin was due to the yearning of the conservative elements to reestablish their hegemony over the society.

Reference

  • Vettam Mani- Puranic Encyclopedia, Motilal Banarsidass, 1975
  • P.V.Kane – History of Dharmashastra, Vol 5, Part I, BORI, Poona, 1958
  • P.V.Kane – History of Dharmashastra, Vol 5 Part II, BORI, Poona, 1962
  • P.V.Kane – History of Dharmashastra, Vol 3, second edition,BORI, Poona, 1973
  • D.R.Mankad – Puranic Chronology, Gangajala Prakashan, Anand, Gujarat, 1951
  • T.A.Gopinatha Rao – Elements of Hindu Iconography, vol -I, part I, Motilal Banarsidass, New Delhi, 1985
  • K.P.Jayaswal – The historical position of Kalki and his identification with Yasodharman, The Indian Antiquary, Vol XLVI, July 1917
  • H.B.Bhide – Is Kalkiraja an historical Personage, The Indian Antiquary, Vol 48, July 1918
  • K.B.Pathak – New light on the Gupta era and Mihirkula, The Indian Antiquary, Vol XLVII, January 1918
  • H.C.Norman – The Kalki Avatara of Visnu, Section V – Religions of India and Iran, Transaction of the third International Congress for the History of Religions, Vol -II, Oxford Press.
  • Sunil Kumar Singh – Studying the Kali Age: Problems of Perspective, Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Volume 50, 1989
May 2, 2026 – 9:37 am Categories: essay | Comments Off on Kali the Sinner and Kalki the Savior

Sri Krishna, the prophet and his message

Sri Krishna and Gautama Buddha were the two great prophets of ancient India whose teachings; the ‘Bhagavad Gita’ and the ‘Four Noble Truths’ are relevant even in the present times. Both belonged to the Kshtriya class and their teachings, influenced by the Upanishads, were inclusive in nature and meant for the whole of humanity. But unlike Buddha who became a monk, Sri Krishna till his end remained active in public life, dethroning tamasik rulers and empowering sathvik rulers. While Buddha’s teaching that ‘life is full of misery’ evokes pessimist outlook in life, Sri Krishna urged people to actively discharge their duties in life but without any attachment for the results.

Ancestry of Sri Krishna

Sri Krishna, belonging to the Lunar race was the son of Vasudeva who was the 93rd descendant from Vrshni, who was the son of Bhima Satvata, the 66th descendant of Kroshtu, son of Yadu and grandson of Yayati. Hence Krishna is said to be identified with the Yadavas, Vrshnis and Savatas. As his mother Devaki was the daughter of Ugrasena who was a descendant from Andhaka, son of Bhima Satvata, Krishna is also identified with the Andhaka clan.1 The Jaina tradition makes Krishna a cousin and contemporary of Neminatha, the Jain Tirthankara before Parshvanatha of the 8th century B.C.2

Were there two different Krishna’s?

According to some scholars Sri Krishna of the Mahabharata is not the same person as the Sri Krishna of the Puranas because- The story of Krishna’s childhood has no place in the Mahabharata though later on a supplement in the form of Harivamsha was added giving a detailed account of the early life of Sri Krishna. But it is outside the mainstream of the Mahabharata text and is a sort of Purana in itself.3

The character which is ascribed to Sri Krishna in the Puranas is altogether unbecoming of the great sage who, later on, became the teacher of such lofty thoughts as are embodied in Bhagavad Gita, and so according to these scholars the two Krishna’s cannot possibly be the same person.4

According to R.G.Bhandarkar the cow-herd Krishna of the Puranas is different from the Vrishni prince Vasudeva of the Mahabharata. Krishna was most probably the god of a nomadic cow-herd tribe known as the Abhiras who lived in the region extending from the vicinity of Mathura in the east to that of Dwaraka in the west. Stories about Krishna’s childhood exploits current among this nomadic tribe might have afterwards been incorporated in the Puranas, after the worship of Sri Krishna was adopted in Hinduism is the view of R.G.Bhandarkar.5

But Bahadur Mal feels that in the Mahabharata itself, there are passages in which Vasudeva is described as Krishna of the Yadava and Vrishni tribes of Mathura. Probably Vasudeva the Vrishni prince in his infancy was brought up in a cow-herd settlement at Gokula and then at Brindavan.6

Confusion regarding Krishna’s teacher

The earliest mention of Krishna is to be found in the Chandogya Upanishad and all scholars have asserted that Devakiputra Krishna described there was the disciple of Ghora Angirasa.7 But Puranic traditions does not recognize Ghora Angirasa and mention Sandipani as the teacher of Krishna.8

While H.C.Rayachaudhuri considers Krishna as the disciple of Ghora Angirasa and identifies the Krishna of the Chandogya Upanishad with the epic Krishna by showcasing the identity of the teachings of Gita with those contained in the conversation between Ghora Angirasa and Krishna,9 S.N.Tadapatrikar believes that Krishna initiated by Ghora Angirasa was quite different from Krishna of the epic and Puranas and the messenger of Bhagavad Gita.10

However Bimanbehari Majumdar asserts that the original text of Chandogya Upanishad does not say that Krishna is the disciple of Ghora Angirasa and it was Shankaracharya in his commentary on the above mentioned Upanishad had said that Krishna was the disciple of Ghora Angirasa. According to Bemanbehari Majumdar, Ghora Angirasa addresses Krishna as Achyuta (infallible), Akshita (indestructible and Prana Sanshita (the very essence of life), which shows that Ghora Angirasa regarded Krishna as a divine being. Interestingly in the Bhagavad Gita also we find the term, Achyuta being used by Arjuna to call Krishna.11

Multi facet personality of Sri Krishna

A daring personality who fought with the mighty and powerful, Sri Krishna was an astute statesman, a master strategist, a counselor, a mystic and a religious reformer.

Krishna’s strength and valour, knowledge and wisdom placed him above all others. All the great men of his times bowed down their heads in reverence to him. As he was the greatest of all, he received the agra puja at the Rajasuya sacrifice. According to Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Sri Krishna will stand out as the resplendent embodiment of all good qualities in all places and all times.12

Sri Krishna was a master of various arts like the art of healing, driving chariots; was a good singer and musician. He invented a new weapon, the Sudharshana Chakra.13

Under the watchful eyes of Acharya Sandipani, Krishna mastered over ‘64 fine arts’. He was known for breeding and training horses. The names of his four favourite horses; Shaibya, Sugriva, Megha-Pushpa and Balahaka have come down to us and it seems that with the help of these horses, Sri Krishna used to cover the distance between Indraprastha (Delhi) and Dwaraka in a week. He is credited to have reclaimed land from the ocean by a feat of engineering not detailed in the available text and built the great city of Dwaraka. He is also said to have introduced a new flower, Parijata.14

Sri Krishna’s campaign against autocratic rulers

Sri Krishna was a relentless fighter in the cause of justice and righteousness. He waged throughout his life, incessant war against tyrants and evil doers and destroyed them. Kamsa, Jarasandha, Shishupala and Salva were some of the evil tyrant rulers eliminated by him. In Drona Parva of the Mahabharata, Dhritarashtra refers to the Angas, the Vangas, the Kalingas, the Magadhas, the Kashis, the Kosalas, the Vatsyas, the Gargias, the Karusas, the Paundras, the Avantis and others being vanquished by Sri Krishna. During the Rajasuya yajna, Bhishma while speaking about the great qualities of Sri Krishna, declares that there was hardly a king among those present in the yajna, who had not been defeated by Sri Krishna at one time or another. Allowing for any exaggeration that there might possibly be in this description of the battles waged by Sri Krishna, there is no doubt that he was unequaled, through the length and breadth of the country, in martial valour and skill in arms.15

Sri Krishna as a religious reformer

According to K.V.Raman, the Bhagavata school centering around the worship of Sri Krishna and the teachings of Bhagavad Gita evolved around 2nd century B.C. in the Mathura region. The Bhagavata school was a very important reformist movement, a liberal reaction to the protest movements within the Hindu fold which became popular throughout India. Though the Krishna cult was popularized by the shepherd class of the Yadavas, the Bhagavata movement received active support and encouragement from the caste including the higher ones and it became one of the most popular movements in our history spreading to different parts of the country.16

The gist of Bhagavad Gita

The whole and sole teaching of the Gita, is very pragmatic, very practical and very rational. That teaching is, in brief: “Do your duty, not out of blind faith in any petty, paltry, ritualistic and dictatorial conventions, but after ascertaining it in the light of Atma Vidhya – the all-coordinating, all illuminating science; and then do it without craving for fruit, fearless of consequences, sure that right resolve and right effort can never go in vain, but will always bring right results, soon or late”.17

Krishna cult, a revolt against the Vedic cult

Even in his boyhood and youth, Sri Krishna was a zealous reformer of religion. He battled bravely as a boy against the prevalent excessive and sensuous Vedic formalism and ritualism; warred upon vested priestly or rather priest-crafty interests and pretensions; successfully abolished the Indra-Makha with its blood sacrifices and libations and potations; and established instead the more rational cult of the cow, so eminently suited to an agricultural civilization. This open condemnation of hypocritical, cunning, selfish and senseless, or perverse and depraved sacerdotal formalism and of the endeavor to hypnotize the people with the mere outer word of the Veda is briefly but strongly repeated by him in his later teachings of the Gita.18

“ The flowery speech of the foolish men who are always talking of ‘Veda, Veda’, as if there were nothing else, filled with desires, greedy of paradise, ambitious of powers, craving after luxuries- they who allow their minds to be carried away by that deceptive speech, they never attain to the steadiness of the understanding which sees the Self in and by meditation. Rise above the Vedas, Arjuna! Rise beyond the reach of the three gunas, rise beyond the pairs of opposites, rise to the supremacy of the Self. To the man who knows the immensity of the Self, the whole of the Vedas is of no more use than is a small and shallow puddle in the time of widespread flood”.19

In its real character, Bhagavatism was not very favourably inclined towards the varnashramadharma and the Brahmins, and the Vrishnis among whom Sri Krishna was born were noted for their irrelevant attitude towards Brahmins and casteless foreigners were freely admitted into the Bhagavata religion.20

In Vaishnavism (due to the influence of Krishna’s cult), the rituals consist of fruits, leaves, flowers and water given (offered) with devotion. The god accepts it because of devotion. This form of worship is entirely non-Vedic, it avoids sacrifices and its strong predilection for non-violence precludes offering living creatures.21

The Bhagavad Gita which contains the message of Sri Krishna marks a clear departure in its religious and social outlook from the Vedic tradition which had its base on priestly power and knowledge and control of sacrifice. The Bhagavad Gita presented the Bhakti marga as a way of salvation open for the men of the world including women, Jnana marga for those who could attain it and Karma marga for the warrior class.22

Bhagavata religion co-opted by Vedic followers

The worship of Krishna Vasudeva as a divine chieftain had taken place even before the compilation of the epic Mahabharata. In the earliest literary references, Krishna is already remembered as a leader and the religious preceptor and the God of gods of the Vrsni or Sattvata people of north India of plebeian social status. Later the Sattvatas rose from the low original status to the rank of warriors or Kshatriyas in status. Their faith called Sattvatadharma became the personal religion of many members of the north Indian knightley circles and by the time when the epic had reached the point of mid formation, the cult of Krishna had began to attract members of India’s other and highest aristocracy, that of the Sanskrit speaking Brahmins.23

One of the reason for the Sattvatadharma to gain adherents from the upper castes was due to the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita to the disaffected householders leaving their civil duties and entering monastic life; that salvation can be gained by doing one’s duty in the society without expectations.24

Also the greatness of Sri Krishna and the excellence of the Bhagavad Gita which came to be regarded as one of the three prasthanas of Vedanta led to the Bhagavata religion, which was once regarded as outside the pale of Vedism to be admitted into the Vedic fold. This also led to the Yadu clan to which Sri Krishna belonged and which is said to have originally been regarded as a shudra one to be recognized as a Kshtriya clan.25

Infused Vedic ideology with Bhagavatism

Though Bhagavatism/Vaishnavism was imbued with non-Brahmanical/Vedic ideas and practices, it seems that among the early worshippers of Vishnu, there was one section of people who, though won over to the worship of Sri Krishna, looked upon the Vedas as authorities, attached great importance to varnasharamadharma and the smrti rules. It was these type of Brahmins who were the authors of present Puranas who on one hand while glorifying Sri Krishna/Vishnu, on the other hand tried to establish the varnashramadharma and the authority of the Vedas.26

Entering the Krsnaite religion in increasing numbers, Brahmins undertook to give Krishna worship the status of an orthodox Vedic religion by identifying Krishna with the Rig Vedic god Vishnu. The Sattvata religion received a more inclusive name as Bhagavatism- the religion devoted to Bhagavan or Sri Krishna and absorbed the sect of the Pancaratrins who honoured Brahmins and the Vedas but who refrained scrupulously from taking life in ritual or in diet.27

Deification of Sri Krishna

According to Bimanbehari Majumdar, the earliest mention of Sri Krishna is to be found in the Chandogya Upanishad, where Ghora Angirasa addressed Krishna as Achyuta (infallible), Akshita (indestructible and Prana Sanshita (the very essence of life). As the date of the composition of Chandogya Upanishad is said to be sometimes before the 6th century B.C., the godhood of Krishna must have taken place some centuries earlier than the date of the composition of Chandogya Upanishad.28

We find references to Krishna Vasudeva in Panani’s Astadhyayi (400 B.C.), as well as in the commentary of Patanjali on the same.29 Buddhist canon Niddesa of the 4th century B.C. mentions about the worship of Vasudeva.30 Inscriptions found at Ghosundi (200 B.C.) and at Nanaghat cave (189 B.C.), helps us fix the time when Krishna began to be worshiped as an incarnation of God in India.31 Evidence of the worship of Sri Krishna comes from the Greek accounts of an Indian group that migrated to Armenia in the period 149-127 B.C., who worshiped Kishen or Damodara, a derivative and epithet of Krishna respectively.32

During the Kushana period, Mathura was a stronghold of the Krishna cult. One of the Kushana kings was named Vasudeva. The earliest representation in India of Krishna belongs to that period and comes from Mathura. It is the Mathura Museum relief, No.1344, which represents Vasudeva carrying new born child Krishna to Gokula across the Yamuna.33

Under the patronage of the Guptas who called themselves, Paramabhagavatas, the Bhagavata religion gained popularity in Uttar Pradesh and other parts of northern India.34 Vidisha or Malwa region in Madhya Pradesh was also an important centre of Bhagavata religion as a bulk of inscription and monuments of that religion comes from this region. The most important being the inscribed Garuda column erected at Besnagar in the 2nd century B.C. in honour of Vasudeva by Heliodoros, a Greek ambassador to the court of the Sunga king, Kashiputra Bhagabhadra.35

In south India, we find references to Krishna (who was known as Mayon, the deity of the Mullai or forest region) in the Sangam literature.36 Some of the important temples of Krishna in south India includes, the Krishna temple at Udupi consecrated by Madhvacharya (13th century A.D.), the Krishna temple at Guruvayur in Keralam (which during 16th century had become very famous) and the Parthasarathi temple in Triplicane in Tamilnadu where along with Krishna and Rukmini, we find the images of Balarama, Pradyumna, Aniruddha and Shatyaki.37

Sri Rama Vis-a-vis Sri Krishna

Sri Rama belonged to the illustrious Ikshavaku dynasty and some of his famous predecessor were Mandhata, considered as an avatara of Vishnu, Harishchandra, the bye-word for truthful promise in Indian literature and culture and Bhagiratha, who by his penance is credited for having brought down river Ganga to India. Sri Rama’s descendants and brothers ruled over many regions of western part of northern India for several generations.38

On the other hand Sri Krishna had no kingdom of his own and his parents and their ascendants were not illustrious. His descendants may be said to have been unimportant and were soon extinct. But still it was Sri Krishna due to his philosophical reputation made his rise to early divinity than Sri Rama, though the latter had lived 28 generations earlier than the former.39

From literary and even mythological sources we know that Sri Krishna came to be accorded the status of a deity and received worship and divine honours at least seven to eight centuries before Sri Rama had them.40

Krishna Vasudeva has been receiving worship since before 300 B.C., and shrines dedicated to him existed in 200 B.C.,41 whereas Sri Rama must have been deified at the beginning of the Christian era and the Rama cult and worship of Sri Rama began to gather strength about the 11th century A.D. and during the medieval times, the worship of Sri Rama was popularized by Sri Ramananda (1300 A.D.)42

Character assassination of Sri Krishna

According to Bahadur Mal, there is no historical basis for the current stories of love between Sri Krishna and the cow-herd maidens of Brindavan. We do not find any mention of such things in the Mahabharata. These stories are the creation of a later age, when the bhakti cult with reference to Sri Krishna as the incarnation of God had been firmly established. The yearning of a soul for God was given a concrete symbolic expression in the form of love which a woman feels for her lover. Gradually these stories at the hands of various writers assumed a fantastic proportion of the Puranas including the Bhagavata Purana. Even the character of Radha is a creation of the rich imagination of later writers.43

Scholars like Daya Krishna wonder why though the gopis who are depicted as living eternally in the memory of those days they had passed with Sri Krishna, never make the slightest effort to seek him out and meet him once more or even try to find where he is or how he is. Similarly we do not find any reference about Sri Krishna visiting the gopis.44 All these show the untrustworthiness of the stories of love between Sri Krishna and the gopis found in the Puranas.

Similarly the stories of deceit and falsehood said to have been practiced by Sri Krishna against his enemies in the Mahabharata war is a pure fabrication introduced into the main story in order to malign him. It is unbelievable that Sri Krishna who in point of valour and righteousness, towered above all the great heroes of Mahabharata should have so openly and crudely violated the universally accepted code of honorable warfare, as is popularly supposed.45

Sri Krishna was a monogamist

Sri Krishna had only one wife, Rukmini and after Krishna was identified with the supreme Vishnu, Rukmini was identified with Lakshmi.46 According to Asha Goswami, Sri Krishna who had incarnated on the earth (according to popular belief and faith) to lead the people on to the path of righteousness and duty could not have been so fickle and frivolous about his marriage which in fact is a very important social event in human life.47 The number of wives of Krishna and their names given in different sources like the Mahabharata and the Puranas differ widely.48 The epic Mahabharata hints out Krishna as a monogamist where it enlists Krishna with the known monogamists of the age like Sri Rama, Nala, Satyavan, etc.49

Worship of child Krishna

Beginning about 300 A.D., a mutation occurred in Vaishnava mythology in which the ideals of Sri Krishna worshippers were turned upside down. The Harivamsha Purana, which was composed at about that time, related in 32 chapters, the childhood of Sri Krishna that he had spent among the cow-herds. The tales had never been told in Hindu literature before. The old adoration of Sri Krishna as moral preceptor went into a long quiescence. The age of Krishna as a sportive being- as a doer of lilas had begun. This has continued even to this day with the great sects that dominate Vaishnava religious life in north India today worship Sri Krishna as Gopala, the cowherd boy.50

The growth of the cult of child Krishna among the bhaktas in the middle ages is attributed to the teaching of Vallabhacharya (1479-1531 A.D.), for whom Krishna inspired the feeling of vatsalyabhava bhakti, the love for God which is like that of a parent for a child. It is said that Krishna appeared to him in a vision and asked him to ‘promulgate his worship in the form of the divine child known as Bala Gopala”.51

The Vallabhacharya sect devoted to Krishna worship ignores altogether that aspect of the great life, Krishna, the super-hero, the matchless warrior, the unrivalled statesman, the breaker of the militarist oppressors of the people, the experimenter with republicanism, the teacher of the Gita and instead its practice is limited to the dwelling on and enacting of the scenes and doings of Krishna’s childhood and adolescence, of flirtations and dances with the dairy-maids, and the enjoyment of tongue and sex – which elemental appetites somehow manage to become the chief objects of worship, in one disguise or another.52

Hindus emasculated by worshiping baby gods

Instead of worshiping the valorous statesman and a world teacher, Sri Krishna, the Hindus have been worshiping child Krishna and shamelessly enact imaginary acts of child Krishna like breaking of pots filled with curds/butter in a sport called ‘Dahi handi’ and flirt in a dance called ‘Raas leela’ during his birth celebration. Even the recent consecration of Sri Rama done with much fanfare at the temple of Ayodhya was that of a child Rama called ‘Ram Lalla’ instead of the adult Sri Rama who had vanquished the mighty king of Lanka, Ravana. Probably Hindus fear that if they start worshiping adult gods, they may have to emulate their qualities which involves exhibiting manliness when confronting problems or injustice, whereas worshiping child gods would give them license to behave in a childish manner and act frivolously in the name of devotion.

Even when senseless accusation are made against Sri Krishna like he had married 16,000 maidens, let alone ordinary Hindus, even the so called highly educated, scholars and religious heads don’t take trouble to introspect whether it is possible or practical to marry 16,000 maidens; and that these type of accusation is a blot on the character of Sri Krishna; and they have a responsibility to see that the factual accounts of Sri Krishna is presented to the masses; and think of the ways to prevent slanders being hurled on their prophet.

Reference

  1. F.E.Pargiter – Ancient Indian Historical Traditions, Oxford University Press, London, 1922, pp:88,105,107,145,148
  2. Amarnath Ray – Sri Krishna and the Source of the Bhagavadgita, Indian Historical Quarterly, vol-9, p.188
  3. Bahadur Mal – Sri Krishna, His Philosophy and his Spiritual Path, Vishveshvaranand V.R.Insitute, Hoshiarpur, 1960, p.7
  4. Ibid, pp: 7,8
  5. Ibid, p. 8
  6. Ibid, pp: 8,9
  7. Bimanbehari Majumdar – Krsna in History and Legend, University of Calcutta, 1969, p. 2
  8. Ibid, p.4
  9. Ibid, p. 263
  10. S.N.Tadapatrikar – The Krishna Problem, ABORI, vol – X, April 1929, pp: 332,333
  11. Bimanbehari Majumdar – Op.Cit, pp: 2,3,4,281,282
  12. P. Banerjee – The Life of Krishna in Indian Art, National Museum, New Delhi, 1978, pp: 2,3
  13. Dhirendra Nath Pal – Sri Krishna – His Life and Teachings, C C Basak, The Research House, Calcutta, 1923, pp:76, 386,48,207,208
  14. Bhagavan Das- Krishna – A Study in the Theory of Avataras, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay, 1962 pp:48,49,50
  15. Bahadur Mal – Op.Cit, pp: 14,15
  16. K.V.Raman – Presidential Address – Cultural Heritage – A Synthesis, Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, vol 46 (1985), pp: 100,101
  17. Bhagavan Das- Op.Cit, p.96
  18. Ibid, pp: 85,86
  19. Ibid, pp: 86,87
  20. R.C.Hazra – Pre-Puranic Hindu Society before 200 A.D., The Indian Historical Quarterly, vol-xv, 1939, p. 412
  21. Sukumari Bhattacharji – Indian Theogony -Comparative Study of Indian Mythology from Veda to Purana, Firma KLM Private Ltd, Calcutta, 1978, p. 306
  22. K.V.Raman – Op.Cit, p.101
  23. Norvin Hein – A Revolution in Krsnaism: The cult of Gopala, History of Religions, vol 25, No 4., Religion and change ASSR Anniversary volume, May 1986, p. 297
  24. Ibid
  25. Amarnath Ray – Op.Cit, pp: 190,191
  26. R.C.Hazra – Op.Cit, pp: 417,418
  27. Norvin Hein – Op.Cit, p. 298
  28. Bimanbehari Majumdar – Op.Cit, pp: 281, 282
  29. Bahadur Mal – Op.Cit, p. 6
  30. S.N.Tadapatrikar – Op.Cit, p. 272
  31. Bahadur Mal – Op.Cit, pp: 6,7
  32. Charles S. J . White – Krishna as Divine Child, History of Religions, vol – 10, No.2, November 1970, p. 158
  33. P. Banerjee – Op.Cit, p. 68 (The famous Keshavarai temple at Mathura built by Maharaja Virasimha of Orchha during the time of Jahangir was destroyed by Ramjan Shah in 1670 A.D. at the orders of Aurangzeb, P. Banerjee – Op.Cit, p. 75)
  34. Ibid, p. 69
  35. Ibid, p. 103
  36. Ibid, p. 114
  37. Ibid, pp: 117,125,128
  38. G.S.Ghurye – Gods and Men, Popular Book Depot, Bombay, 1962, p. 182
  39. Ibid, pp: 182, 183, 162
  40. Ibid, p. 162
  41. Ibid
  42. Ibid, pp: 189, 190, 193 194
  43. Bahadur Mal – Op.Cit, pp: 30,31
  44. Edited by Nalini Bhushan, Jay L . Garfield, Daniel Raveh, Contrary Thinking – Selected Essays of Daya Krishna, Oxford University Press, 2011, p. 275
  45. Bahadur Mal – Op.Cit, pp: 16,17
  46. Asha Goswami – The Monogamist Krishna, Charu Deva Shastri Felicitation Volume, Delhi, 1974, p. 450
  47. Ibid, p. 443
  48. Ibid, p. 444
  49. Ibid, pp: 447,448
  50. Norvin Hein – Op.Cit, p. 296
  51. Charles S. J . White – Op.Cit, p. 166
  52. Bhagavan Das- Op.Cit, pp: 160,161
April 5, 2026 – 10:53 am Categories: essay | Comments Off on Sri Krishna, the prophet and his message

Shraddha, the cult of Ancestor Worship

Ancestor worship is one of the oldest belief systems in the world along with nature worship. According to Raj Bali Pandey, during ancient times family members of the deceased cherished mixed sentiments towards the dead whom they believed proceeded to the realm of the dead after their earthly life ended. First there was the sentiment of dread. It was believed that the deceased still had some kind of interest in his family property and relatives whom he would not like to quit and therefore was lingering about the house. It was also supposed that because he was alienated from the survivors by death, he might cause injury to the family and so attempts were made to avoid his presence and contact. The next sentiment was of love and affection towards the deceased. The survivors thought that it was their duty to help the dead in reaching his destination after death and hence provided him with food and other articles necessary for a traveller so that he could resume his journey to the next world. The next world was believed to be a replica of this world and everything necessary for starting a new life was presented to him. For example, food was offered and also an old cow or a goat to serve as a guide in his journey to the world of the dead.1

The seed of the shraddha rite can be probably attributed to the Atharva Veda which tells us that the dead man is conducted upward by the Maruts and meets the fathers who reside in the company of Yama. The idea that the dead in heaven are nourished by the piety of the relatives on earth is also found in the Atharva Veda. Accordingly, such nourishments may either be buried with the dead so that the grains of corn and sesame, so buried may turn into wish-cows in heaven, or the nourishment may be conveyed through subsequent offerings.2

Shraddha, the rites associated with ancestor worship

The rites associated with ancestor worship is called Shraddha. It is a ceremony performed by a son for the gratification of his departed father, paternal grandfather and paternal great grandfather who are identified with the three orders of superintending pitr deities namely Vasus, Rudras and Adityas and combines three aspects –

  • homa or food oblation into the sacred fire by uttering mantras
  • feeding of Brahmins and
  • the offering of pindas (rice balls)3

Contradictory to doctrines of karma and punarjanma

According to P.V.Kane, a firm believer in the doctrines of karma and punarjanma may find it difficult to reconcile that doctrine with the belief that by offering rice balls to his three deceased paternal ancestors a man brings gratification to the souls of the latter. In Bhagavad Gita chapter two, verse 22 and Brihadaranyaka Upanishad IV.4.4, it is said that the spirit leaving the body enters into another and a new one. But the doctrine of offering rice balls to ancestors requires that the spirit of the three ancestors even after a lapse of 50 or 100 years are still capable of enjoying in an ethereal body.4 According to P.V.Kane the worship of ancestors by means of shraddha was probably a very ancient institution and the doctrine of punarjanma and karma were comparatively later ones and that Hinduism being all embracing retained the institution of shraddha while also adopting the doctrines of metempsychosis.5

Contradictory to the teaching of the Upanishad

The Upanishad taught that atman was essentially identical with the Paramatman, Supreme Spirit or the Brahman. If the soul of the deceased were atman pure and simple, on the death of its body, it would immediately merge in the Supreme Spirit and thus attain moksha or liberation. This would render the performance of pinda pitryajna meaningless.6

Contradictory to the teaching of Advaita

Adi Shankaracharya in his Advaita philosophy propounds that Brahman is the only reality and declares the whole world to be an imposition of avidya. Ultimate reality is one and without any relation and so all the smacks of multiplicity must be due to the influence of avidya and the Vedas and shastras which deal with multiplicity of the world, however full of wisdom must be stigmatised as such. They lose their validity and authoritativeness when true knowledge springs.7

Shraddha rite is devoid of rational thinking

According to Matsya Purana and Agni Purana being gratified by rice balls offered by their descendants these pitrs bestow them with long life, learning, progeny, wealth, happiness, kingdom, heaven and moksha.8 No sane person can believe that offering made here can reach persons living in another world. Also it looks strange that these pitrs who are capable of giving various boons to their descendants are eager for these rice balls to satisfy their hunger.

The proponents of shraddha say that it is the duty of a son to perform shraddha. Yes, a son has obligations towards his parents, but when they are alive. Saying that we have duties towards the dead is like saying that we have duties towards the unborn and that the unborn are to be fed, clothed and educated and provided with recreation. Will it not sound absurd? If at all a son has a duty after the death of his father it is to take care of his mother and other siblings if they were dependent upon the deceased father. Also, to repay any debt his father had occurred, but that too, if the son is able to do so.

Contradictory injunction in texts

The texts which give information about Shraddha are full of contradictory injunctions. For instance, Gobhila Smriti says that the husband should not offer pinda to his wife even if she dies sonless, nor a father to his son and an elder brother to a younger brother. But Baudhayana and Brddhasatatapa allow a shraddha to be performed by anyone for any relative with affection particularly at Gaya.9 In the Samhitas and Brahmanas there is no reference to Shraddha in honour of deceased female maternal ancestors. It is found only in the Grhyasutra literature though some like Paraskara Grhyasutra and Hiranyakeshi Grhyasutra are silent about it.10

Shraddha a source of livelihood for the priestly class

Originally the articles of food offered to deceased ancestors were cast into fire (agnaukarana) and the fire carried the essence to the deceased. Later on this was replaced by offerings to the Brahmins in the name of the deceased: it was believed that the essence of the offerings reaches the deceased spirits through the medium of the Brahmins and the Garuda Purana II.5.47 mentions that the Brahmin should be fed to satisfy the hunger of the departed souls.11

Haradatta commentator of Apastambha Dharma Sutra holds that feeding to the Brahmins is the principle act of shraddha.12 shraddha according to Brahmapurana is “whatever given with faith to Brahmanas intending it to be for the benefit of pitr at a proper time, in a proper place, to deserving persons and in accordance with the prescribed procedure”.13 According to Vayu Purana, at the time of shraddha the ancestors enter the invited Brahmanas after assuming an aerial form and that when the best of Brahmanas are honoured with clothes, food, gifts, eatables, liquid, cows, horses and villages, pitrs become pleased.14 Similarly Manu prescribed the shraddha rite (ancestor worship) for the good of mankind wherein the objects of worship are the fathers, while the Brahmans who are fed on their behalf are for the purpose of ahavaniya that is the Brahmanas are as if they are the sacred fire into which oblations are made.15 All these statements contained in the dharma sutras shows that the importance given to shraddha rite was to provide a livelihood to a particular community though the rites went against the tenets of Hindu philosophy. The fact that absurd theories were created to prevent the cult from becoming redundant in the wake of the karma theory also proves the fact that the main beneficiaries of this cult was the priestly class. For instance when the law of karma rendered the rites of ancestor worship untenable, the votaries of the ancestor worship came up with a new theory stating that as soon as a person dies he does not enter a new body but will be in a unembodied existence (Preta) for a period of one year and to provide sustenance to it, the institution of ekoddista Shraddha was established. The ekoddista shraddha was to be performed every month for a period of one year after the death of an individual. Along with ekoddista shraddha, the Sapindikarana shraddha was introduced which was undertaken to terminate the state of Preta and make it a pitr or take a rebirth in accordance with its karma.16

Alternative to Shraddha

P.V.Kane says that it is a good practice to set apart at least one day in a year for the remembrance of one’s near and dear relatives that are no more, to invite relatives, friends and learned people to a dinner in memory of the dead and to make monetary gifts on poor but learned persons of character and devoted to the practice of plain living and high thinking. This will be in keeping with our past traditions and will also give a new orientation to and infuse new life into practices and usages that have become lifeless and meaningless to many people.17

But the best option would be to celebrate the birthdays of living parents by inviting friends and relatives and if financially stable donate money to orphanages or old age homes on their behalf. Today most parents suffer the pangs of separation and loneliness. Instead of performing shraddha after death, children could spend quality time with their parents when they are still alive and assist them in their mundane activities.

A flourishing Primitive Belief

According to Raj Bali Pandey in no other field of Hinduism the primitive beliefs regarding life and death survive so insistently as in the naive funeral operations. The next world is nothing but the replica of this earth and the needs of the dead are the same as those of the living. Throughout the ceremonies the prayers are offered for sensuous enjoyments and ease of the dead. We do not find any indication of the desire for his or her spiritual benefit, salvation or beatitude. The prayer for freedom from the cycles of birth and death is very casual and could be discovered only in the latest phase of the ritual. The whole performance is of the most primitive kind and speaks of a period of remote antiquity.18

Ancestor worship, though contrary to Hindu philosophy and defies common sense, is a flourishing cult in modern India with its votaries belonging to all sections of the Hindu society; from the highly educated to a simpleton illiterate fellow.

Reference

  1. Raj Bali Pandey –Hindu Samskaras, A Socio-religious study of the Hindu Sacraments, Vikrama Publications, Banaras, 1949, pp:409-11
  2. R.C.Majumdar Edited, The History and Culture of the Indian People, The Vedic Age, 1952, p.445
  3. P.V.Kane – History of Dharmasastra, vol IV, 1953, pp:334-35 and B.Narayan Aiyangar – Sraddha (Brahman Ancestor Worship), Quarterly Journal of Mythic Society, vol III, no 3, 1911-12, p.80
  4. P.V.Kane – Op.Cit, p.335
  5. Ibid, p.339
  6. Y. Krishan – The Doctrine of Karma and Sraddhas, ABORI, vol – 66, No. 1/4, 1985, p.110
  7. Satindra Kumar Mukerjee – Sankara on the relation between the Vedas and Reason, The Indian Historical Quarterly, vol 6, Calcutta, 1930,p.113
  8. P.V.Kane – Op.Cit, p.335
  9. Ibid, pp:364-65
  10. Y. Krishan – Op.Cit, pp:112,113
  11. Ibid, p.98
  12. P.V.Kane – Op.Cit, p.349
  13. Ibid, p.334
  14. Ibid, pp:339-40
  15. B.Narayan Aiyangar – Op.Cit, p.80
  16. Y. Krishan – Op.Cit, p. 108
  17. P.V.Kane – Op.Cit, p.550
  18. Raj Bali Pandey – Op.Cit, pp:479-80
September 9, 2025 – 10:04 am Categories: essay | Comments Off on Shraddha, the cult of Ancestor Worship

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