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Hayagriva

Shrew

Active Member
Anybody ever heard of Hayagriva?
I had no knowledge of this form of Vishnu, I stumbled upon the name by chance.

Sri-Yoga-Hayagriva-Swamy1.jpg
 

Terese

Mangalam Pundarikakshah
Staff member
Premium Member
As a Vaishnava yes i knew of his form, and i love the murti of him, especially Lakshmi in his chest :D Lord Hayagriva is an avatara of Lord Vishnu who gave back the Vedas to Lord Brahma after it being stolen by a demon from him :)

Hayagriva-Mantra-Lyrics-Meaning-and-Benefits.jpg
 
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Jainarayan

ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय
Staff member
Premium Member
I include Lord Hayagriva in my “pantheon”. I may get the small brass murthi I saw. For now I have printed pictures.

njñānānanda-mayaṃ devaṃ nirmala sphaṭikā-kṛtiṃ
ādhāraṃ sarva vidyānāṃ hayagrīvaṃ upāsmahe

na hayagrīvāth paramasthi mangalam
na hayagrīvāth paramasthi pāvanam
na hayagrīvāth paramasthi dhaivatham
na hayagrīvāth pranipathya seedhathi

om vanīshwarāya vidmahe
hayagrivāya dhimahi
tanno hayagrīva prachodayāth

Hayagriva - Wikipedia
 

Viraja

Jaya Jagannatha!
Hayagriva is also worshiped in Budhdhism. There too he has a horse face but is green colored and is considered rather a fierce deity. His consort there is 'Varahi' the pig-faced goddess who annihilates ignorance. In Hindu belief, since Hayagriva is Vishnu, his consort is believed to be Lakshmi.

The Budhdhist Hayagriva mantra is 'Hrih'. He is considered a lord of exemplary intelligence and speech and a guru/guide of wisdom. Thus the Budhdhists believe his consort to be Varahi because she is assigned face of a pig, as this signifies victory over ignorance.
 

Aupmanyav

Be your own guru
It seems Buddhists mixed up things. How can Hayagrīva have Vārāhī as consort. Vārāhī is the consort of Lord Vishnu in the Vārāha avatara. :D
 
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Viraja

Jaya Jagannatha!
Lord Vishnu in his Varaha avatara lifted Boomi out of the waters of deluge. Thus in temples we see this representation (of Varaha lifting Boomi/Booma). Varaha is not associated with traditional Lakshmi anywhere, to my knowledge, his only consort in temples is Boomi.

As an aside, a friend of mine told me that 8 different forms of Lakshmi (ashta Lakshmi) pertain to the consorts of 8 different archa forms of Vishnu, namely Varaha, Rama, Krishna, Ranganatha, Hayagriva, Srinivasa, Narasimha and Parashurama. This means, (to my understanding), Sri Vishnu has 8 different forms with different consorts for each of his forms, but all denoted as 'Lakshmi'. In that perspective, it makes sense Buddhists trust Hayagriva's consort to be Varahi and not traditional Mahalakshmi (a.k.a Padmavathi, wife of Srinivasa) or Ranganayaki, wife of Ranganatha. The friend tells me that each form of Vishnu is a supreme grantor of different sets of boons (expertise in different areas from each other). For example, Ranganatha personifies Rahu and thus grants all things Rahu can grant, Srinivasa - Saturn, Rama - Sun, Hayagriva - Mercury/Jupiter and so forth. Not that they cannot grant other wishes, being Vishnu, but they are rather the best, unsurpassed grantors of boons in their particular areas of expertise. Therefore, it makes sense Hayagriva's consort is Varahi, annihilator of ignorance (pig face) as hayagriva's areas of expertise are wisdom and intelligence. (please take my friend's thoughts with a grain of salt).

~ Our understanding of the gods is very, very limited. (Yet we do not hesitate to claim 'who is supreme').
 

DeviChaaya

Jai Ambe Gauri
Premium Member
The Hayagriva form also has a prime place in both the Shiva Purana and the Devi Mahabhagavatam. It also explains the reason why some of the offerings during homa/yajna are given to the ants.
 
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