Vyūha

Vyūha (Sanskrit: व्यूह) is a Sanskrit word that translates to 'military array', 'formation' or 'multitude'.[dead link] Vyuham in classical Indian military science, is the strategic positioning and deploying of an army in such a way that the opponent's force is blunted / thwarted and increases the threat to the opponent. Padmavyuham was the legendary 'positioning' of the kaurava army against the pandava might to trap abhimanyu.

While the term originates in a military context to describe battle formations, it is also used in Indian philosophy, most prominently in the Pancharatra tradition, to refer to the strategic manifestation of Narayana or Vishnu into multiple functional forms. This theological application is a direct extension of the military vyūha through a metaphor: just as a single army remains one entity while being rearranged into specific "formations" to achieve a particular objective, the Supreme Being remains singular while rearranging into a multitude of emanations to perform different divine functions. In Vaishnava theology, this is expressed through the Caturvyūha, where God emanates into four distinct forms to support the cyclical creation, sustenance, and destruction processes of the universe.

Military use

Vyuha is strategic placement of available resources of an army at war. It is a formation and derives its name and ways to act and perform according to many things found in nature and in daily use.

In case of the Padma-vyuham, the army formation is in the form of a lotus with strategic placement of the cavalry, footsoldiers, swordsmen, charioteers, elephants, etc., in an attempt to deliver maximum damage to the opposing force as well as protecting the principal participants from the enemy. The lotus formation facilitated and worked on the pattern of opening of petals thereby surrounding more of the enemies and then closing of the petals thereby trapping them and rendering them ineffective.

There are a number of such formations and operate on the basis of the objects/animals they derive their names from, like

The padma-vyuham is sometimes considered to be laid to trap abhimanyu, which is not correct, actually abhimanyu was trapped in the chakra-vyuham (formation like a turning wheel), wherein the army in consequent concentric circles moved in the opposite direction thereby trapping and confusing the enemy, and protecting its core which was the only vulnerable point of the entire formation. The core once pierced would throw the entire vyuham in a disarray.

Vyūha in Hinduism

Vyūha in the Mahabharata

Theological doctrine

The earliest concept of the vyūha doctrine, pre-dating the Pāñcarātra texts, is found in a section of the Shanti Parva of the Mahabharata, known as the Narayania.

Battle formations

The Mahabharata and the Manu Samhita list by name and formation many vyūhas ('battle formations'), which could range greatly in size.

Day No Vyūha of Pandava Vyūha of Kaurava
Day 1Vajra (Thunderbolt).Sarvato Mukhi (All Sided)
Day 2Krauncha/Krauncharuna(Cranes)Garuda
Day 3Ardha Chandra (Half Moon)Garuda
Day 4Sringataka (Horn)Mandala
Day 5Syena vyūha (Hawk)Makara
Day 6MakaraKrauncha
Day 7VajraMandala
Day 8ThrishoolaKurma
Day 9Nakshatra MandalaSarvatobhadra
Day 10SuryaAsura
Day 11KraunchaShakata
Day 12Ardha ChandraGaruada
Day 13No VyūhaChakra
Day 14Khaddag SarpChakrashatak
Day 15VajraPathma
Day 16Ardha ChandraMakara
Day 17MahishSoorya
Day 18KraunchaSarvatobhadra
  1. Ardha-chandra-vyūha ('crescent moon formation'),
  2. Chakra-vyūha ('circular formation') a large formation was devised by the Kauravas in which Abhimanyu, son of Arjuna, was trapped never to emerge alive.
  3. Garbha-vyūha ('womb-shaped formation'),
  4. Makara-vyuha ('crocodile formation'), adopted by Bhishma in the Kurukshetra War
  5. Mandala vyuha ('galaxy formation'),
  6. Oormi vyuha ('ocean formation'),
  7. Shakata-vyūha ('cart-shaped formation'),
  8. Sarvatobhadra-vyūha ('grand formation'),
  9. Suchi-vyūha ('needle-shaped formation'),
  10. Shyena-vyuha (also called Garuda Vyuh) ('eagle formation'). At the commencement of the Kurukshetra War which lasted for eighteen days, the Pandavas, being aware that Bhishma stood protected by the "makara vyuha" and was ready for battle, they had adopted the invincible "sheyna vyuha" with Bhima leading stationed at the mouth and Arjuna stationed at the neck of the bird-shaped vyuha, and Yudhishthira patrolling the rear.
  11. Vajra-vyūha was large a three-fold formation of warriors.

Vyūha in the Pāñcarātra Āgama: the Vaiṣṇava doctrine of manifestation

Caturvyūha
The "Four emanations"
Front: Vāsudeva and his kinsmen emanating from him.
Back: Kadamba tree and branches showing their relationship.
The Caturvyūha, showing the four emanation of Nārāyaṇa, or later Vishnu. Vāsudeva is four-armed, and is fittingly in the center with his decorated heavy mace on the side and holding a conch, his elder brother Balarama to his right under a serpent hood, his son Pradyumna to his left (lost), and his grandson Aniruddha on top. The back of the statue shows the trunk of a tree with branches, thus highlighting the genealogical relationship between the divinities. 2nd century CE, Art of Mathura, Mathura Museum.

The main āgamas are the Vaiṣṇava (worship of Vishnu), the Śaiva (worship of Shiva) and the Śākta (worship of Devi or Shakti) āgamas; all āgamas are elaborate systems of Vedic knowledge. According to Vedanta Desika, the Pāñcarātra āgama teaches the five-fold daily religious duty consisting of – abhigamana, upādāna, ijyā, svādhyāya and yoga, the name of this āgama is derived on account of its description of the five-fold manifestation of the Supreme Being viz, para (supreme or the transcendental form), vyūha (formation or manifestation as the four vyūha), vibhava (reincarnation or descent to earth as avtāra), arcā (visible image of God) and antaryāmi (cosmic form of God). Lakshmi accompanies Vishnu in His Chatur-vyūha (four-fold manifestation) as Vāsudeva (creator), Saṅkarṣaṇa (sustainer), Pradyumna (destroyer), and Aniruddha (spiritual knowledge promulgator). This is the Vaiṣṇava doctrine of Vyūha or the doctrine of formation.

The Chatur-vyūha forms of Viṣṇu are related to four of the six causes of creation which six are God Himself as the final cause of creation and His five aspects – Narāyaṇa (thinking), Vāsudeva (feeling), Sankarśana (willing), Pradyumna (knowing), and Aniruddha (acting) successively. Each divinity controls its specific creative energy. The six gunas – jnana (omniscience), aishvarya (lordship), shakti (potency), bala (force), virya (virtue) and tejas (self-sufficiency), acting in pairs and in totality, are the instruments and the subtle material of pure creation. Vyūhas are the first beings created, and they represent the effective parts of a coherent whole. Here, vyūha means – projection; the projection of the svarūpa ('own form') as bahurūpa ('manifest variously').

Vyūha in Buddhism

In Mahāyāna Buddhism, the word vyūha means "arrangement", the like of marvelous, supernatural, magical arrangements, or supernatural manifestations. It is also extant in the Pali language, where it means "an array" or "grouping of troops".

The term is also found among the titles of some Buddhist texts. In Pure Land Buddhism, the character of Amitābha Buddha is elaborated upon in both the Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra and the Shorter Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra. The term "Sukhāvatīvyūha" may translated as "description of Sukhāvatī". The Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra has been translated as "The Basket's Display".

See also

Pāñcarātra system
Vyūhas Image Attributes Symbol Direction Face Concept
Narayana
Vishnu		 Vāsudeva Chakra Wheel
Gadā Mace
Shankha Conch		 Garuda Eagle East Saumya
(Placid/ benevolent)		 Jṅāna Knowledge
Samkarsana Lāṅgala Plough
Musala Pestle
Wine glass		 Tala Fan palm South Simha Lion Bala Strength
Pradyumna Cāpa Bow
Bāṇa Arrow		 Makara Crocodile West Raudra Kapila Aiśvaryā Sovereignty
Aniruddha Carma Shield
Khaḍga Sword		 Ṛṣya (ऋष्य) White-footed antelope North Varaha Boar Śakti Power

References

  1. ↑ V. S. Apte. the Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Digital Dictionaries of South Asia. pp. 157, 1522.
  2. ↑ Sri Nandan Prasad (1 January 2002). Historical Perspectives of Warfare in India: Some Morale and Matériel Determinants. Project of History of Indian Science, Philosophy and Culture. p. 60. ISBN 978-81-87586-10-4.
  3. ↑ Hudson 2008, p. 56
  4. ↑ Hudson 2008, p. 56
  5. ↑ Srinivasan, Doris (1979). "Early Vaiṣṇava Imagery: Caturvyūha and Variant Forms". Archives of Asian Art. 32: 48. ISSN 0066-6637.
  6. ↑ Science, Technology, Imperialism and War. Pearson publication. 2007. pp. 295–296. ISBN 9788131708514.
  7. 1 2 Mahabharata Vol.5. Penguin U.K. June 2015. p. 288. ISBN 9788184756814.
  8. ↑ Srinivasan, Doris (1997). Many Heads, Arms, and Eyes: Origin, Meaning, and Form of Multiplicity in Indian Art. BRILL. pp. 209–210. ISBN 978-90-04-10758-8.
  9. 1 2 Paul, Pran Gopal; Paul, Debjani (1989). "Brahmanical Imagery in the Kuṣāṇa Art of Mathurā: Tradition and Innovations". East and West. 39 (1/4): 132–136, for the photograph p.138. ISSN 0012-8376. JSTOR 29756891.
  10. ↑ Paul, Pran Gopal; Paul, Debjani (1989). "Brahmanical Imagery in the Kuṣāṇa Art of Mathurā: Tradition and Innovations". East and West. 39 (1/4): 136 [26]. ISSN 0012-8376. JSTOR 29756891.
  11. ↑ S. M. Srinivasa Chari (1994). Vaisnavism: Its Philosophy, Theology and Religious Discipline. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 15, 163, 213. ISBN 9788120810983.
  12. ↑ Ashish Dalela (December 2008). Vedic Creationism. iUniverse. p. 327. ISBN 9780595525737.
  13. ↑ A History of Indian Literature Vol.2 Part 1. Otto Harrassaowitz. 1977. p. 60. ISBN 9783447017435.
  14. ↑ Julius Lipner (2 October 2012). Hindus: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. Routledge. pp. 349–350. ISBN 9781135240608.
  15. ↑ Julian F. Pas (January 1995). Visions of Sukhavati. SUNY Press. p. 369. ISBN 9780791425190.
  16. ↑ Buddhadatta Mahathera, A. P. (2002) [1949]. Concise Pali English Dictionary. Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 8120806042.
  17. ↑ Bowker, John (2000). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192800947.
  18. ↑ Roberts, Peter Alan; Tulku Yeshi (2013). "The Basket's Display". 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. Retrieved 2019-12-25.
  19. ↑ Atherton, Cynthia Packert (1997). The Sculpture of Early Medieval Rajasthan. Brill. p. 78. ISBN 978-90-04-10789-2.
  20. ↑ A Comprehensive History of India: pt. 1-2. A.D. 300-985. Orient Longmans. 1982. p. 866.
  21. ↑ Parlier-Renault, Edith (2007). Temples de l'Inde méridionale: VIe-VIIIe siècles. La mise en scène des mythes. Presses Paris Sorbonne. pp. 38–42. ISBN 978-2-84050-464-1.
  22. ↑ "A shrine of Aniruddha, the fourth of the 'vyuhas', which had within its precincts a 'rsyadhvaja', i. e. a column bearing on its top the figure of a 'rsya' or a white antelope which was his characteristic 'lanchana'." in Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental Art. Indian Society of Oriental Art. 1937. p. 16.
  23. ↑ Gupta, Vinay K. "Vrishnis in Ancient Literature and Art". Indology's Pulse Arts in Context, Doris Meth Srinivasan Festschrift Volume, Eds. Corinna Wessels Mevissen and Gerd Mevissen with Assistance of Vinay Kumar Gupta: 80–81.