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Vasudeva

May 08, 2023

According to Hindu scriptures, Vasudeva (Sanskrit: वसुदेव, IAST: Vasudeva), also called Anakadundubhi (anakas and dundubhis both refer to drums, after the musicians who played these instruments at the time of his birth),[1][2] is the father of the Hindu deities Krishna (Vāsudeva, i.e. "son of Vasudeva"), Balarama, and Subhadra. He was a king of the Vrishnis, and a Yadava prince.[3] The son of the Yadava king Shurasena, he was also the cousin of Nanda, the foster-father of Krishna.[4][5][6] His sister Kunti was married to Pandu.

Vasudeva
Vasudeva carrying the newborn Krishna to Nanda's house in Gokula across the river Yamuna
Devanagariवसुदेव
Venerated inVaishnavism
TextsBhagavata Purana, Harivamsa, Vishnu Purana, Brahma Purana, Mahabharata
Personal information
SpouseRohini, Devaki, and various other wives
ChildrenBalarama, Krishna, Subhadra, and various other children
DynastyYaduvamsha-Chandravamsha
For his son Vāsudeva the deity, see Vāsudeva and Krishna.

Vasudeva Takes the Infant Krishna Across the Yamuna River. Master at the Court of Mankot, c. 1700. Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh

The patronymic Vāsudeva (with a pronounced ā) is a popular name of Krishna, the son of Vasudeva and Devaki. "Vāsudeva" is a vṛddhi, a derivative of the short form "Vasudeva", a linguistic pragmatic in Sanskrit signifying "of, belonging to, descended from".[7] "Vasudeva" as an object of worship in Hinduism usually refers to the son Vāsudeva (Krishna), rather than his father Vasudeva.

Family

Vasudeva was born to the Yadava king Shurasena in the Surasena kingdom. Vasudeva had many brothers such as Devashrava and Devabhaga, and sisters such as Kunti (mother of the Pandavas), Shrutasravas (mother of Shishupala), and others. According to the Harivamsa Purana, Vasudeva and Nanda, the Kshatriya chief of Gokula, were brothers or cousins.[8][9]

Wives and children

Vasudeva married Devaki, and also had other wives such as Pauravi (daughter of Bahlika), Rohini, Bhadra, Madira and Vrikadevi. Rohini bore several sons, namely, Balarama, Sarana and Shatha.[10][11] Vrikadevi gave birth to Avagaha and Nandaka.[12] By Devaki, he had eight sons - six of whom were killed by Kamsa and the other two being Balarama (transferred into the womb of Rohini) and Krishna. He also had a daughter - Subhadra from Rohini.[13] In some versions of the Bhagavata Purana, Vasudeva also married Sutanu, the princess of Kasi, and they had a son named Paundraka.[14]

Descendants

Vasudeva traced a number of descendants through his sons. Sarana had many sons like Satyadhriti and Marsti, and Shatha had a son called Sarthi. Balarama married Revati and had 2 sons - Nishatha and Ulmuka & a daughter - Vatsala/Shashirekha. Krishna had 8 principal wives, and he begat many children from them, such as Pradyumna, Samba, Bhanu etc., and they also had many children. Vasudeva's daughter Subhadra married Pandava prince Arjuna, and they had a son Abhimanyu. Ultimately, it was Abhimanyu's son Parikshit who ascended the Kuru throne after Yudhishthira.

Many of the Yadavas killed themselves in the Yadava fratricide. Krishna, Balarama and Vasudeva later gave up their lives, and the Pandavas collected the remaining Yadava children and ladies with them to Indraprastha, where Pradyumma's grandson Vajra was crowned as king of Mathura, and some other survivors also were crowned as kings of different places (See Mausala Parva).

 
 
Vasudeva carrying baby Krishna across the Yamuna. Circa 1st Century CE, Gatashram Narayan Temple. Mathura Museum

The sons of Vasudeva were related to Bhagavatism that was largely formed by the 1st-millennium BCE where Vāsudeva (Krishna, the son of Vasudeva) was worshiped as supreme ultimate reality. This is evidenced by texts and archaeological evidence. As textual evidence, the Mahanarayana Upanishad records the verse:

नारायाणाय विद्महे वासुदेवाय धीमहि तन्नो विष्णुः प्रचोदयात्

nārāyāṇāya vidmahē vāsudēvāya dhīmahi tannō viṣṇuḥ pracōdayāt

We endeavor to know Narayana, we meditate on Vāsudeva and Vishnu bestows wisdom on us.

— Mahanarayana Upanishad, Chapter 7,[15][16]
 
Krishna and Balarama meeting their parents (painting by Raja Ravi Varma).

This verse asserts that Narayana, Vāsudeva (Krishna), and Vishnu are synonymous.[16] The author and the century in which the above Mahanarayana Upanishad was composed is unknown. The relative chronology of the text, based on its poetic verse and textual style, has been proposed by Parmeshwaranand to the same period of composition as Katha, Isha, Mundaka and Shvetashvatara Upanishads, but before Maitri, Prashna and Mandukya Upanishad.[17] Feuerstein places the relative composition chronology of Mahanarayana to be about that of Mundaka and Prashna Upanishads.[18] These relative chronology estimates date the text to second half of 1st millennium BCE.[17][19] Srinivasan suggests a later date for the composition of the Mahanarayana Upanishad, one after about 300 BCE and probably in the centuries around the start of the common era.[20]

Other evidence is from archeological inscriptions, where Bhagavan is documented epigraphically to be from around 100 BCE, such as in the inscriptions of the Heliodorus pillar. An Indo-Greek ambassador from Taxila named Heliodorus, of this era, visited the court of a Shunga king, and addresses himself as a Bhagavata on this pillar, an epithet scholars consider as evidence of Vāsudeva worship was well established in 1st millennium BCE.[21] A popular short prayer for worshipping Vāsudeva is Dwadashaakshar.

Kashyapa incarnated as Vasudeva

Sage Kashyapa is said to have incarnated as Vasudeva, the father of Krishna, due to a curse of the deities Varuna or Brahma.

Once, the sage is said to have performed a yajna (a ritual sacrifice) in his hermitage. Kashyapa sought the help of the god Varuna for the offerings of milk and ghee. Varuna lent the sage a divine cow that would provide him the required offerings. After completing the sacrifice, Kashyapa delayed in returning the cow back to the deity. Varuna cursed the sage and his wife, Aditi, to be born on earth as Vasudeva and Devaki, the parents of Vishnu in his avatar of Krishna.[22]

In other iterations, Kashyapa is stated to have stolen a divine cow from Varuna for the performance of a ritual sacrifice. The deity requested Brahma for his intervention. For his theft of a cow, Brahma cursed Kashyapa to be born on earth as a cowherd. Since his wives, Aditi and Surasa, had assisted him in concealing the cows in his hermitage, they were also born on earth as his two wives, Devaki and Rohini.[23][24]

See also

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vasudeva.

References

  1. ^ Garg, Gaṅgā Rām (1992). Encyclopaedia of the Hindu World. Concept Publishing Company. p. 408. ISBN 978-81-7022-375-7.
  2. ^ Ph.D, Lavanya Vemsani (2016). Krishna in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia of the Hindu Lord of Many Names: An Encyclopedia of the Hindu Lord of Many Names. ABC-CLIO. p. 297. ISBN 978-1-61069-211-3.
  3. ^ Williams, Joanna Gottfried (1981). Kalādarśana: American Studies in the Art of India. BRILL. p. 129. ISBN 978-90-04-06498-0.
  4. ^ Gopal Chowdhary (2014). The Greatest Farce of History. Partridge Publishing. p. 119. ISBN 978-1482819250.
  5. ^ Sanghi, Ashwin (2012). The Krishna key. Chennai: Westland. p. Key7. ISBN 9789381626689. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  6. ^ Lok Nath Soni (2000). The Cattle and the Stick: An Ethnographic Profile of the Raut of Chhattisgarh. Anthropological Survey of India, Government of India, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Department of Culture, Delhi: Anthropological Survey of India, Government of India, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Department of Culture, 2000 Original from the University of Michigan. p. 16. ISBN 978-8185579573.
  7. ^ Fortson (2004:116f)
  8. ^ Lok Nath Soni, The cattle and the stick: an ethnographic profile of the Raut of Chhattisgarh. Anthropological Survey of India, Govt. of India, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Dept. of Culture (2000).
  9. ^ Soni, Lok Nath (2000). The Cattle and the Stick: An Ethnographic Profile of the Raut of Chhattisgarh. Anthropological Survey of India, Government of India, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Department of Culture. p. 13. ISBN 978-81-85579-57-3.
  10. ^ "Shatha, Śaṭha, Satha, Saṭha, Śaṭhā: 19 definitions". 3 August 2014.
  11. ^ "Sharana, Sārana, Sarana, Saraṇa, Sāraṇā, Śaraṇa, Sāraṇa, Saraṇā: 25 definitions". 12 April 2009.
  12. ^ "Vrikadevi, Vṛkadevī: 2 definitions". 18 February 2017.
  13. ^ "The story of the previous birth of Shishupala and the sons of Vasudeva [Chapter XV]". 30 August 2014.
  14. ^ Bhagavata Purana Skandha X Chapter 66, Motilal Bansaridass Publishers Book 4 Appendix (66A) pages 1884- 1885, additional verses in Vijaya-dhvaja's Bhagavata Purana, Chapter 69
  15. ^ Hattangadi 1999, p. ॥ ७॥ Adhayaya.
  16. ^ a b SM Srinivaschari (1994), Vaiṣṇavism: Its Philosophy, Theology, and Religious Discipline, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120810983, page 132-134, 212-218
  17. ^ a b Parmeshwaranand 2000, pp. 458–459.
  18. ^ Feuerstein 1989, pp. 119–120.
  19. ^ Olivelle 1998, pp. 11–14.
  20. ^ Srinivasan 1997, pp. 112, 120.
  21. ^ John Irvin (1973-1975), Aśokan Pillars: A Reassessment of the Evidence, The Burlington Magazine. v. 115, pages 706-720; v. 116, pages 712-727; v. 117, pages 631-643; v. 118, pages 734-753; OCLC 83369960
  22. ^ Vemsani, Lavanya (2021). Feminine Journeys of the Mahabharata: Hindu Women in History, Text, and Practice. Springer Nature. p. 231. ISBN 978-3-030-73165-6.
  23. ^ Mani, Vettam (1 January 2015). Puranic Encyclopedia: A Comprehensive Work with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 397. ISBN 978-81-208-0597-2.
  24. ^ Preciado-Solis, Benjamin; Preciado-Solís, Benjamín (1984). The Kṛṣṇa Cycle in the Purāṇas: Themes and Motifs in a Heroic Saga. Motilal Banarsidass Publishe. ISBN 978-0-89581-226-1.

References

  • Fortson, Benjamin W., IV (2004). Indo-European Language and Culture. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 1-4051-0316-7.
  • Feuerstein, Georg (1989). Yoga: The Technology of Ecstasy. Tarcher. ISBN 978-0874775259.
  • Hattangadi, Sunder (1999). "महानारायणोपनिषत् (Mahanarayana Upanishad)" (PDF) (in Sanskrit). Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  • Olivelle, Patrick (2011), Ascetics and Brahmins: Studies in Ideologies and Institutions, Anthem Press, ISBN 978-0-85728-432-7
  • Olivelle, Patrick (1998), Upaniṣads, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0192835765
  • Parmeshwaranand, S (2000). Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Upanisads. Sarup & Sons. ISBN 978-81-7625-148-8.
  • Hastings, James Rodney (1908). Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, v.4: Behistun (continued) to Bunyan, p. 540. John A Selbie, ed. Edinburgh: Kessinger Publishing, LLC (Reprint 1990). p. 476. ISBN 978-0-7661-3673-1.
  • Srinivasan, Doris (1997). Many Heads, Arms, and Eyes. BRILL Academic. ISBN 978-9004107588.

Further reading

  • RG Bhandarkar: "Vasudeva of Panini" 4.3.98. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1910.

May 08, 2023
vasudeva, according, hindu, scriptures, sanskrit, वस, iast, also, called, anakadundubhi, anakas, dundubhis, both, refer, drums, after, musicians, played, these, instruments, time, birth, father, hindu, deities, krishna, vāsudeva, balarama, subhadra, king, vris. According to Hindu scriptures Vasudeva Sanskrit वस द व IAST Vasudeva also called Anakadundubhi anakas and dundubhis both refer to drums after the musicians who played these instruments at the time of his birth 1 2 is the father of the Hindu deities Krishna Vasudeva i e son of Vasudeva Balarama and Subhadra He was a king of the Vrishnis and a Yadava prince 3 The son of the Yadava king Shurasena he was also the cousin of Nanda the foster father of Krishna 4 5 6 His sister Kunti was married to Pandu VasudevaVasudeva carrying the newborn Krishna to Nanda s house in Gokula across the river YamunaDevanagariवस द वVenerated inVaishnavismTextsBhagavata Purana Harivamsa Vishnu Purana Brahma Purana MahabharataPersonal informationSpouseRohini Devaki and various other wivesChildrenBalarama Krishna Subhadra and various other childrenDynastyYaduvamsha Chandravamsha For his son Vasudeva the deity see Vasudeva and Krishna Vasudeva Takes the Infant Krishna Across the Yamuna River Master at the Court of Mankot c 1700 Government Museum and Art Gallery Chandigarh The patronymic Vasudeva with a pronounced a is a popular name of Krishna the son of Vasudeva and Devaki Vasudeva is a vṛddhi a derivative of the short form Vasudeva a linguistic pragmatic in Sanskrit signifying of belonging to descended from 7 Vasudeva as an object of worship in Hinduism usually refers to the son Vasudeva Krishna rather than his father Vasudeva Contents 1 Family 1 1 Wives and children 1 2 Descendants 2 Kashyapa incarnated as Vasudeva 3 See also 4 References 5 References 6 Further readingFamily EditVasudeva was born to the Yadava king Shurasena in the Surasena kingdom Vasudeva had many brothers such as Devashrava and Devabhaga and sisters such as Kunti mother of the Pandavas Shrutasravas mother of Shishupala and others According to the Harivamsa Purana Vasudeva and Nanda the Kshatriya chief of Gokula were brothers or cousins 8 9 Wives and children Edit Vasudeva married Devaki and also had other wives such as Pauravi daughter of Bahlika Rohini Bhadra Madira and Vrikadevi Rohini bore several sons namely Balarama Sarana and Shatha 10 11 Vrikadevi gave birth to Avagaha and Nandaka 12 By Devaki he had eight sons six of whom were killed by Kamsa and the other two being Balarama transferred into the womb of Rohini and Krishna He also had a daughter Subhadra from Rohini 13 In some versions of the Bhagavata Purana Vasudeva also married Sutanu the princess of Kasi and they had a son named Paundraka 14 Descendants Edit Vasudeva traced a number of descendants through his sons Sarana had many sons like Satyadhriti and Marsti and Shatha had a son called Sarthi Balarama married Revati and had 2 sons Nishatha and Ulmuka amp a daughter Vatsala Shashirekha Krishna had 8 principal wives and he begat many children from them such as Pradyumna Samba Bhanu etc and they also had many children Vasudeva s daughter Subhadra married Pandava prince Arjuna and they had a son Abhimanyu Ultimately it was Abhimanyu s son Parikshit who ascended the Kuru throne after Yudhishthira Many of the Yadavas killed themselves in the Yadava fratricide Krishna Balarama and Vasudeva later gave up their lives and the Pandavas collected the remaining Yadava children and ladies with them to Indraprastha where Pradyumma s grandson Vajra was crowned as king of Mathura and some other survivors also were crowned as kings of different places See Mausala Parva Vasudeva carrying baby Krishna across the Yamuna Circa 1st Century CE Gatashram Narayan Temple Mathura Museum The sons of Vasudeva were related to Bhagavatism that was largely formed by the 1st millennium BCE where Vasudeva Krishna the son of Vasudeva was worshiped as supreme ultimate reality This is evidenced by texts and archaeological evidence As textual evidence the Mahanarayana Upanishad records the verse न र य ण य व द मह व स द व य ध मह तन न व ष ण प रच दय त narayaṇaya vidmahe vasudevaya dhimahi tannō viṣṇuḥ pracōdayatWe endeavor to know Narayana we meditate on Vasudeva and Vishnu bestows wisdom on us Mahanarayana Upanishad Chapter 7 15 16 Krishna and Balarama meeting their parents painting by Raja Ravi Varma This verse asserts that Narayana Vasudeva Krishna and Vishnu are synonymous 16 The author and the century in which the above Mahanarayana Upanishad was composed is unknown The relative chronology of the text based on its poetic verse and textual style has been proposed by Parmeshwaranand to the same period of composition as Katha Isha Mundaka and Shvetashvatara Upanishads but before Maitri Prashna and Mandukya Upanishad 17 Feuerstein places the relative composition chronology of Mahanarayana to be about that of Mundaka and Prashna Upanishads 18 These relative chronology estimates date the text to second half of 1st millennium BCE 17 19 Srinivasan suggests a later date for the composition of the Mahanarayana Upanishad one after about 300 BCE and probably in the centuries around the start of the common era 20 Other evidence is from archeological inscriptions where Bhagavan is documented epigraphically to be from around 100 BCE such as in the inscriptions of the Heliodorus pillar An Indo Greek ambassador from Taxila named Heliodorus of this era visited the court of a Shunga king and addresses himself as a Bhagavata on this pillar an epithet scholars consider as evidence of Vasudeva worship was well established in 1st millennium BCE 21 A popular short prayer for worshipping Vasudeva is Dwadashaakshar Kashyapa incarnated as Vasudeva EditSage Kashyapa is said to have incarnated as Vasudeva the father of Krishna due to a curse of the deities Varuna or Brahma Once the sage is said to have performed a yajna a ritual sacrifice in his hermitage Kashyapa sought the help of the god Varuna for the offerings of milk and ghee Varuna lent the sage a divine cow that would provide him the required offerings After completing the sacrifice Kashyapa delayed in returning the cow back to the deity Varuna cursed the sage and his wife Aditi to be born on earth as Vasudeva and Devaki the parents of Vishnu in his avatar of Krishna 22 In other iterations Kashyapa is stated to have stolen a divine cow from Varuna for the performance of a ritual sacrifice The deity requested Brahma for his intervention For his theft of a cow Brahma cursed Kashyapa to be born on earth as a cowherd Since his wives Aditi and Surasa had assisted him in concealing the cows in his hermitage they were also born on earth as his two wives Devaki and Rohini 23 24 See also Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vasudeva Heliodorus pillar Hathibada Ghosundi Inscriptions Naneghat Vasu Doorjamb Inscription Vasudeva UpanishadReferences Edit Garg Gaṅga Ram 1992 Encyclopaedia of the Hindu World Concept Publishing Company p 408 ISBN 978 81 7022 375 7 Ph D Lavanya Vemsani 2016 Krishna in History Thought and Culture An Encyclopedia of the Hindu Lord of Many Names An Encyclopedia of the Hindu Lord of Many Names ABC CLIO p 297 ISBN 978 1 61069 211 3 Williams Joanna Gottfried 1981 Kaladarsana American Studies in the Art of India BRILL p 129 ISBN 978 90 04 06498 0 Gopal Chowdhary 2014 The Greatest Farce of History Partridge Publishing p 119 ISBN 978 1482819250 Sanghi Ashwin 2012 The Krishna key Chennai Westland p Key7 ISBN 9789381626689 Retrieved 9 June 2016 Lok Nath Soni 2000 The Cattle and the Stick An Ethnographic Profile of the Raut of Chhattisgarh Anthropological Survey of India Government of India Ministry of Tourism and Culture Department of Culture Delhi Anthropological Survey of India Government of India Ministry of Tourism and Culture Department of Culture 2000 Original from the University of Michigan p 16 ISBN 978 8185579573 Fortson 2004 116f Lok Nath Soni The cattle and the stick an ethnographic profile of the Raut of Chhattisgarh Anthropological Survey of India Govt of India Ministry of Tourism and Culture Dept of Culture 2000 Soni Lok Nath 2000 The Cattle and the Stick An Ethnographic Profile of the Raut of Chhattisgarh Anthropological Survey of India Government of India Ministry of Tourism and Culture Department of Culture p 13 ISBN 978 81 85579 57 3 Shatha Saṭha Satha Saṭha Saṭha 19 definitions 3 August 2014 Sharana Sarana Sarana Saraṇa Saraṇa Saraṇa Saraṇa Saraṇa 25 definitions 12 April 2009 Vrikadevi Vṛkadevi 2 definitions 18 February 2017 The story of the previous birth of Shishupala and the sons of Vasudeva Chapter XV 30 August 2014 Bhagavata Purana Skandha X Chapter 66 Motilal Bansaridass Publishers Book 4 Appendix 66A pages 1884 1885 additional verses in Vijaya dhvaja s Bhagavata Purana Chapter 69 Hattangadi 1999 p ७ Adhayaya a b SM Srinivaschari 1994 Vaiṣṇavism Its Philosophy Theology and Religious Discipline Motilal Banarsidass ISBN 978 8120810983 page 132 134 212 218 a b Parmeshwaranand 2000 pp 458 459 Feuerstein 1989 pp 119 120 Olivelle 1998 pp 11 14 Srinivasan 1997 pp 112 120 John Irvin 1973 1975 Asokan Pillars A Reassessment of the Evidence The Burlington Magazine v 115 pages 706 720 v 116 pages 712 727 v 117 pages 631 643 v 118 pages 734 753 OCLC 83369960 Vemsani Lavanya 2021 Feminine Journeys of the Mahabharata Hindu Women in History Text and Practice Springer Nature p 231 ISBN 978 3 030 73165 6 Mani Vettam 1 January 2015 Puranic Encyclopedia A Comprehensive Work with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature Motilal Banarsidass p 397 ISBN 978 81 208 0597 2 Preciado Solis Benjamin Preciado Solis Benjamin 1984 The Kṛṣṇa Cycle in the Puraṇas Themes and Motifs in a Heroic Saga Motilal Banarsidass Publishe ISBN 978 0 89581 226 1 References EditFortson Benjamin W IV 2004 Indo European Language and Culture Blackwell Publishing ISBN 1 4051 0316 7 Feuerstein Georg 1989 Yoga The Technology of Ecstasy Tarcher ISBN 978 0874775259 Hattangadi Sunder 1999 मह न र यण पन षत Mahanarayana Upanishad PDF in Sanskrit Retrieved 23 January 2016 Olivelle Patrick 2011 Ascetics and Brahmins Studies in Ideologies and Institutions Anthem Press ISBN 978 0 85728 432 7 Olivelle Patrick 1998 Upaniṣads Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0192835765 Parmeshwaranand S 2000 Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Upanisads Sarup amp Sons ISBN 978 81 7625 148 8 Hastings James Rodney 1908 Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics v 4 Behistun continued to Bunyan p 540 John A Selbie ed Edinburgh Kessinger Publishing LLC Reprint 1990 p 476 ISBN 978 0 7661 3673 1 Srinivasan Doris 1997 Many Heads Arms and Eyes BRILL Academic ISBN 978 9004107588 Further reading EditRG Bhandarkar Vasudeva of Panini 4 3 98 Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 1910 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Vasudeva amp oldid 1151470091, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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