Nandaka ()
or Nandaki, is the sword of the
Hindu god
Hindu deities are the gods and goddesses in Hinduism. The terms and epithets for deities within the diverse traditions of Hinduism vary, and include Deva, Devi, Ishvara, Ishvari, Bhagavān and Bhagavati.
The deities of Hinduism have evolved ...
Vishnu
Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism.
Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within t ...
. Nandaka is generally depicted in images where Vishnu is represented with more than his usual four arms. The sword is compared to knowledge in Hindu scriptures.
In
Sri Vaishnavism
Sri Vaishnavism, or the Sri Vaishnava Sampradaya, is a denomination within the Vaishnavism tradition of Hinduism. The name refers to goddess Lakshmi (also known as Sri), as well as a prefix that means "sacred, revered", and the god Vishnu, who ...
(a major Vaishnava tradition), the saints
Annamacharya
Tallapaka Annamacharya (Telugu : తాళ్ళపాక అన్నమాచార్య) ( IAST: taḷḷapāka annamācārya; 22 May 1408 – 4 April 1503), also popularly known as Annamayya, was a 15th-century Hindu saint and the ea ...
and
Peyalvar
Pey Alvar (also spelt Peyalvar, Peialvar, Pey Azhwar, or Pei Azhwar) is one of the twelve ''Alvar'' saints of South India, who are known for their affiliation to Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism. The verses of '' Alvars'' are compiled as ''Nala ...
are considered to be the
avatar
Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearanc ...
s of Nandaka.
Legend
According to the ''
Agni Purana
The ''Agni Purana'', ( sa, अग्नि पुराण, ) is a Sanskrit text and one of the eighteen major Puranas of Hinduism. The text is variously classified as a Purana related to Shaivism, Vaishnavism, Shaktism and Smartism, but also co ...
'', the creator-god
Brahma
Brahma ( sa, ब्रह्मा, Brahmā) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the trinity of supreme divinity that includes Vishnu, and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 21 ...
was performing a sacrifice on
Mount Meru
Mount Meru (Sanskrit/Pali: मेरु), also known as Sumeru, Sineru or Mahāmeru, is the sacred five-peaked mountain of Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist cosmology and is considered to be the centre of all the physical, metaphysical and spiritu ...
. The hundred-armed
asura
Asuras (Sanskrit: असुर) are a class of beings in Indian religions, Indic religions. They are described as power-seeking clans related to the more benevolent Deva (Hinduism), Devas (also known as Suras) in Hinduism. In its Buddhism, Buddhi ...
Loha obstructed the same. Vishnu manifested before Brahma from the sacrificial fire. Vishnu seized the sword called Nandaka from the asura and unsheathed it. The sword is described as blue-hued with a gem-studded handle. Wielding his mace, the asura drove several heavenly beings from the mountain. Vishnu slew the asura with the sword; the severed parts of the asura's body fell on earth and turned into iron due to their contact with Nandaka. Vishnu blessed the asura that his fallen body-parts will be employed for the manufacture of weapons on earth.
Literature
Vishnu is usually depicted as four-armed with the four attributes in his hands: the
shankha
A Shankha ( conch shell) has religious ritual importance in Hinduism. It is the shell of any suitable sea snail which had a hole made for the performer's embouchure.
In Hindu history, the shankha is a sacred emblem of The Hindu preserver god V ...
(conch), the
Sudarshana Chakra
Sudarshana Chakra (Sanskrit: सुदर्शन चक्र, lit. "disc of auspicious vision", IAST: Sudarśana Chakra) is a spinning, celestial discus with 108 serrated edges, attributed to Vishnu and Krishna in the Hindu scriptures. The Sud ...
, the ''
padma
The Padma ( bn, পদ্মা ''Pôdma'') is a major river in Bangladesh. It is the main distributary of the Ganges, flowing generally southeast for to its confluence with the Meghna River near the Bay of Bengal. The city of Rajshahi is sit ...
'' (
lotus) and the
Kaumodaki gada (mace). In eight or sixteen armed depictions of the deity, he may be shown holding a sword. The sword appears very rarely in the depictions of Vishnu. It appears in Vishnu iconography as late as the
Gupta
Gupta () is a common surname or last name of Indian origin. It is based on the Sanskrit word गोप्तृ ''goptṛ'', which means 'guardian' or 'protector'. According to historian R. C. Majumdar, the surname ''Gupta'' was adopted by se ...
era (320–550).
Nandaka is alluded as the sword of Vishnu's
avatar
Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearanc ...
Rama
Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bein ...
in the
Hindu epic Mahākāvya (lit. great kāvya, court epic), also known as ''sargabandha'', is a genre of Indian epic poetry in Classical Sanskrit. The genre is characterised by ornate and elaborate descriptions of scenery, love, battles and so on — in short, ev ...
''
Ramayana
The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...
''.
The ''
Harivamsa
The ''Harivamsa'' ( , literally "the genealogy of Hari") is an important work of Sanskrit literature, containing 16,374 shlokas, mostly in the '' anustubh'' metre. The text is also known as the ''Harivamsa Purana.'' This text is believed to ...
'' as well as the ''Brihatbrahma Samhita'' prescribe the sword to be shown in Vishnu's four-armed images. The ''
Sattvata Samhita The Sattvata Samhita or Satvata Samhita is a Pancaratra text dealing with the Vyuha Manifestation. Together with the Pauskara-Samhita and the Jayakhya-Samhita, it is considered one of the "Three Gems", the most important samhita
Saṃhitā li ...
'' recommends that it to be shown in a right hand of a six-armed Vishnu and in a left-hand in a ten-armed Vishnu. Vishnu's avatar,
Vamana
Vamana (), also known as Trivikrama (), Urukrama (), Upendra (), Dadhivamana (), and Balibandhana () is an avatar of the Hindu deity Vishnu. He is the fifth avatar of Vishnu, and the first Dashavatara in the Treta Yuga, after Narasimha.
O ...
, is described to hold the Nandaka in his right hand in the ''
Kalika Purana
The Kalika Purana ( sa, Kālikā Purāṇa), also called the Kali Purana, Sati Purana or Kalika Tantra, is one of the eighteen minor Puranas (''Upapurana'') in the Shaktism tradition of Hinduism. The text was likely composed in Assam or Cooch Beha ...
''. An 11th-century image shows the sword tied to his belt.
The ''
Vishnu Sahasranama'', which lists the 1000 epithets of Vishnu, mentions Nandaka twice. In a
mantra
A mantra (Pali: ''manta'') or mantram (मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit, Pali and other languages believed by practitioners to have religious, ma ...
, Vishnu is praised as the holder of the shankha, Nandaka, and the chakra. The 994th name of Vishnu is "Nandaki", the one who wields the Nandaka.
In a rare depiction in the ''Sheshashayi Vishnu'' panel of the Gupta
Deogarh temple, Nandaka is depicted anthropomorphically as a young man holding a sword (See ''
Ayudhapurusha''). He is depicted leading the other personified weapons of Vishnu against the demons
Madhu and Kaitabha
Madhu ( sa, मधु, ''Madhu'') and Kaitabha ( sa, कैटभ, ''Kaiṭabha''), also rendered Madhu-Kaiṭabhas, are the names of two asuras in Hindu scriptures, and are associated with Hindu cosmology.
Legend
Madhu and Kaitabha both o ...
.
Nandaka is also depicted as an ''ayudhapurusha'' in the scene of Madhu and Kaitabha in the
Mahishasuramardini mandapa
Mahishasuramardhini Mandapa (Cave Temple; also known as Yampuri) is an example of Indian rock-cut architecture dating from the late 7th century, of the Pallava dynasty. It is a rock-cut cave temple located on a hill, near a lighthouse, along with ...
,
Mahabalipuram
Mamallapuram, also known as Mahabalipuram, is a town in Chengalpattu district in the southeastern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, best known for the UNESCO World Heritage Site of 7th- and 8th-century Hindu Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram. It is o ...
.
Symbolism
The ''
Vishnu Purana
The Vishnu Purana (IAST:, sa, विष्णुपुराण) is one of the eighteen Puranas#Mahapuranas, Mahapuranas, a genre of ancient and medieval texts of Hinduism. It is an important Pancharatra text in the Vaishnavism literature c ...
'' says that Nandaka, "the pure sword", represents ''
jnana'' (knowledge), which is created from ''
vidya'' (translated variously as wisdom, knowledge, science, learning, scholarship, philosophy), its sheath is ''
avidya'' (ignorance or illusion).
The ''
Varaha Purana
The ''Varaha Purana'' ( sa, वराह पुराण, ) is a Sanskrit text from the Puranas genre of literature in Hinduism. It belongs to the Vaishnavism literature corpus praising Narayana (Vishnu), but includes chapters dedicated to prais ...
'' describes it as the destroyer of ignorance.
The ''
Krishna Upanishad
The ''Krishna Upanishad'' ( sa, कृष्ण उपनिषत्) or ''Krishnopanishad'' is one of 108 Upanishads of Hinduism, written in the Sanskrit language. It is a minor Vaishnava Upanishad, dedicated to the god Krishna, and adheres t ...
'' equates the sword to the destroyer god
Shiva
Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...
. It says that the 'Great God' (Maheshvara, an epithet of Shiva) takes the form of a flaming sword of knowledge, one that destroys ignorance.
Notes
References
*
{{Vaishnava philosophy
Weapons in Hindu mythology
Mythological swords
Indian swords