Home » Blog » Parijata Harana as a literary medium of spreading Vaishnavite religion founded by Sankardeva

Parijata Harana as a literary medium of spreading Vaishnavite religion founded by Sankardeva

Listen everyone, with devotion,

You have no other friend except Hari

so says Sankara, the servant of Krishna.

Lets everyone repeat the name of Rama!

-(Sutra)

Srimanta Sankardeva is one of the highly honoured, cultural and religious figures of the entire India. Like many other prophets, Sankardeva was involved in preaching the message of humanity among the masses. Till dtae he has been a beacon of light to the Assamese society with darkness all around. Like any other religious prophets, Sankardeva too founded a religion, widely known as ‘Neo-Vaishnavite’ religion which came out from his vast experiences developed from his interaction with the then Vaishnavite religious preachers from across the country. Significantly Sankardeva’s way of preaching was different from others. He adopted the literary form to spread a religious fervour among the masses with a reformist zeal.

Sankardeva’s Neo Vaishnavite religion was a path of reforms and transformation to the then contemporary society- a way from darkness into light and has been a guiding force for the followers for the last six centuries. The term ‘Neo-Vaishnavite’ is associated with the implcations – ‘a friend, philosopher, and guide’. In that sense the relgion serves as a beacon of light for the masses in attaining solace and devotion. His Vaishnavism is known as ‘Ek Sarana Naam Dharma’ which is an embodiment of three aspects – Ek Sarana, Sat Sanga and Naama. Ek Sarana means seeking solace from one God, Sat Sanga refers to an assembly of followers (Bhakta) for obeisance while Naama refers to chanting as a means of prayer for a place at the feet of the Supreme Lord. Sankardeva’s Vaishnavism forbids elaborate rituals and worship of idols while advocating an austere lifestyle for his followers. Naama is considered to be sufficient for the common people as it knows no class distinction in the name of high and low. He emphasized on equality among all people from the aristocrat to the poor and down-trodden.

Unlike most prophets, as we have already stated above, Sankardeva used his literary activities as a platform of prreaching his new Vaisshnavite religion. The Parijata Harana serves as a significant edifice for spreading his religion among the masses. Sankardeva’s Ek Sarana Naam Dharma glorifies Lord VIshnu as the Supreme Guru or God in the Universe. Lord Vishnu is the sole source of solace and salvation to one and all. All the characters in the two stories borrowed from the Bhagavata and Vishnu Purana are employed to convey the spiritual message that Lord Vishnu is the Almighty. Both the stories are meant to glorify the ways of God who took various incarnations from time to time to ease the earth of the burden of sins. While narrating the glory of Lord Vishnu, Sutra says,

“Slayer of Agha, Baka, Dhenuka and Kamsa

You eased the earth of its burden of evil

And became an Avatara for the sake of your devotees.”

Parijata Harana is a play of two plots embedded. The first plot tells the story of Lord Krishna’s victory over the demon Narakasura. Even God Indra, the king of Amravati had to take aid of Krishna to rescue him from the grasp of Naraka. Lord Krishna had delineated in the play as the destroyer of the evil doers and rescuer of faithful or the virtuous. The narrator Sutra while glorifying the Leela of Lord Krishna says,

“Jaya Jaya Murari, crusher of Keshi and Kamsa,

Jaya Jaya to the bearer of Govardhan

To Him who eases the fears of the faithfu;

Jaya Jaya to the crusher of the poisonous Kali

to the dwarf who bettered Bali.”

With these words, as anarrated by Sutra the defeated Indra realizes his sin, repents for that and offers prayer to the Almighty with a prayer for mercy. Lord Krishna is so depicted that even the great Gods like Brahma and Shiva worship Him for endless eons. Admittion the supremacy of Lord Krishna, Indra says, “…. whose lotus feet have been worshipped for endless eons by Brahma and Shiva.”

In that way Lord Vishnu is the supreme commander of the cosmos. Therefore we can see how Parijata Harana is a literary medium for spreading the Vaishnavite religion founded by Sankardeva.

20 thoughts on “Parijata Harana as a literary medium of spreading Vaishnavite religion founded by Sankardeva”

  1. This is the perfect webpage for everyone who really wants to find out about this topic.

    You realize a whole lot its almost tough to argue with
    you (not that I personally will need to…HaHa). You definitely put a brand new spin on a topic which has been discussed for a long
    time. Excellent stuff, just excellent!

  2. Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the videoto make your point. You clearly know what youre talking about,why throw away your intelligence on just posting videos to your weblog when you could begiving us something enlightening to read?

  3. You really make it seem so easy with your presentation but Ifind this topic to be really something which I think Iwould never understand. It seems too complex and very broad for me.I am looking forward for your next post, I will try to get the hang of it!

  4. Hey there! I’m at work surfing around yourblog from my new iphone! Just wanted to say I love reading through your blog and look forward to all your posts!Keep up the excellent work!

  5. Hi! This post couldn’t be written any better! Reading through this post reminds me of my goodold room mate! He always kept chatting about this. I will forward this article to him.Fairly certain he will have a good read. Many thanks for sharing!

  6. Wow that was odd. I just wrote an extremely long comment but after I clicked submit
    my comment didn’t appear. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyway, just wanted to say excellent blog!

  7. My brother suggested I might like this web site. He was entirely right.

    This post actually made my day. You can not imagine just how much time I had
    spent for this information! Thanks!

  8. You could certainly see your enthusiasm in the article you write.
    The arena hopes for even more passionate writers such as you who aren’t afraid to mention how
    they believe. At all times follow your heart.

  9. Hello! Someone in my Facebook group shared this website with us so I came to give it
    a look. I’m definitely loving the information. I’m book-marking and will be tweeting this
    to my followers! Terrific blog and amazing style and design.

  10. Hey! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a
    group of volunteers and starting a new initiative in a community in the same niche.
    Your blog provided us beneficial information to work on. You have done a outstanding job!

  11. Definitely believe that which you said. Your favorite
    reason seemed to be at the web the easiest thing to be aware
    of. I say to you, I definitely get irked even as other folks
    think about concerns that they just don’t realize about.

    You managed to hit the nail upon the top and defined out the entire
    thing with no need side effect , other folks can take a signal.
    Will probably be again to get more. Thank you

  12. Heya just wanted to give you a brief heads up and let
    you know a few of the images aren’t loading properly. I’m not
    sure why but I think its a linking issue. I’ve tried it in two different internet browsers and both show the same outcome.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *