Did you know that Chakra, popularly known as Sudarshana Chakra, traced to the Rigvedic period, later emerged as Vishnu's symbol, used for the destruction of an enemy?
Chakra is the Indic reflex of an ancestral Indo-European form as in the "wheel of time" or "wheel of dharma", such as in a Rigveda hymn verse, pervasive in the earliest Vedic texts. By the late Vedic period it came to known as Lord Vishnu's weapon as Sudarshana Chakra, as an ayudhapurusha (anthropomorphic form), as a fierce form of Vishnu, used for the destruction of an enemy.
Sudarshana Chakra is made of two Sanskrit words – Su(सु) meaning "good/auspicious" and Darshana (दर्शन) meaning "vision" , a spinning, disk-like weapon, literally meaning "disk of auspicious vision," having 108 serrated edges which in Hindu mythology was used by the Hindu god Vishnu. The Chakra has also been described to have 10 million spikes in two rows moving in opposite directions to give it a serrated edge.
There are several legends related to it. In the Puranas, its creation is attributed to Vishvakarma, the architect of gods. His daughter Sanjana who was married to Surya (Sun), and as she could not bare the Sun's blazing light and heat, requested her father Vishvakarma to make Sun shine less. As result the remnant stardust was collected by Vishvakarma and made into three divine objects, namely (1) the aerial vehicle Pushpaka Vimana, (2) Trishula of Shiva, and (3) Sudarshana Chakra of Vishnu; these were popular only during the ancient period.
In another story in Mahabharata, Shiva created the chakra after he killed the Jalandhara demon who lived in the oceans waters. Blazing with fire and energy, only Shiva could look at it, hence the name Sudarshana (wonderful vision). One more version is that it emerged during the churning of the ocean and Vishnu acquired it and used it destroy the asuras.
According to yet another legend, Krishna worshipped Agni the god of fire in the Khandva forest. Pleased, Agni gave him the fiery Sudarshana Chakra to decimate his enemies in the Khandava forest, assisting Arjuna, the Pandava prince.
The Vishnu Purana identfies the chakra with the mind "whose thoughts, like the weapon, flew faster than the wind". The Bhagavat Purana describes the chakra as possessing the qualities of Prana (life principle), Maya (illusion), Kriya (activity), Shakti (energy, bhava (emotion), Unmera (ideals), Udyama (exertion), and Sankalpa (will). The chakra is invoked in Tantric rites and a chakra held in a person's hand is the symbol of a universal emperor or Chakravartin.
It is said that in the ancient period many of the tribes and asuras challenged Krishna's chakra with their own chakras and they were Shaivites. Krishna also used the chakra to behead the planet Rahu and cut the celestial Mandara Parvat during the Samudra Manthan, behead the prince Shishupala in Mahabharata, to defeat the demons Madhu and Kaitabha, and to destroy the armies of Rukmin and Jarasandha.
There are several puranic stories associated with the Sudarshana Chakra, such as that of Lord Vishnu granting King Ambarisha the boon of Sudarshana Chakra in form of prosperity, peace, and security to his kingdom.
The distinguishing feature of the chakra is its ability to return to the hand of the one who throws it. Time and again it was hurled by Krishna, destroyed the enemy, sometimes entire armies and kingdoms, and returned to him.
A comparable weapon in other parts of the world is the 'Boomerang'. The boomerang is a Neolithic weapon. While the aboriginal tribes of Australia are its best-know users, several people from Eritrea, Sumeria and Gujarat used a boomerang-like weapon. The India tribes used both circular and crescent shapaed boomerangs. In India, the Kolis of Gujarat, the Maravars and Kallaras of Tamilnadu and some other Adivasi tribes used similar weapons.
In metaphysical terms, chakras are various focal points used in a variety of ancient meditation practices as Sapta Chakras. Within Kundalini yoga, the techniques of breath exercises, visualizations, mudras, bandhas, kriyas, and mantras are focused on manipulating the flow of subtle energy through chakras.
Narasipur Char
