Is the title 'Vishnu Sahasranama' a later addition or originally attributed to Lord Vishnu? The question arises because the names Brahma, Ishwar, Siva, Durga etc also find mention in the Sahasranama.
Asked
Active
Viewed 2,468 times
2 Answers
4
Vishnu sahasranama refers to 1000 names of Lord Vishnu , who is infact the Para Brahman. Let us see the nature of the question raised which leads to revelation Vishnu sahasranama by Bheeshma.
Yudhisthira raises real fundamental questions.
Kimekam daivatham lokay kim vapyekam parayanam !
Sthuvantham kam kamarchanthaha prapnuyurmanavaha shubham!!
Ko dharmaha sarva dharmanam bhavathaha paramo mathaha !
Kim japan muchayatey janthurjanmasamsara bandhanath!!
Yudhisthira is basically asking questions which means
" Who is the supreme Lord who when worshipped provides provides succor, auspiciousness etc and also the ultimate deliverance from cycle of life and death. Who is such ultimate supreme?"
No where yudhisthira has mentioned any deity. To this Bheeshma says it is Lord Vishnu who provides moksha.
Bheeshma then goes on to describe the thousand names of the supreme lord which is famous as Vishnu sahasranama.
Such a background is not there for sahasranamas of other deities, in the sense like the unique and generic questions raised by Yudhisthira.
So, Vishnu Sahasranama alone describes the ultimate Para brahma, who is known as Lord Vishnu\Narayana.
Because, Vishnu sahasranama talks about the original Supreme Lord , so all names like sambhu, siva, sthanu etc also apply to Lord Vishnu only. Moreover, the names like Siva, Sambhu, Isana, Sthanu are all common nouns which are very apt for Lord Vishnu only.
-
By the way, speaking of other Sahasrananams, in the part of Anushasana Parva that includes the Shiva Sahasranamam, I found a strange quote: "It is in consequence of the devotion of the high-souled Krishna to the illustrious Rudra whom he gratified, O Bharata, in the retreat of Vadari, by penances, that he has succeeded in pervading the entire universe. O king of kings, it is through Maheswara of celestial vision that Vasudeva has obtained the attribute of universal agreeableness,--an agreeableness that is much greater than what is possessed by all articles included under the name of wealth." – Keshav Srinivasan Apr 04 '15 at 16:41
-
It's from this chapter: http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m13/m13a024.htm What do you think Bhishma meant by this? Is he just intentionally exaggerating the greatness of Shiva? Or could it be an interpolation? – Keshav Srinivasan Apr 04 '15 at 16:42
-
@Keshav - Check the narayanastra blogspot for Shiva sahasranama. Siva sahasranama is big time interpolation. If, some one reads mahabharata without any bias , surely one will understand Siva sahasranama is interpolation. Even, telugu mahabharata writers of 11, 12, 13 century and also tamil mahabharata dont contain siva sahasranam. Moreover, madhvacharya in tatparya nirnaya, clearly stated, that by his time itself, mahabharata has been interpolated largely. – Apr 04 '15 at 17:31
-
Thanks, that Narayanastra page was really convincing, especially the Addendum section at the end: http://narayanastra.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_17.html By the way, I just posted a question related to the Shiva Sahasranamam yesterday that you might be interested in, because it deals with an incarnation of Vishnu: http://hinduism.stackexchange.com/q/6931/36 – Keshav Srinivasan Apr 04 '15 at 17:49
-
@KeshavSrinivasan The 'sacred-texts' links that you added refers to Bhishma's explanation regarding Brahminicide and not greatness of Shiva. Can you repost the correct link? – Naveen Jun 06 '15 at 17:52
-
@Naveen Here's the correct link: http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m13/m13a014.htm – Keshav Srinivasan Jun 06 '15 at 17:54
-
@KeshavSrinivasan Need to check whether the Anushasana Parva of Mahabharatha from different sources corraborates with the above. Also note that it is not Bhishma who recites the Shiva Sahasranamas according to the above page, but Krishna Himself. Bhishma refers to Krishna as the only competent entity to talk on the subject of Mahadeva. If the above is true, It cannot be a exaggeration/interpolation. – Naveen Jun 06 '15 at 20:14
-
@Naveen The claim by the user Krishna is not that the Shiva Sahasranamam is in the Mahabharata but the little statement I quoted isn't. The claim is that the both Shiva Sahasranamam and the surrounding chapters are later additions. So whether Bhishma or Krishna is the speaker is irrelevant. – Keshav Srinivasan Jun 06 '15 at 22:37
-
@Naveen- The Shiva sahasranama is an interpolation. Just because some one interpolates and makes Krishna the reciter doesnt make it genuine. One simple reason is there is no need for Bheeshma to recite Vishnu sahasranama. Bheeshma could have told Yudhisthira that Siva is supreme and only krishna is capable of recpunting Siva's greatness, to the main einquiry by yudhisthira , when he asked "Who is the supreme lord who provides moksha?" Which is a prelude to Vishnu sahasranama. – Jun 07 '15 at 05:25
-
@Naveen-(cont) Bheeshma could have simply said , please contact Krishna, who knows the greatness of Siva, the supreme. But, bheeshma, doesnt do that. To a generic query by Yudhisthira, Bheshma, specifically comes up with Vishu sahsranama, which indicates that Vishnu is the Supreme Lord. Secondly, Adi Shankara wrote commentary on Vishnu sahasranama only and not on any other sahasranama. Also, Siva sahasranama doesnt appear in either the telugu Mahabharata or Tamil Mahabharata which were written beyween 11 to 14 century. – Jun 07 '15 at 05:33
-
@KeshavSrinivasan Many scholars take the Shiva Sahasranama of Anusasanika Parva to be interpolation. That said, in general it is not easy to rule something as interpolation or otherwise. General observations like omissions in the commentaries, omission in the derived works of the past etc, provide some support for possible interpolation, but they don't provide the threshold to conclude any thing. There are views that suggest The Bhagavad Gita was possibly an interpolation before Sri Sankara's times, and also the Anusasnika Parva. It is hard to prove. Language considerations are good indicators – Vidyarthi Jan 19 '20 at 22:40
-
That said, coming back to The Shiva Sahasranama, a similar Sahasranama is present in The Linga Purana. Lord Vishnu eulogizes Lord Shiva with this hymn as He (Lord Vishnu) accepts Sri Sudarsana Chakra (note that in The Brahma Vaivarta Purana, it is Lord Krishna who gives Lord Shiva The Trident - for contrast). This stotra in The Linga Purana is very similar to the one in the anusasanika parva of The Mahabharata (MBHT) (there is another Shiva Sahasranama in The Mahabharata which doesnt contain all the 1000 names). So that raises the qn as to which one was original - The Linga Purana one or MBHT – Vidyarthi Jan 19 '20 at 22:44
-
contd - The other Shiva Sahasranama in The MBHT occurs in The Shanti Parva and different in structure. There is another version of The Shiva Sahasranama in the same Linga Purana which occurs earlier in the Purana, and this is different from the one recited by Lord Vishnu at the time of accepting The Sudarsana Chakra. But this one overlaps on some namas, and also overlaps very little with The Vishnu Sahasranama. And the sage who is associated with is not upamanyu as in the MBHT, but it is Tandin. All these raise a question as to which version was original, which was derived / interpolated. – Vidyarthi Jan 19 '20 at 22:49
-
There are many Sahasranamas for Lord Shiva that go by the name "Shiva Sahasranama". The ones I can recall right away are, 2 in MBHT, 2 in The Linga Purana, 1 in Shiva Purana, 1 in Vayu Purana, 1 in Aditya Purana, 1 in Padma Purana (though this is not called simply as Shiva Sahasranama), 1 in Brahma Purana, 1 in Rudra Yamala, and 1 in Devi Bhagavata Purana (though I never found this in the text, it is attributed to Devi Bhagavatam perhaps). Some of these overlap. In addition there are sahasranamas for Lord Shiva in His other swarupas - like Lord Mrtyunjaya, Bhairava, Virabhadra – Vidyarthi Jan 19 '20 at 22:53
3
In introducing the Vishnu Sahasranamam, Bhishma specifically says that he is going to recite the thousand names of Vishnu:
tasya lokapradhānasya jagan nāthasya bhūpate
viṣṇor nāma sahasraṃ me śṛṇu pāpabhayāpaham
Hear, O king, the thousand names, possessed of great efficacy in destroying sins, of that foremost one in all the worlds that Master of the universe, viz., Vishnu.
He makes a similar statement after he finishes reciting it:
Even thus have I recited to thee, without any exception, the thousand excellent names of the high-souled Kesava whose glory should always be sung.... This hymn in praise of the illustrious Vishnu composed by Vyasa, should be recited by that person who wishes to acquire happiness and that which is the highest benefit (viz., emancipation).
As far as whether its original name is the Vishnu Sahasranamam, not exactly. As opposed to the rest of the Mahabharata, the Vishnu Sahasranmam consists of mantras, not shlokas, and thus it is said with a preamble, which says this:
asya sri viśṇūr divya sahasranāma stotra mahā mantrasya|
sri vedavyāso bhagavān Rśiḥ|
anuśṭup candaḥ|
sri mahāviśṇu paramātmā sriman nārāyaṇo devatā|
Of the great mantra called the Sri Vishnor Divya Sahasranama Stotra, the sage [who heard it from the gods] is Sri Vedavyasa Bhagavan, the meter is Anushtup, the deity [whom it is about] is Sri Mahavishnu Paramatma Sriman Narayana.
So it's technically known as the Sri Vishnu Divya Sahasranama Stotra.
As to why names of other gods are included, in some cases it might seem like it's the proper name of some familiar god, but it's actually being used with its literal meaning. So for instance, the name Ishwara is often used as a personal name of Shiva, but literally it just means "the lord" and is thus applicable to Vishnu. In other cases, names of other gods are used intentionally to denote that as Paramatma (the supreme soul), Vishnu dwells as the Antaryami of all the gods. As the Vishnu Purana says, "The term Vásudeva means that all beings abide in that supreme being, and that he abides in all beings."
By the way, there are also Sahasranamams for other gods. In fact the Anushasana Parva of the Mahabharata, which contains the Vishnu Sahasranamam, also contains a Shiva Sahasranamam, as I discuss in this question. (It's not recited by Bhishma though.)
Keshav Srinivasan
- 98,014
- 18
- 293
- 853
-
In case you had a chance to read [this] book (http://www.amazon.com/Universe-That-God-Panduranga-Rao/dp/8124601534/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1428112664&sr=8-1&keywords=The+universe+that+is+God+panduranga+rao) please do comment on it. I found author Panduranga Rao's in depth analysis of the Sanskrit meanings of the Sahasranamas to be very precise and insightful. – Naveen Apr 04 '15 at 01:58
-
@Naveen I've never heard of that book and it has no review, so I'm not sure how good it is. But if you want a really good in-depth explanation of the meanings of each of the names, I suggest you read N. Krishnamachari's commentary: http://kirtimukha.com/chinnamma/sahasra/ It contains quotes from lots of different schools. – Keshav Srinivasan Apr 04 '15 at 02:24
-
@Naveen - Read the commentaries of Shankara (Advaita), Parasara Bhattar (Visistadvaita), Madhvacharya (Dvaita) on Vishnu Sahasranama. There are a few more good ones too, but the above three are the best. These have been translated into english also and should be available online. Rest all commentaries are just expansions based on the above mentioned three main ones. – Jun 06 '15 at 06:56