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"Confusing Chronology"

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sadagopaniyengar • February 12, 2003 


                              
 Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya Nama:

 

                                      Confusing Chronology

 

         The DvArapAlakAs (gate keepers) of the Lord, the famous Jaya and Vijaya, descend to the earth on account of a curse. Given the alternative of being born a hundred times as the Lord's devotees and just thrice as His sworn enemies, they chose the latter alternative, so that their separation from the Lord is minimised. They are thus born as HiranyAksha and Hiranyakasipu (slain by Sri Varahaperumal and Sri Nrsimha respectively), RAvaNa and KumbhakarNa (who meet their end at the hands of Sri Raghava) and SisupAla and Dantavakra (killed by Sri Krishna).

 

In one of the Peria Tirumozhi pasurams, Sri Parakalan says that the DevAs, unable to bear the harassment of Hiranyakasipu, rush to the Lord and beseech Him to rid them of the asurA, as He did in the case of Dantavakra.

 

This is a bit confusing. Dantavakra, as we know, was one of Rukmi's friends who battled with Sri Krishna to prevent Him wedding Sri Rugmini, and was roundly defeated and slain by Sri Krishna. As we also know, the Krishnavatara came much later than the NrisihmAvatAra. Therefore, how would it be logical to say that the dEvAs cited the killing of Dantavakra as an example to the Lord, while seeking His intervention with the chronologically senior Hiranyakasipu? The dEvAs couldn't very well foresee, while requesting the Lord to assume the Nrisimhavatara, that Dantavakra would be slain and that too by Sri Krishna, whose avatara was to happen hundreds of thousands of millennia later. And, in any case, they cite the slaying of Dantavakra in the past tense, as an event, which had already happened. This is as if reference is made in the opening scenes of a drama, to an occurrence slated for the closing scene, of which the audience have no inkling. Here is the pasuram concerned-

 

"Vakkaran vAi mun keeNda MAyanE endru vAnOr

  pukku araN tandaruLAi enna pon AgatthAnai

  nakku ari uruvam Agi nakam kiLarndu idandu Uganda

  Chakkara Selvan TenpEr talaivan tAL adaindu uyndEnE"

 

The DEvAs assemble before the Lord, complaining of the unbearable atrocities perpetrated by Hiranyakasipu. They tell Him, "In KrishnAvatAra, You saved us by killing the incorrigible Dantavakra. Similarly, do protect us from Hiranyakasipu, who is much worse."  How could the dEvAs cite something which was yet to happen, to buttress their request for slaying of an asura who was very much part of the horrible present?  How funny would it have been, had VisvAmitra told Dasarata, "Do send Sri Rama with me for protecting my yagya. He would definitely deal with the RakshasAs as he did with Kamsa in Krishnavatara."!

 

Sri Thirumangai Mannan is not alone in mixing up chronologically subsequent occurrences with prior ones. Speaking to the child Krishna intent in play, Sri Yasoda addresses Him as the slayer of NarakAsura (which the Lord did as an adult, with Sri SatyabhAma by His side). Was the cowherdess endowed with foresight, so that she could know in advance that her darling child would kill Narakasura at a much later date? Or is Sri Periazhwar, like Sri Thirumangai Mannan, disregarding the order of history with a convenient hindsight?

 

We find that the malady of mixed chronology is not limited to the Divya Prabandas. If these pasurams are but reflections of the Shruti, can the latter be free from what affects the former? The Vedapurusha too mentions several avataras, as and when the context warrants. We thus have references to the TrivikramAvatAra at several places-

 "ThreeNi padA vichakramE, Vishnur gOpA adAbhya:"

  "idam Vishnur vichakramE trEdha nidadhE padam"

   "VichakramE prithivIm Esha EtAm" etc.

The VarahAvatAra too finds frequent mention in the Vedas-

"uddhrutAsi VarAhENa KrishnEna sata bAhunA"

"Sa VarAhO bhootvA nyamajjat" etc.

 

The Shruti is said to be anAdi (without a beginning and an end). Like the Lord, VedAs too are eternal. This being so, how can the Shruti chronicle a particular avatara, which took place at a particular point of time? While an avatara is time bound, the Vedas are not. If indeed the Shruti has existed all along, from time immemorial, and does not have an origin, can it contain references to events that happen at specific points in time? By the same token, would it be possible for the Shruti to incorporate references to the Hiroshima bombing or the First World War or to the Industrial Revolution, and still be accepted as "anAdi" or timeless?  These and similar questions do beg an answer.

 

When such questions confront us, we have to bear firmly in mind that the VedaPurusha or Azhwars are incapable of inaccuracy, even inadvertently. While the Vedas are "nirdOsha" and embody truth, only truth and nothing but the truth, Azhwars have been endowed by the Lord Himself with wonderful wisdom, totally free of any blemish that is normal in human compositions. It is therefore axiomatic that whatever is found in Shruti or Divya Prabandas, however inexplicable it may appear to frail human intellects like ours, must indeed be true. Given this, how is the chronological confusion to be clarified?

 

Poorvacharyas tell us that the Lord's avataras are countless, quoting the Purusha Sukata vakyA-"ajAyamAnO bahudhA vijAyatE". If the avataras were only ten or thirty-two or any other definite number, the Shruti, with its penchant for accuracy, would have definitely given the  specific number of avataras, instead of  merely saying they are "many". When Swami Desikan says "DasadhA nirvartayan bhoomikAm"(Sri Dasavatara Stotram), he is referring just to the most popular avataras, and not limiting their number to a mere ten.

 

Similarly, contrary to popular perception, each of these avataras has been enacted by the Lord not only once, but any number of times, over and over again, through the innumerable YugAs, KalpAs and ManvantarAs. The Lord is Himself on record to say that He incarnates Himself in every Yuga, as and when the need, in the form of danger to Dharma, arises-"SambhavAmi YugE YugE", says He in the Gita. Who knows how many YugAs have gone by, as there have been innumerable Creations and Pralayams! Even if we were to account for one avatara of the Lord in every Yuga, there must have been countless avataras by now, each assumed for a particular purpose. Thus, there must have been any number of Ramavataras, Krishnavataras, Nrisimhavataras,  etc. in the annals of  the unchronicled history of this Universe and the ones before it. The Ramavatara we are familiar with occurred in the TrEdhA Yuga of the current cycle of ChaturyugAs and the Krishnavatara in the DvApara YugA of the same cycle. In each such group of Yugas, the Lor

 

Once we are reconciled to the idea of avataras being repetitive and innumerable, it is easy to see that the dEvatAs (in the aforesaid pasuram of Sri Thirumangai Mannan) must have been referring to the Krishnavatara of the previous ChaturYuga, while praying to Sri Nrisimha to dispose of Hiranyakasipu, as Sri Krishna did of Dantavakra.

 

As the Lord is eternal, so are His avataras, though they may occupy particular slots in Time. In the sense that they keep repeating themselves with regularity, the avataras too are eternal, and hence there is nothing wrong in the Shruti extolling the same. Such references do not, therefore, detract from the anAditvam or the eternality of the Vedas.

 

Our hearts go out in gratitude to our Poorvacharyas, who have a ready, plausible and authoritative answer for all the apparently perplexing problems and contradictions we encounter in the enthralling world of Bhagavat anubhavam. 

 

Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

Dasan, sadagopan

 

 

 

 



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