MAHABHARATAM PART-24
"BALARAMA"
Balarama
is a Hindu deity and the elder brother of Krishna
(an avatar of the god Vishnu).
Balarama is particularly significant in the Jagannath tradition, as
one of the triad deities. He is also known as Baladeva,
Balabhadraa,
Haladhara
and Halayudha.
The first two epithets refer to his strength, the last two associate
him with Hala
from his strong associations with farming and farmers, as the deity
who used farm equipment as his weapon when he needed to.
While most legends and texts consider Balarama
as avatar of
Shesha – the
companion of Vishnu,Gitagovinda
of Jayadeva describes Balarama to be the eighth avatar of Vishnu,
raising Krishna to be the Brahman,
or Ultimate Reality itself and the fountainhead of all other avatars
and creation.
history:
Balarama is an ancient deity, a prominent one by the epics era of
Indian history as evidenced by archeological and numismatic evidence.
His iconography appears with Nāga
(many-headed serpent), a plough and other farm artifacts such as
watering pot, possibly indicating his origins in a bucolic,
agricultural culture.Balarama's legend appears in many Parva
(books) of the Mahabharata.
The Book Three (Vana
Parva) states Krishna and him to be brothers born to separate
mothers, but one father. Book One (Adi
Parva) states the circumstances that lead to light skinned
Balarama, and dark skinned Krishna. Book Thirteen (Anushasana Parva)
presents the mythology of Sesha's incarnation into Balarama, as
Vishnu incarnated as Krishna, likely reflecting the basis why most of
ancient and early medieval artworks of Balarama show a snake hood on
top of his head.
Balarama is a significant deity in Hinduism, but his significance
varies by region and text In many, he is an avatar of Shesha Naga
while Krishna is an avatar of Vishnu. In some such as late medieval
era Jayadeva's list, Balarama is an avatar of Vishnu, while Krishna
is the source of all avatars and existence. In some art works of the
Vijayanagara
Empire, temples of Gujarat and elsewhere, for example, Baladeva
is the eighth avatar of Vishnu, prior to the Buddha (Buddhism) or
Jina (Jainism).
Narratives of Balarama are found in Mahabharata,
Harivamsha,
Bhagavata
Purana, Krishna Charit Manas and other Puranas.
He is classified in the Vyuha avatar Sankarshana where in Adishesha
and Lakshmana
are part of. The legend of him as the incarnation of Adisesha, the
serpent Vishnu rested on, reflects his role and interconnection with
Vishnu. However, the Balarama's mythology and his association with
the ten avatars of Vishnu is relatively younger, that is post-Vedic
though ancient, because it is not found in the Vedic texts.
Balarama finds a mention in Kautilya's Arthashastra
(4th to 2nd century BCE), where according to Hudson, his followers
are described as "ascetic worshippers" with shaved heads or
braided hair.
Coins dated to about 185-170 BCE from the Agathocles
era show Balarama's iconography and Greek inscriptions.
Balarama-Samkarshana is typically shown standing with a gada in his
right hand and holding plough in his left. On the other side of these
coins is Vasudeva-Krishna holding the conch and chakra. Other than
being evidence of Balarama's significance in ancient times, according
to Singh and Classical Numismatic Group, these suggest that he and
Krishna were a part of the developing interaction between Hellenistic
Greeks and ancient Indians.
In some Indian ancient arts and texts, Balarama (Sankarsana) and
Krishna (Vasudeva) are two of the five heroes (Pancaviras of the
Vrishnis).The other three differ by the text. In some those are
"Pradyumna, Samba and Aniruddha",in others "Anadhrsti,
Sarana and Viduratha".The 1st-century Mora well inscription near
Mathura, dated between 10 and 25 CE, mention the installation of five
Vrishni heroes in a stone temple.
The earliest surviving southeast Asian
artwork related to Balarama is from the Phnom Da collection, near
Angkor Borei in Cambodia's
lower Mekong
Delta region.
Krishna-Balarama
deities at the
Krishna-Balarama Temple
in Vrindavanaki,
was intent upon killing the children of his sister because of a
prediction that he would die at the hands of her eighth child.[2]
Evil demon Kamsa had already killed first six children of Devaki by
smashing the new borns on a stone. Vishnu intervened, and when
Balarama was conceived state the Hindu legends, his embryo was moved
from Devaki's womb into the womb of Rohini, a resident of rural
cowherd village. In some texts, this movement gives Balarama the
epithet Sankarshana (one who was dragged away). Balarama grew
up with his younger brother Krishna with foster parents, in the
household of Yashoda and Nanda.The chapter 10 of the Bhagavata Purana
describes it as follows:
The Bhagavan as the Self of everything tells the creative power of His unified consciousness (yogamaya) about His plan for His own birth as Balarama and Krishna. He begins with Balarama. The whole of Shesha, which is my abode, will become an embryo in Devaki's womb which you shall transplant to Rohini's womb.
One day, Nanda
requested the presence of Sage Gargamuni,
his priest, to name the newborn Krishna
and Balarama. When the Garga arrived, Nanda, received him well and
requested the naming ceremony. Gargamuni then reminded Nanda that
Kamsa was looking
for the son of Devaki
and if he performed the ceremony in opulence, it would come to his
attention. Nanda therefore asked Garga to perform the ceremony in
secret and Garga did so:
Because Balarama, the son of Rohini, increases the transcendental bliss of others, his name is Rama and because of his extraordinary strength, he is called Baladeva. He attracts the Yadus to follow his instructions and therefore his name is Sankarshana.
Balarama spent his childhood as a cow herder with his brother
Krishna. He killed Dhenuka, an asura
sent by Kansa, as well as Pralamba
and Mushtika wrestlers sent by the king. After the evil king died,
Balarama and Krishna went to the ashrama of sage Sandipani
at Ujjain for
study. He married Revati.
Balarama is the celebrated plougher, one of the pillars of
agriculture along with livestocks with whom Krishna is associated
with. The plow is Balarama's weapon. In the Bhagavata Purana,
he uses it to fight demons, dig a way for Yamuna
river to come closer to Vrindavan,
and pull the entire capital of Hastinapura into the Ganges river.
Balarama taught both Duryodhana
of the Kauravas and Bhima
of the Pandavas the art of fighting with a mace.
When war broke between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, Balarama cared
for both sides and so remained neutral. When Bhima defeated
Duryodhana by striking him in the thigh with his mace, Balarama
threatened to kill Bhima. This was prevented when Krishna reminded
Balarama of the vow of Bhima—to kill Duryodhana by crushing the
thigh he had exposed to Bhima's wife Draupadi.
In the Bhagavata
Purana, it is described that after Balarama took part in the
battle causing the destruction of the remainder of the Yadu
dynasty and witnessing the disappearance of Krishna,
he sat down in a meditative state and departed from this world.
Some scriptures describe a great white snake that left the mouth
of Balarama, in reference to his identity as Ananta-Sesha.
The place where he departed is situated near Somnath
Temple in Gujarat.
The local people of Veraval
believe that in the cave
near the temple place, the white snake who came out of Balarama's
mouth got into that cave and went back to Paatal Lok.
In the Hindu traditions, Balarama has been a farmer's patron
deity, signifying as one who is "harbinger of knowledge",
of agricultural tools and prosperity. He is almost always shown and
described with Krishna,
such as in stealing butter, playing childhood pranks, complaining to
Yashoda that his baby brother Krishna had eaten dirt, playing in cow
pens, studying together at the school of guru
Sandipani, fighting evil wrestlers sent in by Kamsa to kill the two
brothers. He was the constant companion of Krishna, ever watchful,
leading to the epithet "Luk Luk Dauji" (or Luk
Luk Daubaba) in the Pustimarga tradition of Vaishnavism. He is
creative store of knowledge for the agriculturists, the knowledge
that dug a water channel to bring Yamuna water to Vrindavan, that
restored groves, farms and forests, that produced goods and drinks.
In Hindu texts, Balarama almost always supports Krishna in form
and spirit. However, there are occasions where the dialogues between
Balarama and Krishna present different viewpoints, with Krishna's
wisdom establishing Krishna to be the ultimate divinity.Balarama's
symbolic constant association with Krishna makes him the protector
and supporter of dharma.
In the Jagannath
tradition, one particularly popular in eastern and central regions of
India, he is more often called Balabhadra. Balarama is one in the
triad, wherein Balarama is shown together with his brother Jagannath
(Krishna) and sister Shubhadra (Lakshmi). Jagannath is identifiable
from his circular eyes compared to oval of Shubhadra and almond
shaped eyes of the abstract icon for Balarama. Further, Balarama's
face is white, Jagannath's icon is dark, and Subhadra icon is yellow.
The third difference is the flat head of Jagannath icon, compared to
semi-circular carved head of abstract Balarama. The shape of
Balabhadra's head, also called Balarama or Baladeva in these regions,
varies in some temples between somewhat flat and semi-circular.
- Six major Balarama temples mentioned in the Puranas: Unchagaon, Aring, Ram Ghat, Baldeo, Nari and Talvan.
- Jagannath temples of Odisha and Jharkhand, particularly Puri
- RevtiBaladevji Mandir, Jetalpur, Gujarat
- Shri Daau Ji Mandir, Vill- Banchari, Haryana
- Kathmandu temples, Nepal
- Shri Dauji Mandir, Mainpuri, (U.P.)
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