Lably
Skip to content

Hayagriva

Horse-headed avatar of Vishnu

  • 7 min read
  • 6 chapters

Related on Lably

Through Hindus, Avatar and Knowledge

LabMyself – All About MeLab · Class 5–10General Knowledge QuizLab · Class 7–9Ancient Indian EmpiresLab · Class 3–4Healthy Food

Iconography

Hayagriva is an avatar of the god Vishnu. He is worshipped as the god of knowledge and wisdom, with a human body and a horse's head, brilliant white in color, with white garments and seated on a white lotus. Symbolically, the story represents the triumph of pure knowledge, guided by the hand of Divinity, over the demonic forces of passion and darkness.

Vedanta Desika's dhyāna-śloka (meditative verse) on Hayagriva typifies this deity's depiction in Hindu iconography:

He has four hands, with one in the mode of bestowing knowledge; another holds books of wisdom, and the other two hold the Conch and Discus. His beauty, like fresh cut crystal, is an auspicious brilliance that never decays. May this Lord of speech who showers such cooling rays of grace on me be forever manifest in my heart!

In several other sources he is a white horse who pulls the sun into the sky every morning. In others such as the great epic Taraka-battle where the other deities are fallen on and attacked by the Danavas [demons], Vishnu appears as a great ferocious warrior called Hayagriva when he comes to their aid. It says: "Hayagriva appears in his chariot, drawn by 1,000 powerful steeds, crushing the enemies of the gods beneath him!" There are many other references to Hayagriva throughout the Mahabharata.

It is said that Vishnu comes from battle as a conqueror in the magnificent mystic form of the great and ferocious Hayagriva:

The great Hayagriva having been praised in this way by the different saints and ascetics, assumes a great white horse's head. The Vedas [mantras] made up his shape, his body built of all the great other deities; in the middle of his head was Shiva, in his heart was Brahmā; the rays of sun (Marichi) were his mane, the sun and moon his eyes; the Vasus and Sadhyas were his legs, in all his bones were the other deities. Agni [Ka-ten; god of fire] was his tongue, the goddess Satya his speech, while his knees were formed by the Maruts and Varuna. Having assumed this form, an awesome wonder to behold to the devas, he vanquished the asura, and cast them down, with eyes that were red with anger.

In Hindu contexts, Hayagriva is almost always depicted seated, most often with his right hand either blessing the supplicant or in the vyākhyā mudrā pose of teaching. The right hand also usually holds a akṣa-mālā (rosary), indicating his identification with meditative knowledge. His left holds a book, indicating his role as a teacher. His face is always serene and peaceful. Unlike his Buddhist counterpart, there is no hint of a fearsome side in the Hindu depictions of this deity.

Hayagriva is sometimes worshiped in a solitary pose of meditation, as in Thiruvanthipuram Devanathasvami Temple. This form is known as Yoga-Hayagriva. However, he is most commonly worshipped along with his consort Lakshmi and is known as Lakshmi-Hayagriva. Hayagriva in this form is the presiding deity of Mysuru's Parakala Matha, a significant Sri Vaishnavism monastic institution.

Sign in to keep reading

5 more chapters are free with a Lably account.

More in Religion

PinyinRomanization scheme for Standard ChineseHindusAdherents of HinduismTraditional Chinese charactersStandardized set of Chinese charactersLiteral translationWord-for-word translation of a textReligionSocial-cultural systemTheologyStudy of the nature of deities and religious beliefs