Sudarshana Chakra - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Sudarshana Chakra is a spinning, disk-like super weapon with 108 serrated edges used by Lord Vishnu

Vishnu

Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....

. The Sudarshana Chakra is portrayed on the right rear hand of the four hands of Vishnu, who also holds a Shankha

Shankha

Shankha bhasam , also spelled and pronounced as Shankh and Sankha, is a conch shell of ritual and religious importance in Hinduism and Buddhism. It is the shell of a large predatory sea snail,Turbinella pyrum found in the Indian Ocean....

(a conch shell) in his left rear hand, a Gada

Gada

GADA: A term used to describe Kevin Gill and Dippy Grewal's awesome crew.Members of group: 2Members since: 2005Open group: nobody else is allowed in the club, and nobody in the club is allowed to leave...

(mace) in his right fore hand, and a Padma (lotus) in his left fore hand.

According to the Puranas, Sudarshana Chakra is used for the ultimate destruction of an enemy. The depiction of Vishnu with Sudarshan Chakra also means that Vishnu is the keeper-owner of the celestial bodies and heavens.

Within scripture

The use of Sudarshana Chakra is occasionally mentioned in the Hindu

Hindu

Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

texts of Rigveda, Yajurveda and Puranas, as an ultimate weapon to eliminate the enemy of law, order and preservation. Such enemies are enumerated variously as rakshasas, asura

Asura

-In Hinduism:In Hinduism, the Asuras constitute a group of power-seeking deities, sometimes considered sinful and materialistic. The Daityas and Danavas were combinedly known as Asuras. The Asura were opposed to the Devas. Both groups are children of Kasyapa...

, and vikrutatma. In one such instance, as scribed in the stanzas of the Mahabharat, Lord Shri Krishna

Krishna

Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...

, the Avatar

Avatar

In Hinduism, an avatar is a deliberate descent of a deity to earth, or a descent of the Supreme Being and is mostly translated into English as "incarnation," but more accurately as "appearance" or "manifestation"....

of Lord Vishnu, beheads Shishupala

Shishupala

Shishupala or Sisupala was son of Damaghosha, king of Chedi, by Srutadeva, sister of Vasudeva. Therefore he was not only cousin of Krishna, but also Krishna's implacable foe, because Krishna had carried off Rukmini, his intended wife...

with the use of the Sudarshana Chakra, for his rapacious behaviour (committing 100 mistakes each worthy of death) at the Rajsuya yagna celebration of Emperor Yudhishthira. It was also used to cut the celestial mountain Mandrachal Parvat for churning of the ocean of milk (Samudra Manthan).

Origin of Sudarshana Chakra

According to one version, the Sudarshana chakra was made by the architect of gods, Vishvakarma.

Viswakarma's daughter Sanjana

Saranyu

Saranya or Saraniya is the wife of Surya, and a goddess of the dawn and the clouds in Hindu mythology, and is sometimes associated with Demeter, Greek goddess of agriculture. According to Max Müller and A...

was married to Surya

Surya

Surya Suraya or Phra Athit is the chief solar deity in Hinduism, one of the Adityas, son of Kasyapa and one of his wives, Aditi; of Indra; or of Dyaus Pitar . The term Surya also refers to the Sun, in general. Surya has hair and arms of gold...

, the Sun God. Due to the Sun's blazing light and heat, she was unable to go near the Sun. She complained to her father about this. Viswakarma took the Sun and made him shine less so that his daughter would be able to hug the Sun. The left over Sun "dust" was collected by Viswakarma and he made three things out of it. The first one was the famous aerial vehicle Pushpaka Vimana, the second being the Trishula

Trishula

A trishula is a type of Indian trident but also found in Southeast Asia. It is commonly used as a Hindu-Buddhist religious symbol. The word means "three spear" in Sanskrit and Pali....

(Trident

Trident

A trident , also called a trishul or leister or gig, is a three-pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and was also a military weapon. Tridents are featured widely in mythical, historical and modern culture. The major Hindu god, Shiva the Destroyer and the sea god Poseidon or Neptune are...

) of Lord Shiva

Shiva

Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...

, and the third was the Sudarshana Chakra of Lord Vishnu

Vishnu

Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....

.

Shaivite legends states that the chakra was created by Lord Shiva

Shiva

to destroy an Asura

Asura

. Shiva appears to the demon as a mendicant and challenges him to bear the weight of the earth marked by Shiva's big toe. The resulting circle becomes the chakra and decapitates the demon. Vishnu performs puja in order to obtain such a powerful weapon in the battle against evil and passes a divine test by finally offering his own eyes as flowers to the Shiva Lingam. Shiva descends as Chakrapradhana murti (Lord who presents the chakra) and presented the disc to Vishnu. However, as the power of the chakra is too great for Vishnu to control, Shiva divides it into three parts, one of which is the Sudharshana chakra, the others being kept by Shiva and Shakti.

The chakra comprises 10 million spikes in two rows. One row of spikes moving in the opposite direction to give it a serrated edge.

It was also used to cut the Goddess Sati , consort of Lord Shiva into 51 pieces after she gave up her life by throwing herself in a yagna which was held at his father's place. It is said that Shiva, in grief, carried around her lifeless body and was inconsolable. The 51 parts of the Goddess' body were then tossed about in different parts of Bharatvarsha and came to be known as Shakti Peeths.

Presented to Krishna by Agni

Agni

Agni is a Hindu deity, one of the most important of the Vedic gods. He is the god of fire and the acceptor of sacrifices. The sacrifices made to Agni go to the deities because Agni is a messenger from and to the other gods...

-deva (Fire God) had been suffering from a severe stomach ailment. As a remedy, Lord Brahma

Brahma

Brahma is the Hindu god of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. According to the Brahma Purana, he is the father of Mānu, and from Mānu all human beings are descended. In the Ramayana and the...

advised him to consume the herb-rich Khandava forest

Khandava Forest

Khandava Forest was an ancient forest mentioned in the epic Mahabharata. It lay to the west of Yamuna river, in modern day Delhi territory. Pandavas cleared this forest to construct their capital city called Indraprastha. This forest was earlier inhabited by Naga tribes led by a king named Takshaka...

. However, Takshaka

Takshaka

Takshaka was one of the Nagas mentioned in the epic Mahābhārata. He lived in a city named Takshasila, which was the new territory of Takshaka after his race was banished by Pandavas lead by Arjuna from the Khandava Forest and Kurukshetra, where they built their new kingdom.- The king of...

the Serpent-king and a close friend of Lord Indra

Indra

' or is the King of the demi-gods or Devas and Lord of Heaven or Svargaloka in Hindu mythology. He is also the God of War, Storms, and Rainfall.Indra is one of the chief deities in the Rigveda...

, was residing there. Whenever Agni

Agni

tried to consume the forest, Lord Indra

Indra

' or is the King of the demi-gods or Devas and Lord of Heaven or Svargaloka in Hindu mythology. He is also the God of War, Storms, and Rainfall.Indra is one of the chief deities in the Rigveda...

’s thundershowers quickly extinguished the fire.

Once, Krishna

Krishna

and Arjuna

Arjuna

Arjuna in Indian mythology is the greatest warrior on earth and is one of the Pandavas, the heroes of the Hindu epic Mahābhārata. Arjuna, whose name means 'bright', 'shining', 'white' or 'silver' Arjuna (Devanagari: अर्जुन, Thai: อรชุน, Orachun, Tamil: Arjunan, Indonesian and Javanese: Harjuna,...

arrived at this place. Appearing as a Brahmana

Brahmana

The Brāhmaṇas are part of the Hindu śruti literature. They are commentaries on the four Vedas, detailing the proper performance of rituals....

, Agni

Agni

-deva sought their help and they agreed. To fight Indra and His divine army, Agni-deva presented the divine weapon " Sudarshana Chakra " to Krishna and Gandheevam

Gandiva

The Gandiva is the bow of Arjuna, the hero of the Hindu epic Mahabharata.The bow was created by Brahman of old , the supreme God in Hindu theology. Brahma held it first for a thousand years. Afterwards, Prajapati held it for five hundred and three years. After that Indra, for five and eighty years...

to Arjuna .

Other Names

In the Tamil Language, the Sudarshana Chakra is also known as 'Chakkrath Azhwar' (translated as Ring/Circlet of God).

The Chakri Dynasty, the current ruling house of Thailand is named after the weapon.

Within scripture

Origin of Sudarshana Chakra

Presented to Krishna by Agni

Other Names

Further reading