Chakravarti (Sanskrit term) in the context of "Prithu"

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⭐ Core Definition: Chakravarti (Sanskrit term)

A chakravarti (Sanskrit: चक्रवर्तिन्, IAST: Cakravartin) is an ideal (or idealized) universal ruler, in the history, and religion of India. The concept is present in Indian subcontinent cultural traditions, narrative myths and lore. There are three types of chakravarti: chakravala chakravarti, an emperor who rules over all four of the continents (i.e., a universal monarch); dvipa chakravarti, a ruler who governs only one of those continents; and pradesha chakravarti, a monarch who leads the people of only a part of a continent, the equivalent of a local king. Dvipa chakravarti is particularly one who rules the entire Indian subcontinent (as in the case of the Mauryan Empire). The concept of Chakravartin may have developed by the time of the early Maurya kings, in the 4th to 3rd century BCE, such as Emperor Ashoka, and it is mentioned in the Arthashastra (formerly considered to be a Maurya-period text but now re-dated as later).

The word cakra-vartin- is a bahuvrīhi compound word, translating to "one who move the wheels", in the sense of "whose chariot is rolling everywhere without obstruction". It can also be analysed as an instrumental tatpuruṣa: "through whom the wheel is moving" in the meaning of "through whom the Dharmachakra ("Wheel of the Dharma) is turning" (most commonly used in Buddhism). The Tibetan equivalent ཁོར་ལོས་སྒྱུར་བའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་ (khor los sgyur ba'i rgyal po) translates to "monarch who controls by means of a wheel".

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👉 Chakravarti (Sanskrit term) in the context of Prithu

Prithu (Sanskrit: पृथु, Pṛthu, lit. "large, great, important, abundant") is a sovereign (chakravarti), featured in the Puranas. According to Hinduism, he is an avatar (incarnation) of the preserver god—Vishnu. He is also called Prithu, Prithi and Prithvi Vainya, literally, "Prithu — the son of Vena".

Prithu is "celebrated as the first consecrated king, from whom the earth received her (Sanskrit) name, Prithvi." He is mainly associated with the legend of his chasing the earth goddess, Prithvi, who fled in the form of a cow and eventually agreed to yield her milk as the world's grain and vegetation. The epic Mahabharata, Vishnu Purana, and the Bhagavata Purana describe him as a part-avatar (incarnation) of Vishnu.

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Chakravarti (Sanskrit term) in the context of Rajasuya

Rajasuya (Sanskrit: राजसूय, romanizedRājasūya, lit.'king's sacrifice') is a śrauta ritual of the Vedic religion. It is ceremony that marks a consecration of a king. According to the Puranas, it refers to a great sacrifice performed by a Chakravarti – universal monarch, in which the tributary princes may also take part, at the time of his coronation, as a mark of his undisputed sovereignty.

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Chakravarti (Sanskrit term) in the context of Bharata (Mahabharata)

Bharata (Sanskrit: भरत, romanizedBharata) is a legendary emperor featured in Hindu literature. He is a member of the Chandravamsha dynasty, and becomes the Chakravarti (Chakra possessing emperor). He is regarded to be the ancestor of the Pandavas, the Kauravas, Brihadratha and Jarasandha.

The legend of Bharata is featured in the Adi Parva of the Mahabharata, where he is mentioned as the son of Dushyanta and Shakuntala. The story of his parents and his birth is related in Kalidasa's famous play, Abhijñānashākuntala. He is a descendant of rajarshi Vishvamitra.

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Chakravarti (Sanskrit term) in the context of Adi Shankara

Adi Shankara (8th c. CE), also called Adi Shankaracharya (Sanskrit: आदि शङ्कर, आदि शङ्कराचार्य, romanizedĀdi Śaṅkara, Ādi Śaṅkarācārya, lit.'First Shankaracharya', pronounced [aːd̪i ɕɐŋkɐraːt͡ɕaːrjɐ]), was an Indian Vedic scholar, philosopher and teacher (acharya) of Advaita Vedanta. While he is often revered as the most important Indian philosopher, reliable information on Shankara's actual life is scant, and the historical influence of his works on Hindu intellectual thought has been questioned. The historical Shankara was probably relatively unknown and Vaishna-oriented. His true impact lies in his "iconic representation of Hindu religion and culture," despite the fact that most Hindus do not adhere to Advaita Vedanta.

Until the 10th century Shankara was overshadowed by his older contemporary Maṇḍana Miśra, and there is no mention of him in concurrent Hindu, Buddhist or Jain sources until the 11th century. The legendary Shankara was created in the 14th century, centuries after his death, when Sringeri matha started to receive patronage from the emperors of the Vijayanagara Empire and shifted their allegiance from Advaitic Agamic Shaivism to Brahmanical Advaita orthodoxy. Hagiographies dating from the 14th-17th centuries deified him as a ruler-renunciate, travelling on a digvijaya (conquest of the four quarters) across the Indian subcontinent to propagate his philosophy, defeating his opponents in theological debates. These hagiographies portray him as founding four mathas (monasteries), and Adi Shankara also came to be regarded as the organiser of the Dashanami monastic order, and the unifier of the Shanmata tradition of worship. The title of Shankaracharya, used by heads of certain monasteries in India, is derived from his name. Tradition also portrays him as the one who reconciled the various sects (Vaishnavism, Shaivism, and Shaktism) with the introduction of the Pañcāyatana form of worship, the simultaneous worship of five deities – Ganesha, Surya, Vishnu, Shiva and Devi, arguing that all deities were but different forms of the one Brahman, the invisible Supreme Being.

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Chakravarti (Sanskrit term) in the context of Shantinatha

Śāntinātha (Sanskrit: शान्तिनाथ) or Śānti is the sixteenth tīrthaṅkara of Jainism in the present age (Avasarpini). According to Jain beliefs, he was one of the three tirthankaras to have also held the status of a Chakravarti (universal monarch) and a Kamadeva (being of supreme beauty) in the same lifetime. He is traditionally revered as the deity of peace (Shanti) and is invoked by devotees to avert calamities and epidemics.

Jain texts describe his life as a transition from imperial sovereignty to total renunciation. Born in Hastinapur to King Vishvasena and Queen Aćira of the Ikshvaku dynasty, he is said to have ruled for 25,000 years. As a Chakravarti, traditional accounts state he possessed the "fourteen jewels" (ratna) and "nine treasures" (nidhi), symbolizing absolute material dominion, before renouncing his empire to become a Jain monk. After sixteen years of asceticism, he is believed to have attained Kevala Jnana (omniscience) and subsequently achieved Moksha (liberation) at Shikharji.

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Chakravarti (Sanskrit term) in the context of Bahubali

Bahubali (IAST: Bāhubalī, lit.'one with strong arms') was the son of Rishabhanatha (the first tirthankara of Jainism) and the brother of the chakravartin Bharata. He is a revered figure in Jainism. He is said to have meditated motionless for 12 years in a standing posture (kayotsarga), with climbing plants having grown around his legs. After his 12 years of meditation, he is said to have attained omniscience (kevala jnana).

Bahubali's other names are Kammateshwara and Gommateshwara, the namesake of the Gommateshwara statue dedicated to him.

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