"Devam Hayagrivam Aham Prapadhye"

 Hayagriba Madhab Temple, Hajo 

 Jnananandamayam devam nirmalasphatikakrtim

Adharam sarvavidyanam hayagrivam upasmahe

 “We medidate upon that Supreme One, who has the neck and face of a horse and who is the embodiment of Jnana, Ananda. He has a Thirumeni like a radiant, blemishless spatikam and is the abode of all Vidhyas.”

 This was a verse we learnt as children to recite, especially on the day of Saraswati Puja, and also regularly. Hayagriva as a deity of jnana, wisdom is invoked and his blessings are sought before vidyaramba. Hayagriva, a Vishnu avatara is worshipped by many sampradayas and specifically by the Sri Vaishnavas of south India. Thiruvendipuram near Cuddalore where one of 108-Divyadesas are situated, of the Devanatha Perumal, there exists a Hayagriva temple. It is situated on a small hillock called Aushadagiri overlooking the temple of Devanatha close to the river Gadilam. At a small village called Chettipunyam not very far from Chennai there is a Hayagriva temple. One of the most beautiful Lakshmi Hayagriva in worship is at the Parakala Math, Mysore. To me all along Hayagriva worship was limited to this geographical area and a small community who worshipped him. That is why when I saw Hajo being mentioned as one of the “places to see” while I was visiting Assam 10-12 years ago I got very excited. For one of the important pilgrimage centres of Assam is the Hayagriba Madhab temple.

 

Tiruvendipuram Hayagriva

I felt that immediate connection. That far away, in the north east, there is a Hayagriva worship and I did not want to miss it. Hajo is just 30 kilometres from Guwahati, on the banks of Brahmaputra, and is very well connected. As the ASI description says, it is a graceful shrine dedicated to Vishnu on top of an isolated hill called Manikuta Parvat. Though locals would say the temple dates from 6^th century CE, the base of the temple is dated to 10^th century, perhaps built during the Pala period. ASI’s account says the temple was rebuilt in 1583 by Koch king Raghudeva who ruled between 1581-1603 over the foundation of the ancient temple ruins of 10^th-11^th century CE as reflected in the plinth through mouldings of friezes of elephants, Gajatharas and geometrical designs of low relief in the basement. We can immediately connect to the temple as much as we would do with any of the temples with the Gajathara we see at Hajo. From Ellora’s Kailasa to the Central Indian Bhoramdeo temple to many many others - isn’t that such a common link. The Nagara shikara has on its walls many deities, ones we can easily identify are Vishnu on Garuda, Shakti slaying a demon, Narasimha Avatara. The garbhagriha is connected through an antarla from a flat roofed mantapa. I was during a recent discussion on Club House, for which I finally got down to collect my notes, I was asked about the Nagara description. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any specific books yet on the style or architecture of temples in the north east. But, I could only see the similarity between the famous Kamakhya temple, the temple at Hajo and few others we visited, to have a distinct if we can call it so, a Kamarup style.

 

Hayagriva is a pan-Indian deity – as seen from the Nilamata Purana of Kashmir, the record of pre-Gupta, Gupta era murtis, the iconography seen from Vaikunta Perumal temple Kanchipuram, Lakshmana temple Khajuraho, and among the Hoysala temples in Karnataka. The earliest in terms of the texts, the reference to the importance of Horse and the connection to the Rig Veda is established by many scholars. Then the most prevalent legend of Hayagriva comes from the Mahabharata Shanti Parvan. I will keep these recollections brief. Demons Madhu and Kaitaba stealing the Vedas and the Avatara of Hayagriva to recover the Vedas. Though there are different variations within Mahabharata will stick to this for the time being. That is also the image Sri Parasara Bhatta in Sri Rangaraja Stva sings about:

 “O posessor of (Sri) Rangam!

Incarnated as a horse,

You destroyed the obstacles Madhu and Kaitabha,

Bestowed upon Brahma divine vision

   In the form of the Three (Vedas)

And gave life to the whole world freely and spontanenously!”

 

Swami Desikan too in the Hayagriva Stotra says:

 “O storehouse of all words (knowledge)! Had you not taught again the Vedas stolen by demons, Brahma bereft of his fortune (the Vedic literature), would certainly have remained an ignorant person.”

 

Vaikunta Perumal Temple, Kanchipuram - Hayagriva

From the Pravargya and the concept of Yagna Vishnu in the Vedas we can see the continuation in Devi Bhagavata where we see the legend of Hayagriva the asura killed by the Vishnu Hayagriva. Vishnu’s head is severed and Vishwakarma gets the head of a horse transplanted and as Hayavadana or Hayasirsa Vishnu kills the demon Hayagriva. Asura Hayagriva through his prayers to Devi had recevied unassailable powers akin to what Hiranyakashipu had.

 Coming to the north east we have the legend of Jvarasura killed by Hayagriva in the Kalika Purana. “Being afflicted with fever, jvara, and because of his killing of the fever-demon, Hayagriva Vishnu took a recovery bath in a lake situated nearby. This lake was called apunarbhava because a dip into it would put an end to birth. The same purana refers to the old puranic motif of slaying of Asura Hayagriva by Vishnu Hayagriva in the waters of the Vrddhaganga on the bank of Brahmaputra … after having killed the demon Haygriva Vishnu went to the hill Manikuta and settled down there. We have the temple on the Manikuta Hill, the Hayagriva Madhab temple at Hajo.” There is also reference to the worship of Garudadhwaja with Hayagrivamantra. It is interesting to note that the first sloka of Hayagriva Stotra I quoted in the beginning, the composer of the stotra Swami Vedanta Desikan was initiated with Hayagriva Mantra by Garuda and for long years he stayed at Thiruvendipuram and worshipped the Hayagriva there, writing many of his works there. In the Kalika Purana scholars feel the local legend of Jvarasura has been incorporated into the earlier story of the slaying of Asura Hayagriva by Vishnu.

Kalikapurana gives an account of Kamarupa, the present day Assam, of River Lauhitya which is considered to be the other name of river Brahmaputra. The Purana also has descriptions of Nilaparvata where shaktipitha Kamakhya is situated. I have not taken various other accounts of Hayagriva Avatara and stuck to three foremost and in the order assigned to Mahabharata, Devi Bhagavata and Kalika Purana taking cue from the book on Hayagriva by Prof. D. Sridhara Babu.

Yoginitantra, a likely 16^th century text in its ninth chapter is devoted to history and worship of Vishnu Hayagriva in the name of Hayagriva Madahva on Manikuta Hill at Hajo. The text is in the form of dialogue between Siva and Parvati. The worship as per the text some feel could have been in the tantric form, vamacara sakteya form and may be later changed to Vaishnava form with the influence of Acharya Srimanta Sankaradeva.

The same text also gives a description of how the images of Hayagriva Madahva temple at Hajo came to be, which has links to the origin of the Puri Jagannatha murtis.

“It has been said that Indradyumna, the king of Orissa, dreamt one night that a big tree would be floating along the sea-shore and he would have to cut it into seven pieces in the morning. Out of them two pieces were to be brought to Kamarupa country, of which the image of Hayagriva and Mathyakhya Madhava were to be made. An Assamese work by Sriramacandradasa, called 'Manikuta’ contains same tale narrated in the Yogintantra. I was asked if the deities at Hajo are made of wood as per this legend. But, to my mind they are silas and do not know what are when of the transformation of deities from the wooden form to the murtis being carved in stone. Though the priest at Hajo was explaining the sthala purana and deities to us, much of it was lost as we didn’t know Assamese. Unfortunately we didn’t have any guides when we went around Guwahati. Since photography is prohibited I had not clicked any pictures of the deities, but sharing one that is available freely on the internet.

 

Hajo has been a very important pilgrimage centre for Hindus as well as Buddhists. Hayagriva Madhava temple has also been a pilgrimage centre for the Buddhists in the past. Buddhists considered the deity to be Mahamuni, and was visited by Buddhists from Tibet, Bhutan and Sikkim. The Buddhist legends connect the Hajo site to be the place of Buddha’s parinirvana. The deity here is also claimed by some to have been primarily a colossal Buddha and not Hayagriva. But, the interesting aspect is the Tantric, Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism has its own version of Hayagriva, and Hayagriva worship. A mistake perhaps by the Lamas some say of mistaking the current Sualkuchi – Sal Kusa to be Kusanagara where tall kusa grass grows. A mix-up scholars say since Buddha’s parinirvana is well established and Assam otherwise had not shown any Buddhist record or sites.

 In his book Babu says the deity does not have a resemblance to Hayagriva. From what I had seen during my visit and from what you can see in the picture given above, one of the deities can be said to have resemblance close to a horse face. On the Buddhist connection his opinion is “although the deity therein is being worshipped by the Buddhists of Sikkim, Bhutan and other regions., it cannot definitely be stated that the Hayagriva- Madhava temple was at anytime some sort of a Buddhist shrine.” He records that King Narayana of Cooch Behar found the temple fully deserted and dilapidated in the midst of an almost unapproachable thick forest. He got it repaired and endowed with land, priests, musicians and dancing girls in 1550 CE and later as we mentioned earlier Raghudeva Narayana reconstrcuted it on a large scale. The great Vaishnava saints of Assam visited Hajo and paid their obeisance to Hayagriva and one of them is Sri Madavadeva. Later Ahom Kings also made generous donations in honour of the deity.

There have also been controversies over some scholars placing the whole Hayagriva worship as a tribal one, attributing its origin to the indigenous belief system of Assam which later got incorporated as a pan-Indian deity. However, that have been refuted since the date quoted for such a phenomenon are very late and even before that in the verses of Alvars and Parasara Bhatta many references to horse faced Vishnu is found – that is covering a period of say from 7-th-8^th centruy to 12^th century CE. T.R.Gopinatha Rao quotes The Vishnudharmottra to give a description of Hayagriva iconography in his book Elements of Hindu Iconography. “The feet of Hayagriva should be placed in the outstretched palms of the goddess of Earth. The complexion of Hayagriva should be white and the colour of cloth worn should be white …. Should have a face of a horse and eight arms. In four hands he should carry shanka, chakra, gada, padma. And in other four should be placed on heads of personified forms of the four vedas.  Should be duly adorned with ornaments.”

 Shuklambarataram vishnum sashivarnam chatrubhujam

Prasanna vadanam dhyayet sarva vignopa santaye

The deities at Hajo are also covered in the shweta vastra and indeed this verse has also been cited in reference to Hayagriva. To me the interconnectedness, the nearness one feels when a common thread of worship, deity is seen in other parts of the country. The Vaikunta Vishnu with four faces, and in some of the depictions one is horse faced, as seen in some of the murtis from Kashmir, at Khajuraho temples, the Hayagriva form itself on the prakara walls at Kajuraho to the Hoysala temples in Karnataka, and to find a temple of Hayagriva in the north east, amazed I was. Travel knits us together, makes all these regions so near, isn’t it. To think of the legend of the Matha Hayagriva mentioned earlier – the deity was gifted to Swami Bhagavad Ramanuja by Saraswati Devi herself on his visit to Sarada Pitha at Kashmir to receive Bodhayana Vritti of Brahmasutras. Through the guru parampara it reached the Parakala Matha. The Hoysala dynasty’s illustrious Vishnuvardhana was influenced by Swami Ramanuja and no wonder we get some of the exquisite chaturvimsati murtis and also Hayagriva from the Hoysala temples. Closer to me, at Kanchipuram Vaikunta Perumal we have one of the oldest depictions of Hayagriva, in a standing posture. Hajo might still be a mystery, but definitely the name of Hayagriva has an unmistakable identity and a history.

Lakshmi Hayagriva - Parakala Matha

Khajuraho 

Nuggehalli 

Picture Credit: Tiruvendipuram, Hajo & Parakala Matha pictures from the internet