Parjanya

Template:Short description Parjanya (Template:Langx, Template:IAST3) according to the Vedas is a deity of rain, thunder, lightning, and the one who fertilizes the earth.<ref name="urlVedic Mythology - Arthur Anthony Macdonell - Google Książki">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="urlAspects of Early Viṣṇuism - Jan Gonda - Google Książki">Template:Cite book</ref> It is another epithet of Indra, the Vedic deity of the sky and heaven.

Description

It is assumed Parjanya is the udder and lightning is the teats of the rain-cow, accordingly rain represents her milk. Also, he is sometimes considered as a rain-bull controlled by the superior Indra. The thunder is his roar. He is the father of arrow or reed which grows rapidly in rainy season. He is also considered as a protector of poets and an enemy of flesh-eating fire.<ref>Vedic Mythology - Nagendra Kr Singh - APH Publishing, Jan 1, 1997</ref>

Meanings

According to his 1965 Sanskrit–English Dictionary, Vaman Shivram Apte gives the following meanings:

• Rain-cloud, thunder cloud, a cloud in general;
• Rain (as referred in the Shloka from Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3 Verse 14);
• The god (deva) of rain i.e. Indra.

In hymns

Three hymns of the Rigveda, 5.83, 7.101 and 7.102, are dedicated to Parjanya. In Vedic Sanskrit Parjanya means "rain" or "raincloud". Prayers dedicated to Parjanya, to invoke the blessings of rains are mentioned in the Atharvaveda.<ref>Prayer.. Atharvaveda, translated by Ralph T.H. Griffith, 1895, Book 4: Hymn 15, A charm to hasten the coming of the rains.</ref> Parjanya was also one of the Saptarishi (Seven Great Sages Rishi) in the fifth Manvantara.<ref>Fifth interval of Manu Vishnu Purana, translated by Horace Hayman Wilson, 1840, Book III: Chapter I. p. 262-263, In the fifth interval the Manu was Raivata: the Indra was Vibhu: the classes of gods, consisting of fourteen each, were the Amitábhas, Abhútarajasas, Vaikunthas, and Sumedhasas: the seven Rishis were Hirańyaromá, Vedasrí, Urddhabáhu, Vedabáhu, Sudháman, Parjanya, and Mahámuni.</ref> He is one of the 12 Adityas and according to the Vishnu Purana, the guardian of the month of Kartik,<ref>Parashara...In the month of Kártik they are Parjanya, Bharadwája, (another) Viswávasu, Viswáchí, Senajit, Airávata, and Chápa Vishnu Purana, translated by Horace Hayman Wilson, Book II: Chapter X. p. 233, Names of the twelve Ádityas. Names of the Rishis, Gandharbhas, Apsarasas, Yakshas, Uragas, and Rákshasas, who attend the chariot of the sun in each month of the year. Their respective functions...</ref> a Gandharva and a Rishi in the Harivamsa.

In relation to other deities

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The deity can be identified with various other Indo-European Gods such as Slavic Perun, Lithuanian Perkūnas, Latvian Pērkons and Finnish Perkele "god of thunder", Gothic fairguni "mountain", and Mordvin language Pur'ginepaz.<ref>Parjanya means "the rain" or "the thunderer.. Songs of the Russian People, by W. R. S. Ralston, 1872, Chapter II: Section I.--The Old Gods. p. 87. The description of Parjanya is in all respects applicable to the deity worshipped by the different branches of the Slavo-Lettic family under various names, such as the Lithuanian Perkunas, Lettish Pērkons, the Old Prussian Perkunos, the Polish Piorun, the Bohemian Peraun, and the Russian Perun. There is resemblance also to the Finnic Mordvin / Erza thunder god Pur'ginepaz. According to a Lithuanian legend, known also to other Indo-European nations, the Thunder-God created the universe by the action of warmth—Perkunas wis iszperieje. The verb perieti (present form periu) means to produce by means of warmth, to hatch, to bear, being akin to the Latin pario, and the Russian parit' . In Lithuania Perkunas, as the God of Thunder, was worshipped with great reverence. His statue is said to have held in its hand "a precious stone like fire," shaped "in the image of the lightning," and before it constantly burnt an oak-wood fire. If the fire by any chance went out, it was rekindled by means of sparks struck from the stone. The Mordvin /Erza tradition has " Sparks fly from the cartwheels and the hooves of fiery-red horses of Pur'ginepaz, when he drives across the sky " (Yurtov, A. 1883. Obraztsy mordovskoi narodnoi slovesnosti. 2nd ed. Kazan. :129) </ref>

Rig Veda hymns to Parjanya

RV 5.83 in the translation of Jamison and Brereton:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Template:Poemquote

Buddhism

Parjanya also features is Buddhist literature. In the Pali Canon of the Theravāda, he is known as Pajjuna.

He is king of the vassavalāhaka devas who have limited control over the clouds and weather. He has a daughter named Kokanadā.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

References

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