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Re: The meaning of Jagannatha
In article <4dpfes$muo@babbage.ece.uc.edu>,
Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian <rbalasub@ecn.purdue.edu> wrote:
>mani@srirangam.esd.sgi.com (Mani Varadarajan) wrote:
>> How does ``Isvara'' or ``Jagannatha'' refer to anyone
>> but Lord Vishnu, in a religious context? I have never
>> heard this particular epithet used for Siva, or any
>> other deity for that matter.
>Really? Well, Jagan-natha used without any other description does refer to
>Vishnu as far as I know, but NOT Iswara. Consider
>I am by no means a puranic scholar. But, I have read the Shiva, Linga puranas
>reasonably thoroughly. I have also read (not so thoroughly), the Kurma and
>Markandeya puranas. In NONE of these, as far as I can remember, I seem to
>recall Vishnu being called Iswara.
In the Bhaagavatam there are innumerable such references, though, starting
with the very second verse "kim va parair ishvare?".
However, I assume that Mani meant that the term "Jagannatha" is not
used for Shiva or any other deity; as far as "Ishvara" goes, there is
good evidence to use the term to refer to other personalities. For
example, the Krishna Upanishad of the Rg Veda includes in its mantra
"svasti svasti suman^galaiH kesho mahaan // shrii-kRShNaH
sac-cid-aananda-ghanaH // sarveshvareshvaro dadhaatu" (May the great and
only Lord of auspiciousness, Sri Krishna, who is like a transcendental
cloud full of eternity, knowledge, and bliss and who is the Lord of
all the demigods, bestow upon us all prosperity and auspiciousness.")
It is important to note that the exact phrase is "sarveshvareshvaro"
implying that the term "ishvara" can be used for other personalities, but
that Krishna is the "ishvara" even of them.
This is also seen in the first extant line of Brahma-Samhita
"ishvaraH paramaH kRShNaH" ... Krishna is the Supreme controller (ishvara)
>I have gone to scores of Vishnu temples and in none of these he is called
>Iswara. Without exception, Shiva is always called Iswara - Kapalishwara,
>Arunachaleswara etc etc.
You have not heard of Venkateshwara?
>Ramakrishnan.
Yours,
Vijay
