daSa-avatAra sannidhi-s.

From the Bhakti List Archives

• March 9, 2003


In my posting, I forgot to mention the location of the daSa-avatAra shrine of the Gupta kings.   The opening paragraph should read ~

"The most ancient and most beautiful of the daSa-avatAra (ten incarnations) sannidhi-s is the one built at Deogarh included in to-day's district Lalitpur (off Jhansi), Uttar Pradesh, by the kings of the Gupta dynasty (circa 6th cent.AD) who styled themselves 'parama-bhAgavata'.    This manner of royalty dedicating itself to vaishNava worship had later-day echoes in Travancore royalty (starting with Maharaja svAti-t-tiru-nAL) bearing the name 'ananta-padmanAbha-dAsa', and the (Rajasthan) Kota rulers styling themselves 'ranGa-dAsa'."

I am grateful to my elder brother Sri Tirumanjanam Kannan for pointing out the omission.   Both my brothers, Sri Kannan and Sri Satakopan, had visited the Deogarh temple, and also the colossal SrivarAha in the caves of VidishA, north of Bhopal.   

I may add that they had also visited the Hariraj temple in district Chamba, Himachal Pradesh, and worshipped the surpassingly beautiful Lord there.    The Lord is an integrated manifestation of four aspects in as many visages, Vaikuntha (Narayana), Varaha, Narasimha and Kapila.  This iconography, known as vaikuNTha-chatur-mUrti,  is in accordance with the (pAncha-rAtra) jayAkhya-samhitA (6:73), and was developed in the time of the Guptas.   

aDiyEn rAmAnuja-dAsan,
T.S. Sundara Rajan,
at Srirangam.


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