Devnarayan
| Devnarayan | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Affiliation | Deva |
| Weapon | Sword, Spear |
| Consort | Pipalde |
| Parents |
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| Region | Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh |
| Festivals | Devnarayan Jayanti, Makar Sakranti, Dev Ekadashi |
Devnarayan was a Gurjar warrior from Rajasthan, India, who founded the Baisla clan. Mythology has it that he was an incarnation of Vishnu and he is worshipped as a folk deity, mostly in Rajasthan and north-western Madhya Pradesh. According to tradition, he was born to Sri Savai Bhoj and Sadu mata Gurjari on the seventh day of the bright half (shukla saptami) of the month of Maagh in the Hindu Calendar in Vikram Samvat 968 (911 AD).According to one view historical Devnarayan belonged to 10th century of Vikram Samvat, according another view, he lived in between 1200-1400 (Vikram Samvat era).First view is endorsed by many scholars.
The epic of Devnarayan is one of the longest and most popular religious oral narratives of Rajasthan. The epic of Devnarayan has been classified under the category of 'martial epics.
The oral epic of Devnarayan consists of a number of episodes related to the narrative of Devnarayan. This epic is sung by the Bhopas, the traditional priest-singers of Devnarayan during the nights of the months, November to July in the villages of Rajasthan and Malwa.
The narrative of Devnarayan begins with an invocation of a number of deities, whose images are depicted in the phads. The deities invoked are Sharada, Ganesha, Sarasvati, Maccha, Kacchap, Varaha, Narasimha, Vaman, Parashuram, Ram and Krishna Avatars of Vishnu, Bhairunath, Ramdev, Shani, Surya and Chandrama. The first part called the Bagaravat Bharat is about the heroic deeds of 24 Gurjar brothers, who are born as the sons of the man-lion, Baghji Gurjar. The 24 brothers die after a preordained period of 12 years in a battle against a chieftain of Ran city. The second part is about Bhagavan's incarnation as Devnarayan, the miracles he performs and the revenge he and his cousins ultimately take on the Ran city chieftain. Devnarayan's mother is Sadu Mata and his father Savai Bhoj, the most courageous of the 24 Bagaravats. Whereas the first part is generally said to be marked by suffering (dukh), pain, and death, the second is marked by the reunion, miracles and divine testimony (parcyo). The second part, thus entails a reversal of the first part: death and defeat are followed by birth and creation, finally resulting in the establishment of Devnarayan's cult amongst his followers.
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