Varaha
Varaha is the avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu, in the form of a boar. Varaha is generally listed as third in the Dashavatara, the ten principal avatars of Vishnu.
In legend, when the demon Hiranyaksha steals the earth goddess Bhumi and hid her in the primordial waters, Vishnu appears as Varaha to rescue her. Varaha kills Hiranyaksha and retrieves the earth from the cosmic ocean, lifting her on his tusks, and restores her to her place in the universe.
Varaha is depicted as a boar or in an anthropomorphic form, with a boar's head and the human body. Varaha is often depicted lifting his consort Bhumi, the earth.
Etymology and other names
The deity Varaha derives its name from the Sanskrit word varaha meaning "boar" or "wild boar".The word varāha is from Proto-Indo-Iranian term warāȷ́ʰá, meaning boar. It is thus related to Avestan varāza, Kurdish beraz, Middle Persian warāz, and New Persian gorāz, all meaning "wild boar".
The Sanskrit grammarian and etymologist Yaska states that the word varaha originates from the root √hr. The Monier-Williams dictionary states that the root √hr means "'to offer', 'to outdo, eclipse, surpass', 'to enrapture, charm, fascinate', and 'to take away or remove evil or sin'" and also "to take away, carry off, seize, deprive of, steal, rob".
As per Yaska, the boar is an animal that "tears up the roots, or it tears up all the good roots" is thus called varaha. The word varaha is found in the Rigveda, for example, in its verses such as 1.88.5, 8.77.10 and 10.28.4 where it means "wild boar".
The word also means "rain cloud" and is symbolic in some Rigvedic hymns, such as Vedic deity Vritra being called a varaha in Rigvedic verses 1.61.7 and 10.99.6, and Soma's epithet being a varaha in 10.97.7. Later the rain-relationship led the connotation of the term evolve into vara-aharta, which means "bringer of good things", which also mentioned by Yaska.
Yaska mentions a third meaning of the word varaha. The Vedic group of Angirases are called varahas or collectively a varahavah.
The god Varaha is also called referred by the epithet sukara, meaning 'wild boar', which also used in the Rigveda and the Atharvaveda. The word literally means "the animal that makes a peculiar nasal sound in respiration"; in the Bhagavata Purana, Varaha is referred to Sukara, when he is born from the god Brahma's nostrils.
Legends and scriptural references
Vedic origins
The origin of Varaha is found in the Vedas, the oldest Hindu scriptures. Varaha is originally described as a form of Prajapati, but on evolved into the avatar of Vishnu in later Hindu scriptures. Two other avatars of Vishnu - Matsya and Kurma were also equated with Prajapati, before being shown as forms of Vishnu in later traditions.Arthur Anthony Macdonell traces the origins of the Varaha legend to two verses of the Rigveda, the oldest Veda. Vishnu, aided by the god Indra, steals hundred buffaloes from a boar ; and then Indra - shooting across a mountain slays the emusha beast. Arthur Berriedale Keith also agrees with Macdonell; interpreting the mountain as a cloud and the slaying a retelling of the killing of the asura Vritra by Indra. The 14th century Vedic commentator Sayana states the Taittiriya Samhita elaborates the Rigveda version. However, the Rigveda does not hint at the classical legend of the rescue of the earth by the boar. In the scripture, the god Rudra is called the "boar of the sky". Even Vishnu has killed a boar. The hunting and butchering of a boar using dogs is also referred to.
The Taittiriya Samhita mentions that the boar, "the plunderer of wealth", hides the riches of the asuras, beyond the seven hills. Indra kills the boar by striking it a blade of sacred kusha grass, piercing the mounts. Vishnu, "the sacrifice", brings the killed boar as a sacrificial offering to the gods, thereby the gods acquiring the treasure of the asuras. Vishnu is both the sacrifice as well as the "bringer of sacrifice"; the boar being the sacrifice. The tale is also recalled in Charaka Brahmana and Kathaka Brahmana; the latter calls the boar Emusha.
According to J. L. Brockington, there are two distinct boar mythologies in Vedic literature. In one, he is depicted as a form of Prajapati, in other an asura named Emusha is a boar that fights Indra and Vishnu. The section 14.1.2 of the Shatapatha Brahmana harmonizes the two myths and Emusha is conflated into Prajapati.
The earliest versions of the classical Varaha legend are found in the Taittiriya Samhita and the Shatapatha Brahmana; scholars differ on which one is the core version. The Shatapatha Brahmana narrates that the universe was primordial waters. The earth which was the size of a hand, was trapped in it. Prajapati in the form of a boar plunges into the waters and brings the earth out. He also marries the earth thereafter. The Shatapatha Brahmana calls the boar as Emusha, which Keith relates to the boar's epithet emusha in the Rigveda. In the Taittiriya Samhita, Prajapati - who was roaming as the wind - acquires the form of a "cosmogonic" boar lifting the earth goddess from the primeval waters. As Vishvakarma, he flattened her, thus she - the earth - was called Prithvi, "the extended one". They produce various deities.
The Taittiriya Aranyaka states the earth is lifted by a "black boar with hundred arms". The Taittiriya Brahmana expands the Taittiriya Samhita narrative. The "Lord of creation" was pondering on how the universe should be. He saw a lotus leaf and took the form of a boar to explore under it. He found mud and outstretched it on the leaf, rising above the waters. It was called the earth - Bhumi, literally "that which became ".
Creation legend
The Ayodhya Kanda book of the Ramayana refers to Varaha retaining his connection to Prajapati as Brahma. In a cosmogonic myth, Brahma appears in the primal universe full of water and takes the form of a boar to lift the earth from the waters; creation begins with Brahma and his progeny. The Yuddha Kanda book of the Ramayana praises Rama as "the single-tusked boar", an allusion linking Varaha with Vishnu. In the Mahabharata, Narayana is praised as the one who rescues the earth as a boar.The Puranas complete the full transition of Varaha from Prajapati-Brahma to the avatar of Narayana-Vishnu. The Brahmanda Purana, the Vayu Purana, the Vishnu Purana, the Linga Purana, the Markendeya Purana, the Kurma Purana, the Garuda Purana, the Padma Purana and the Shiva Purana have similar narratives of the cosmogonic myth, wherein Brahma, identified with Vishnu, takes the Varaha form to raise the earth from the primeval waters.
The Brahmanda Purana, one of the oldest Puranas, narrates that in the present kalpa called Varaha kalpa, Brahma wakes from his slumber. Brahma is called Narayana. The Vayu Purana says that Brahma roams as the wind in the waters, alluding to the Vedic Taittiriya Brahmana version. The detailed Brahmanda Purana version says that Brahma is "invisible" and a shorter summary says that he becomes the wind. In the Brahmanda Purana, realizing that the earth was in the waters, Brahma takes the form of Varaha, as the boar likes to sport in the water. Similar reasons for taking the boar form particularly are also given in the Linga Purana, the Matsya Purana and the Vayu Purana. The Vishnu Purana and the Markendeya Purana add that Brahma-Narayana takes the Varaha form, like the fish and tortoise in previous kalpas.
The Brahma Purana, Venkatacala Mahatmya, and Vishnu Smriti narrate the tale with slight variation, but without Brahma; Vishnu alone becomes Varaha to lift the sunken earth from the waters. In late addition in the Mahabharata, the single-tusked Varaha lifts the earth, which sinks under the burden of overpopulation when Vishnu assumes the duties of Yama and death seizes on earth. In the Matsya Purana and the Harivamsa, at the beginning of a kalpa, Vishnu creates the worlds from the cosmic golden egg. The earth, unable to bear the weight of the new mountains and losing her energy, sinks in the waters to the subterranean realm of Rasatala - the abode of the demons. Varaha emerges as a tiny beast from the nostrils of Brahma, grows to elephant-sized and then to mountain-sized and raises the earth to the intrastellar space where Brahma places the created beings.
File:Eran Boar.jpg|thumb|Colossal theriomorphic Varaha at Eran.Dedicated by the Huna king Toramana, circa 510 CE.
The scriptures emphasize Varaha's gigantic size. The Brahmanda Purana, Vayu Purana, Matsya Purana, Harivamsa, and Linga Purana describes Varaha as 10 yojanas wide and a 1000 yojanas high. He is large as a mountain and blazing like the sun. Dark like a rain cloud in complexion, his tusks are white, sharp and fearsome. His body is the size of the space between the earth and the sky. His thunderous roar is frightening. In one instance, his mane is so fiery and fearsome that Varuna, the god of the waters, requests Varaha to save him from it. Varaha complies and folds his mane.
Early texts like the Brahmanda Purana and the Vayu Purana build up on the Taittiriya Brahmana Vedic cosmogonic concept of Yajna-varaha. The Brahmanda Purana describes the boar form as composed of Vedic sacrifices and his body parts are compared with various implements or participants of a yajna. This description of Yajna-varaha was adopted in other Puranas, Harivamsa, Smriti texts, Tantras and Adi Shankara's commentary on the Vishnu Sahasranama explaining the epithet Yajnanga. The Vishnu Purana, the Bhagavata Purana and the Padma Purana embeds the sacrificial description within a paean to Varaha by the sages of Janaloka after Varah saves the earth. Roshen Dalal describes the symbolism of his iconography based on the Vishnu Purana as follows:
His four feet represent the Vedas. His tusks represent sacrificial stakes. His teeth are offerings. His mouth is the altar, the tongue is the sacrificial fire. The hair on his head denotes the sacrificial grass. The eyes represent the day and night. The head represents the seat of all. The mane represents the hymns of the Vedas. His nostrils are the oblation. His joints represent the various ceremonies. The ears are said to indicate rites.
Some texts like the Vishnu Purana, the Matsya Purana, the Harivamsa and the Padma Purana contain a panegyric - dedicated to Varaha - and the earth's plea for rescue, clearly identifying Varaha with Vishnu. In Brahmanda Purana and other texts, Varaha carries the earth on his tusks and restores her on the waters, flattening and dividing the earth into seven portions by creating mountains. Further, Brahma, identified with Vishnu, creates natural features like mountains, rivers, oceans, various worlds as well as various beings. The Venkatacala Mahatmya and the first account in the Bhagavata Purana mentions only the rescue of the earth by Varaha, omitting the creation activities attributed to him in other texts. The Venkatacala Mahatmya states that Varaha placed beneath the earth the world elephants, serpent Shesha, and the world turtle as support. The Bhagavata Purana alludes to the slaying of a demon - identified with Hiranyaksha in other narratives in the Purana.
The Linga Purana and the Markendeya Purana also identify Varaha as the rescuer of the earth, with Vishnu, barring the cosmogonic myth.