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The Ten Incarnations
The Story
of
the conquest of Vaishnavism
over the buddhists &Christians in
India
Varaha Avatara
Varaha - Gupta Period, Early
5th century ADCave 5, Udayagiri, Madhya Pradesh, India.
This is the gist of the story. The question is who is this
Hiranyaksha? According to Srimad Bhagavatam Hiranyaksha is the
first Demon.
yatrodyatah ksiti-taloddharanaya bibhrat
kraudim tanum sakala-yajna-mayim anantah
antar-maharnava upagatam adi-daityam
tam damstrayadrim iva vajra-dharo dadara
(S.B. 2.7.1)
"The unlimitedly powerful Lord assumed the form of a boar for the
rescue of the earth and pierced the first demon Hiranyaksa with His
tusks."
Hiranyaksha
was an Asura who was the son of Diti, and a king of pre-ancient
Dravida.. So we should assume that the Asura people came into
existence sometime in history among the Indian people of Dravidia.
According the Bhagavatamrta, in Uttanapada's lineage, the son of
Praceta was Daksa, the daughter of Daksa was Diti, and the son of
Diti was Hiranyaksa (http://www.bvml.org/SBBTM/va.htm).
His older brother was Hiranya Kasipu. Hiranyksha means
‘Golden Eye”
The boar-avatara was a descent of Vishnu in the form of a boar, to
deliver the world from the demon Hiranyaksha -- the ruler of the
fifth region of Patala (the nether world) -- who had carried the
earth into the lower regions of his spheres. The contest between
Vishnu in this form and Hiranyaksha took place beneath the water,
according to the Puranas; Vishnu emerged victorious and raised the
earth from the deep. This legend, among several other
interpretations, may refer to the risings and sinkings of continents.
http:
//www.bvml.org/SBBTM/va.htm
In the Laghu-Bhagavatamrta, it says, "Lord Varaha appeared twice
in one
kalpa (day of Brahma). He appeared during the
Svayambhuva-manvantara
from Brahma's nostril to rescue the earth, and during the sixth
manvantara
(Caksusa-manvantara), He appeared to rescue the earth and kill
Hiranyaksa."
At the time of Varahadeva's appearance or
in the beginning of the kalpa,
Manu did not have any children. So how could Hiranyaksa have taken
birth in
the reign of Svayambhuva Manu? Therefore, it is seen that in the
Bhagavatam, in answer to Vidura's question, Maitreya Muni has
described the pastimes of Lord Varaha in both the Svayambhuva
devastation and Caksusa devastation. Svayambhuva Manu and Satarupa
gave birth to two sons, Priyavrata and Uttanapada, and three
daughters, Akuti, Devahuti and Prasuti:
The Boar incarnation appeared in two different millenniums. During
the period of Svayambhuva Manu, the earthly planet remained
submerged in the water of devastation, so the Lord appeared as a
white boar and lifted the earth and set it properly. During the
period of Caksusa Manu Lord Boar was red and He killed the demon
Hiranyaksa.
Visnu Purana 1.4.45-50 states: “He then rescued the earth
and reestablished it floating over the ocean like a large ship.
After planing the earth, he adorned it with mountains and then
divided it into seven continents. After this, the god Hari,
taking the shape of four faced Brahma and in accordance with the
rajas created life”
In Taittiriya Samhita 7.1.5 it says: “This universe was
formerly fluid. All was water. Over it Prajapathi moved in
the form of wind. He saw the earth. Becoming a boar,
he lifted her. Becoming Viswa-Karma, he planed her.
She extended. Hence earth is called Prthvi”
Thus if we go through the various versions in Puranas and Samhita
we have the Boar as incarnation of Vishnu, Prajapathi, Hari,
Brahma, Viswakarma etc. We may conclude that all these were
transformed into one personality which later came to be called as
Vishnu.
According the Wikepeida,
the deluge occurred during the period between 1,918,143,100 B.C. to
1,916,463,100 B.C., the Varaha Avathar must have occurred on the
fourth day of the 2nd month of 1,916,463,100 B.C. as per the
Pauranic calendar about 2 billion years ago!
The Earth is accepted by scientists to be around 4.5 billion years
old. There are too many contradictions in time and story
that we will have to take the myth as a myth and try to see what it
is really trying to tell us.
The Varaha Avatar is worshipped only in the Andhra Pradesh area.
The oldest temple associated with the Boar Avatar is found in
Multan, now in Pakistan.
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The Mahabharata 3.81.15 mentions a Varaha-tirtha in
Haryana State where Lord Vishnu appeared as Varaha.
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At the place known as Soronksetra Lord Varaha picked up the earth
on His tusk. This place is located south of Delhi
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After killing the demon Hiranyakasipu, He rested at Vishrama-ghat
in Mathura and spoke the Varaha Purana to Mother Earth.
http://varaha.avatara.org/
Historically it is connected with the Indian subcontinent and to the
places Multan and Mathura. We cannot esccape from that
conclusion.
During the life of Bhumi Devi (Earth) under the sea with Hiranyksha,
she was with child. But when vishnu in the form of Boar
rescued Bhumi it was believed that the child was that of Vishnu.
This son, Hiranyksha’s son was Narakasura who ruled Assam.
There was a doubt about his paternity. However he is called as
an Asura, and was an antagonist to Vishnu.
Narakasura
Narakasura
was the son of Goddess earth, (referred to as Bhumi), by Lord
Vishnu himself during his Varaha (boar) avatar. In other sources,
he is the son of the asura Hiranyaksa. He is said to have
established the kingdom of Pragjyotisha in Assam after
overthrowing the last of the Danava king Ghatakasura.
Krishna fighting Narakasura
An alternate story is told in the South where it was Satybhama who
killed Narakasure
Narakasura's Killing
Narakasura was a demon king, ruling Pragjothishyapur, a southern
province in the present day Nepal. He gained a boon from Brahma
that he would die only in the hands of a woman. Armed with the
boon, he ruled like a despot. Narakasura was infamous for his
wicked ruling and high disregard for demigods and women.
Addicted to power, he defeated Lord Indra (king of demigods) and
abducted 16000 women and imprisoned them in his palace. He stole
the earrings of Aditi (the heavenly mother goddess) and usurped
some of her territory. Aditi was a relative of Satyabhama. When
she heard of the Narakasuara's ill treatment of women and his
behaviour with Aditi, she was enraged. Satyabhama approached Lord
Krishna for permission to wage a war against Narakasura. Krishna
not only agreed, but also offered to drive her chariot in the
battlefield.
On the day of the war, Satyabhama fought Narakasura bravely, but
she was no match to his trained skills. After a few days days,
when Narakasura got a chance, he took aim at Krishna, hurting him
lightly. Krishna fainted in a preordained divinely plan adopted to
empower Satyabhama. Seeing this Satyabhama was furious. She
doubled her attack on the demon king and killed him finally. Her
victory on Narakasura translated into freedom for all his
prisoners and honoring of Aditi. Having rescued the 16000 women,
Krishna was compelled to marry them per the customs of the day.
(Theosophy encyclopedia)
The Puranas apparently have no knowledge of this.
Diwali, the festival of light is also called "Naraka Chaturdasi" and
is the celebration of this victory.
There are practically two accounts of the Varaha Avatars whereas the
older puranas consider Varaha as and avatar of Brahma, later puranas
ascribes it to Vishnu. This is one of the occassions when
Vaishnavites take over the older stories and rewrite it in terms of
Vishnu. In the former Brahma the Creator, in the shape of a
boar raised the earth and brought it above the waters. In the
latter Vishnu in the form of a Boar extricated the world from a
deluge of iniquity by the rites of religion.
The first mention of this avatara is found in the Taittiriya Samhita
and reads as follows:
“The Universe was formerly water, fluid. On it Prajapathi
(Brahma) becoming wing, moved. Becoming a boar, he took it
up.” Taittirya Brahmana concurs with this description with
more details. In the Sathapatha Brahmana the boar is
called Emusha. The two recessions of Ramayana also gives the
two versions, in the older version it was Brahama and in the latter
it was attributed to Vishnu.in the form of Brahma. The
alteration of the text is clearly noriceable
Old version
“All was water only; in which the earth was formed. Thence
arose Brahma, the self-existent, with the deities. He then
becoming a boar, raised up the earth, and created the whole world
with the rishis, his sons.”
Newer Version
“All was water only, through which the earth was formed.
Thence arose Brahma, the self-existent, the imperishable Vishnu.
He then, becoming a boar, raised up this earth and created the
whole world.” Hindu Mythology – W.K Wilkinson 1882
Evidently this was done in a period when Brahma was degraded and
Vaishanavism subordinated the other theologies.
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