365bet

Essay name: Vaishnava Myths in the Puranas

Author: Kum. Geeta P. Kurandwad
Affiliation: Karnatak University / Department of Sanskrit

The essay studies the Vaishnava Myths in the Puranas by exploring the significance of the ten principal incarnations of Lord Vishnu as depicted in various ancient Indian texts like the Vedas, Upanishads, and Puranas. The research also investigates the social, political, philosophical, and religious impact.

Chapter 2 - Varieties of Myths

Page:

25 (of 93)


External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)


Download the PDF file of the original publication


Warning! Page nr. 25 has not been proofread.

35
Varuna's relation with Māyā finds occasional reference. Māyā
signifies occult power, applicable in good cause to gods or in a bad
sense to demons. Māyā stands for in comprehensive creative power or
faculty to achieve the wonderful.
1 Varuṇa is called Mayin, the deity that presides over Māyā.
Macdonell remarks that Māyā has an almost exact parallel in the
English 'craft', which in its old significance meant occult power, magic
then skillfulness, art on the one hand and deceitful skill and vile on
the other. 77 Through Māyā, Varuṇa ordains Ṛta, Vrata, and Dharma.
It is a cosmos and not a chaos. Each being, animate and inanimate exists
in a certain establishment, relation and harmony with the whole
cosmic activity. All duties and obligations in some way or the other
lead to the realization that the world is an order.
Moreover, Varuṇa is associated with waters and this is highly
significant. 'May the waters which are celestial and those which are
self produced, those which are proceeding to the ocean and are bright
and purifying, preserve me. May those waters in which Varuṇa, Soma
and all other gods are exhilarated by food into which Agni and Vaiśvānara
has entered, preserve me. In Ṛgveda VIII.41.8. he is called a hidden
ocean. Moreover, Mitra and Varuṇa are called strong lords of the sea.
78 79
77. A.A. Macdonell, Vedic Mythology, Motilal Banarasidass, Varanasi, 1898,
p.24.
78. या� राजा वरुण� या� सोमो विश्वे देवा यासुर्� मदन्ति �
वैश्वानर� यास्वग्निः प्रविष्ट� स्ता आप� देवीरि� मामवन्� || [yāsa rājā varuṇo yāsa somo viśve devā yāsurja madanti |
vaiśvānaro yāsvagni� praviṣṭa� stā āpo devīriha māmavanda ||
]
Ibid., VII.49.4.
79. � राजाना मह ऋतस्� गोपा सिन्धपति क्षत्रिय� यातमर्वाक् �
इळां नो मित्रावरुणोत वृष्टि मव दि� इन्ततं जीरदान� || [ā rājānā maha ṛtasya gopā sindhapati kṣatriyā yātamarvāk |
iḷāṃ no mitrāvaruṇota vṛṣṭi mava diva intata� jīradānu ||
]
Ibid., VII. 64.2.

Let's grow together!

I humbly request your help to keep doing what I do best: provide the world with unbiased sources, definitions and images. Your donation direclty influences the quality and quantity of knowledge, wisdom and spiritual insight the world is exposed to.

Let's make the world a better place together!

Like what you read? Help to become even better: