Saturday, January 16, 2016

Pūrva Bhāga – Tapini Kalā - पूर्व भाग - तपिनी कला - 1.1

औम् ह्रीम् श्रीदेवी नमः

16 January 2016

The Pūrva Bhāg is in the form of a dialog between श्री ह्यग्रिव (Śrī Hayagrīva) and the अगस्त्य मुनी (Sage Agastya) and the conversation is described in the 51 verses (50 introduction verses in couplets, and 1 Dhyana verse in 4 sub-verses).

श्री ललिता सहस्रनाम् पुर्व भागः ।
श्री ललिता महथिरिपुरसुन्दर्यै नमः ।
ओम् नमो भगवते श्री रमनाय ॥

śrī lalitā sahasranām purva bhāgaḥ ।
śrī lalitā mahathiripurasundaryai namaḥ ।
om namo bhagavate śrī ramanāya ॥



पूर्व भाग
तपिनी कला
Pūrva Bhāga – Tapini Kalā

अगस्त्य उवच ।

अश्वानान महाबुद्धे सर्वशास्त्रविशारद ।
कथितम् ललिता देव्याचरि तंपरमात्भुतम् ॥ १ ॥

agastya uvaca ।

aśvānāna mahābuddhe sarvaśāstraviśārada ।
kathitam lalitā devyācari taṃparamātbhutam ॥ 1 ॥

Agastya said:

Oh Horse-Faced! Oh, One of the Greatest Intellect! Oh, One who is the Expert of all Sastra-s! The wonderful and great story of Sri Devi Lalitambika has been told (to me) by You.

Śrí Hyagrīva is an avatar of Lord Viṣhṇu. Both Hyagrīva (ह्यग्रीव) and Aśvānāna (अश्वानान) mean ‘horse-faced’. 

A Vedic reference to ‘horse-face’ is mentioned in  Madhuvidyā of the Brahadāraṇya Upaniṣad. Thus, Madhuvidyā was taught by Hyagrīva. This Vidyā contains the word ‘प्रायटीमुवाच (prāyaṭeemuvāca)’. The letter ‘ई’ in this is the कामकला भीज (Kāmakalā Bheeja) and the प्रनवा (Pranavā) of श्री विद्या (Śrī Vidyā).  By this Vedic reference, Hyagrīva is established as the authority of this mantrā.  Hence the Vedic authority for Śrī Vidyā is also established.

In the Puranā-s the story of Hyagrīva as the avatar of Lord Viṣṇu is indicated.  This occurs in the first Śkanḍa of Śrī Devī Bhāgavatam.

This reference goes as follows.  Śrī Viṣṇu was tired after accomplishing his tasks as Protector. He went to rest keeping His bow string as a head rest. The Devā-s wanting to wake Him up enlisted the help of Vamri (termite) for this purpose. The Vamri demanded a portion of the offerings in the sacrifices.  When Vamri chewed up the bow-string, it sprang back with a great force such that it severed the head of Śrī Viṣṇu.  Since the Devā-s could not find the head, they prayed to Śrī Devī. She asked them to fix the head of a horse on Śrī Viṣṇu. Thus He got the name Hyagrīva. Both in Śrī Vidyā and Vaiśnavā traditions, He is considered as the foundation of all knowledge. Lord Hyagrīva was taught directly by Śrī Devī Herself on mantrā-s relating to Śrī Vidyā. He is thus known as the authority on Śrī Vidyā.

The reference by Agastya using the words ‘महाबुद्धि (mahābuddhi:) – Great Intellect’ and ‘सर्वशास्त्रविशारदः (Sarvaśāstraviśārada:) – Expert of Sastra-s’. These words are indicated to highlight that Hyagrīva is an aspect of Śri Viṣṇu and not merely by way of respect. In the Sandyāvandhana mantra, जिश्नोर् अश्वस्य वाजिन (Jishnor Aśvasya Vājina) denotes Hyagrīva.

The word ‘परम्भुत (Parambhuta)’ means ‘very great’, ‘incomparable’ etc. in this context.

In पद्म पुरण (Padma Puraṇa) there is a reference ‘लोकानतेत्य ललतेललिता तेगचोत्यते (lokānatetya lalatelalitā tegacotyate).
‘Lalānam (ललानम्)’ means ‘play’, and ‘ललिता (Lalitā)’ is derived from this word. ‘Lalitā’ means ‘One who is ever engaged in playing games (with the universe) with affection and Motherly Love’.


औम् ह्रीम् श्रीदेवी नमः

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