Vishnu – Hayagriva – {Ep.211} – Stories From India – Podcast

In today’s episode, we’ll talk about an avatar of Vishnu that doesn’t get as much attention as the other more popular Dashavatars, or 10 avatars. We’re going to talk about Hayagriva, who is part human, part horse. But not exactly a Centaur – quite the opposite in fact.

Welcome to “Stories From India”. This is a podcast that will take you on a journey through the rich mythology, folklore and history of the Indian subcontinent. I am Narada Muni, the celestial storyteller and the original “time lord”. With my ability to travel through space and time, I can bring you fascinating stories from the past, the present, and the future. From the epic tales of the Mahabharata and Ramayana to the folktales of the Panchatantra to stories of Akbar-Birbal and Tenali Raman, I have a story for every occasion.

The purpose of the stories is neither to pass judgment nor to indoctrinate. My goal is only to share these stories with people who may not have heard them before and to make them more entertaining for those who have.

Today’s Story

There are a few different variations of this Avatar of Vishnu. We’ll go through one popular version today.

The story begins with Hayagriva. But this Hayagriva is not the Hayagriva who was Vishnu. Instead he was another Hayagriva. This is going to get very confusing. So let me see if I can simplify things. Hayagriva literally means someone with the neck of a horse. And by neck, the head is also implied. So someone with the neck and head of a horse and the body of a human. Sort of like an inverted centaur, if you think about it.

Where the confusion comes from is that there are two different Hayagrivas in this story. We’ll simply avoid this confusion by naming them Evil Hayagriva and Good Hayagriva.

Let us first go to the scene where Evil Hayagriva was born.

The location is Rishi Kashyap’s home. It was a sprawling home. It had to be. You see Kashyap had a large family. At least a dozen wives, and several children by each. Kashyap’s family was so large, and each of his children so famous that it makes Genghis Khan look like a mere beginner by comparison.

Anyway, Kashyap was with his wife Danu, and Danu was about to give birth. The ultrasound had been a little inconclusive on the child, or maybe the ultrasound technician had just been too worried about upsetting the parents. But she needn’t have worried. Kashyap had seen it all. One of his children was the Ocean itself. Another was a Bird-Man hybrid, and others included Astronomical bodies.

So Kashyap didn’t even raise an eyebrow when he stared at the face of his newborn son. His son was horse faced. And I don’t mean that he resembled a horse. His son had the actual head and neck of a horse. And, as if to dispel any ambiguity anyone might have, the baby whinnied and neighed.

Kashyap said they all should get a move on. He was ready to name his son, sign on the birth certificate application form and leg it to the other operating room in this horsepital where he had two more children ready to be born this morning. 

And the name he came up with was Hayagriav. Danu had an objection to that. Hayagriva only meant someone with the neck of a horse. But their boy had the head of a horse too. “So quit foaling around!” she told him.

Kashyap firstly commended her for her excellent dad joke. Even though dad jokes were his territory. He then patiently explained that names were important. How would it be far in the future if someone read his business card or his resume and judged him too harshly for it? He’d become the centaur of attention, for all the wrong reasons. On the other hand, Hayagreeva did not necessitate that the head was horse-like too, while providing some plausible deniability to the parents in case anyone accused them of giving their child a misleading name. 

“So what’ll it be? Yay or Neigh?” he asked her.

Danu agreed with her husband’s wisdom despite the poor quality of his humor. Not for nothing was he a Saptarishi!

“Hey, Hayagreeva,” Danu said affectionately, addressing her baby. The baby, already well versed in human language apparently, nodded his head vigorously. He’d certainly appreciate a meal of cut and dried grass. Maybe throw in a dash of oats to go with it, he seemed to say.

And that’s what happened. On a stable diet of Hay and Oats, Evil Hayagreeva grew stronger everyday. He was disciplined about not eating any fast food. Fast food, in Evil Hayagreeva’s opinion, was reserved for racehorses. And he wasn’t a racehorse. It was just healthy food for him. Although he did indulge in the occasional Mayo-neighs to go with his bread, and even then he stuck to the Thorough brand. Yup – Thoroughbred was the most nutritious bread as their advertisements said. 

Most evenings, he’d be playing with the neighboring children, until Danu came to remind him – “it’s pasture bedtime,” she’d say.

As he transitioned from childhood into youth, Evil Hayagreeva started getting visions of grandeur. He had to be top dog. I mean top horse, top boy of not just his neighborhood but of the whole world! But he didn’t know what to do about it. How does one become King of the world? There didn’t seem to be any elections he could announce his candidature for. And he couldn’t think of a megavillain plot to threaten the United Nations with space lasers or something. For one thing there were no space lasers, and there was no United Nations back  in Ancient India.

His worries got his mom’s attention. “Why the long face?” she asked him. “It’s obvious you’re chomping at the bit about something. Your attitude is all negative lately, and not just because you’re saying Neigh all the time”

He ignored the obvious puns, and evaded the question. And all her follow-up questions.

No, he wasn’t feeling saddled with too much responsibility. No, he didn’t have colt feet about his future. Also, no, he wasn’t worried about impressing the girls/mares – yes he could dance it was not like he had two left feet, like most other horses.

Danu could tell that her boy wasn’t going to confide in her. So she gave him some very generic advice. “You know what I do when I feel down? When the dog barks, when the bee stings, when I’m feeling sad, and all that?”

“Let me guess…” Evil Hayagriva said “you begin singing that song from the Sound of Music”

“No, no, no. Nothing that fancy. Besides that movie is millenia in the future. No, I just pray to Goddess Durga. Give that a thought, maybe it’ll work for you the way it works for me”

Well it couldn’t hurt to try. Worst case, it may not rein in his worries, but at least it won’t stir up more worries.

So the very next day, Evil Hayagriva began praying to Goddess Durga. We’ve met this Goddess before on this show. But in case you forgot, or you missed those earlier episodes, I’ll just say that Durga is an avatar of Shakti and also that of Parvati, Shiva’s partner. She’s a very powerful Goddess. And that makes it likely that if someone prays to her and asks her for a wish, they’re going to end up with a very powerful superpower at the end of it.

And that’s exactly what happened. It took several years of prayers on a lonely mountain top in the Himalayas, but Evil Hayagriva kept at it. You might wonder – everyone who prays to the Gods and Goddesses for years – how do they manage? It’s a good question, but in Evil Hayagreeva’s case the answer was pretty simple. He was financially stable, given his prestigious roots.

So while he prayed for many years, there were bags of oats and barley meals regularly delivered to him.

Many years later, Durga appeared before him on that mountaintop. She told him she was impressed by his dedication and discipline and patience. What was it he wanted?

Evil Hayagriva was ready, because he had rehearsed this in his mind. Many times. He said that he wanted to ensure no one could defeat him in battle. And by no one, he meant absolutely no one. Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma included. He even wanted it so that Shiva who was the destroyer of the entire Universe would be unable to defeat him. “Please, that’s all I want,” he said. 

Durga said “you and everyone else. No can do, kid. That would be a very foolish thing to expect…. or foalish if you prefer. There’s always got to be a fine print. Wishes just don’t work otherwise”

“Fine,” Evil Haygriva said. “Then make it so that the only who can defeat me is Hayagriva”

“Deal,”  Durga said and disappeared instantly before Evil Hayagriva could change his mind.

Evil Hayagriva was happy. His mom had often told him there was no one else like him in the Universe. She was sure of it because she had asked Kashyap, and Kashyap replied that if there really was another horse headed person in existence, he’d have known about it already.

Durga meanwhile didn’t just go off to the person on the next mountain in the Himalayas who had also been praying to her. Instead she went to Vishnu’s home. As it happens, I was there when Durga turned up. She didn’t even have to explain anything. Vishnu knew exactly why Durga had come, and further, he knew what he had to do. 

“Narada, do you want to come along?” he asked me.

Well of course I did want to go along. But first Vishnu said he had to change. 

“How does this look suit me?” he asked a little while later, and I observed then that his head had changed into that of a horse.

I had to admit, Vishnu looked dashing in any of his avatars. With the head of a very majestic horse, his eyes simply sparkled and they inspired. I don’t have a better way to describe it. But you probably know by now how much of a Vishnu fanboy I am.

We went down to Earth, and landed right where Evil Hayagriva was standing. He was on some kind of stage in one of the entertainment capitals in the country, never mind where. Then I suddenly realized Evil Hayagriva was actually in a boxing ring, not a stage. A boxing ring that was actually square but that didn’t matter. Evil Hayagriva was loudly proclaiming himself the lord of the Universe. No one could beat him, he said. And the growing pile of people behind him that he had beaten up proved his point, he said.

Vishnu, as Good Hayagriva, calmly entered the ring. The audience let out a collective gasp. Evil Hayagriva vs Good Hayagriva this had to be the match of the millennium! Everyone edged closer to the ringside but as you can imagine space was fairly limited.

The poor unfortunate souls who weren’t here to observe this fight were in the next stadium over – they were instead watching a mixed martial arts cage fight between a couple of rich men. There may be massive appeal to a person of the masses in watching two billionaires beating each other up, but it was hardly the spectacle that the Hayagriva vs Hayagriva fight seemed to be headed towards. It was the mane event. Pun intended.

Hayagriva vs Hayagriva might sound like a very even competition. Something where the outcome might be hard to predict given how the two belligerents were Neck and Neck. But you’d be wrong. Because Good Hayagriva was Vishnu. And I’m not just saying that because I’m President for life of the Vishnu fan club. It’s true I chant his name all the time, and I’m constantly singing his praises, but I like to think I’m being very objective when I’m doing that. And Vishnu is just simply awesome!

“Now hold your horses” the referee seemed to say, but Evil Hayagriva rushed upon Good Hayagriva. The only thing that Good Hayagriva did was to place his pinky on Evil Hayagriva’s shoulders. And that seemed to check Evil Hayagriva’s intent of tearing his opponent apart limb from limb.

Good Hayagriva seemed almost bored even as Evil Hayagriva was grunting with all his strength to lift the weight of Good Hayagriva’s pinky which was now resting on Evil Hayagriva’s shoulder.

“Need… more…. Horsepower” grunted Evil Hayagriva.

Good Hayagriva asked out of genuine concern for his opponent, “would you like to try using a forklift?”

But Evil Hayagriva collapsed to the floor at this point. “I’ve fallen and I can’t giddyup” he gasped, as the referee began counting down.

“I’m sorry did you say something?” Good Hayagriva asked his opponent.

But Evil Hayagriva didn’t reply. He had gasped his last, and he now lay there motionless, a victim of over exertion.

You might think that those who had bought massively overpriced entry tickets to watch this fight were disappointed that it was over before it had barely begun. After all, they hadn’t even seen Good Hayagriva throw a single punch. But hey, it was still totally worth it to see Vishnu in person! They got quite a kick out of it. This was one event that the audience talked about for decades, and passed on the stories to their grandchildren over cozy fireside chats.

A few punters who had been foolish enough to bet on Evil Hayagriva had to Pony up.

Vishnu returned home after that, and I went on yet again amazed by how perfectly Vishnu had neutralized another threat to the Universe.

That’s all for now

Some notes on the show

There are many alternative stories of Hayagriva. In one, it wasn’t Evil Hayagriva, but two asuras who were overcome by Good Hayagriva. The two asuras, Madhu and Kaitabha, had actually originated from Vishnu. From his earwax. No wonder there wasn’t much good in them. They stole the Vedas from my dad, Brahma the creator, and then they hid them in the Ocean. Let’s just say Vishnu in his Good Hayagriva form splintered them apart and the two asuras became some of the tectonic plates in the Earth.

In some parts of India, Hayagriva is regarded as part of Vishnu’s 10 avatars. And others not so. But don’t really worry about this number. Vishnu is not limited to just 10 avatars. There are many more.

Another version has it that this avatar was an accompanying avatar to Vishnu’s Matsya avatar. We saw the Matsya avatar in our very first episode – Unicorn Fish.

But in many of these variations of the story Evil Hayagriva is stealing the vedas – which are very important historical documents in Indian Mythology and History. The purpose of stealing them was so that he could become immortal. Didn’t work because Vishnu as Good Hayagriva took care of that easily enough.

That’s all for now. 

Next Time

In the next episode, we’ll see some wisdom from Birbal in Akbar’s court, as he finds a way to provide a fitting reply to the Emperor’s questions!

Feedback

Thank you all for the comments on Social Media and on Spotify’s Q&A! I can’t directly reply to the questions there, but I’ll address them here on this show.

Thank you Rez and Vamsi for the kind words!

Maya and Rohak, you asked for an Akbar Birbal story, and that’s what we’re doing next week!

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Thanks for listening and I’ll see you next time!