Srinivasa: Epic Characters of Puranas

By Vidwan M.N. Lakshminarasimha Bhatta

Srinivasa, also known as Venkateshwara, Venkataramana, Venkatesha, etc. is the reigning deity in Tirupathi, a holy place in Andhra Pradesh. The Tirumala hills comprises seven hills and Lord Venkateshwara is atop the last hill. It is believed that a person who worships the Lord here gets cleansed of all sins as it happened in the case of Madhava. Madhava had committed several sins  but  he got free of them and in another birth he came to be known as Akasharaya and got Lakshmi as his daughter. Sage Bhrigu was in search of a recipient of a yajna's benefit and thus visited the Trinity. His anger had grown by the time he reached Narayana as he had not been welcomed by either Brahma or Sankara. So when  Lord Narayana also didn't pay heed to him, he kicked him on his chest which is the region where Lakshmi dwelt. Though the Lord regretted it and paid due respects to the sage, Lakshmi felt sad and left Vaikunta to dwell at Kolhapur. Unable to stay without his consort, Narayana also descended on earth and reached Venkatachala. He stayed inside an anthill engaging himself in severe tapas. Brahmadeva came to know of it  and came disguised as a cow to serve the Lord. As this was a special cow, the queen of the Chola king who reigned there wanted to feed her children with its milk. But, the cow was emptying its udders on the anthill. The cowherd was taken to task and when he found out the truth, he tried to hit the cow with his axe. Narayana tried to protect Brahmadeva and took the blow on himself. The king came in person to see things for himself when Narayana revealed himself. He also told the king that a great king called Akashraya would be born in his line and that his daughter Padmavathi would become Narayana's consort.Narayana then met Varahaswamy with whose help he got a place to stay in Venkatachala. Bakula Devi was sent to serve the Lord. Out on a hunting expedition, Srinivasa saw Padmavathi and both fell in love, but she drove him away from there. Bakula Devi went to approach Akashraya and his queen while Srinivasa himself came to meet them disguised as a female soothsayer. The soothsayer advised the queen to get her daughter married to the person with whom she had fallen in love. Acharya Brihaspathi came to the palace and sent for Sage Shuka. Everyone was happy with the divine alliance. Viswakarma built exquisite buildings to house the guests, Kubera financed Srinivasa's marriage and Sage Vasishta was the royal priest. The marriage was conducted in all splendor. From then on Padmavathi resided close to Narayana.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bharatha Samskruthi Prakashana
• Release date: May 24, 2019
• ISBN: 9789389020588

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EPIC CHARACTERS OF PURĀNAS

Srinivasa

Written by

Vidwan M.N. Lakshminarasimha Bhatta

Rtd., Professor in Sanskritha, Sri Siddhalingeshwara, Samskritha college, Siddhaganga, Turkur

Translated by

Prof. G. S. Mudambadithaya

© Bharatha Samskruthi Prakashana, Bengaluru. All rights reserved.

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ll Sri Ranga Sadguruve Namah ll

We joyfully invoke the blessings of the Lord, Purana Purusha to the sacred fourth blossom of Sri Bharatha Darsana and Bharatha Samskruthi Prakashana.

The two pioneer publishing organizations have so far brought out the Epic Characters of the Ramayana and the Mahabharatha and the ten Great Maharshis the makers our immortal culture, in the form of ten small books each with the sole object of introducing our young boys and girls to veritable storehouse of Indian cultural heritage and by doing so the publishers have endeared themselves to the reading public. Now they have taken up the laudable task of introducing great characters from another branch of literature relating to our culture, called the Puranas.

A purana is a form of literature which delineates vedic principles in the form of history, stories, examples, plays and images, in a simple but interesting style so that even common men can understand and enjoy them. The principles are not presented in a mandatory form, but in a simple form just like the advice given by a friend and that is why it is called Mithrasammitha. Great men are of the opinion that a thorough knowledge of the Puranas is essential to explain the meaning of the Vedas. Ithihasa puranabhyam. Vedam samupa Brhmayeth ||

The puranic literature besides telling us about the original creation, the later subsidiary creation, family history, it also describes the evolution of our great culture.

We get references to puranas in the vedas. We also see parts of some of these puranas in the Ramayana and the Mahabharatha. Though they were written at different times, they were collected and edited by sage Vedavyasa and this collected work come to be called Purana Samhita. There are eighteen puranas and the same number of upapuranas. The Purana literature is as wide as an ocean and this great flow has come down to us in three great forms namely Satvik, Rajas and Tamas. Here only a few models have been presented to the reading public. The word Purana has the generally accepted meaning ‘old’ ’Purana prathna, prathna, purathana chiranthana. Though it is very old, it ever fresh presents to us truths which are universal in nature and these truths are presented to us in a very attractive style. Purapi navam puranam by its setting it is Satyam Shivam Sundaram, Satyam jnanam Anntham Brahma." These are the qualities of God and we wish that these good desires and good intentions get set in us with the blessings of the Lord.

Ashtangayogavijnana Mandira

Bangalore

Dated 18.5.2003

Prayers to Lord Narayana

Sri Srirangapriya Sripada Sri

SRINIVASA

Sri Gurubhyo Namah

Sri Venkatadriya Nilayam Srinivasam