Rajasthan Blog

Shri Devnarayan

Shri Devnarayan was born on the seventh day of the bright half of the month of Maagh in Vikram Samvat 999 (943) as per the Hindu Calendar. He was a Gurjar medieval Hero from Rajasthan and is still worshiped as a folk deity in the states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

He was son of Sri Savai Bhoj and Sadu mata Gujjari and was believed to be an avatar of Vishnu.

Birth Story

Shri Devnarayan’s father Savai Bhoj was the most well known and courageous among those twenty-four Bagaravats who were born from Bagh Simh (who had a head of a tiger and the body of a man). Bagaravats and Rana became dharma-brothers.

One evening they were drinking. The drink jar got overturned with wine onto a hillside, flooding the earth to such an extent that the wine actually flowed down into the kingdom of Basak Nag (serpent lord of the netherworld, who holds the earth on his hood). Angered King Basak deposited the earth temporarily on a bull’s horns and went to Bhagavan (Vishnu)’s court to complain about the Bagaravats. But neither Basak, nor Hanuman, nor Bhagavan can do anything to remedy the situation because the Bagaravats were very powerful.

Finally Bhagavan assumed the form of mendicant (jogi) and visited Sadu Mata, the wife of Savai Bhoj, begging for alms. Sadu, who has just completed performing ablutions and bathing, appeared in front of the mendicant. She was covered only by her long tresses. Struck by her devotion, the mendicant (Bhagavan) granted her a boon. Sadu desired Bhagavan to be born as her son. Bhagavan promises to be born as her son on the 13th day after the Bagaravats have been killed.

Devnaarayan’s mother, Sadu Mata did penance on a hill near the battle field. After eleven days, she called out to Bhagavan, who has promised to be born as her son.  Devnarayan, who is playing a game of dice at the time with king Basak, rises up on a stream of water that splits apart the rock on which Sadu is seated. Borne on that jet of water in a lotus blossom, the infant Devnarayan falls into Sadu Mata’s lap.

Devnarayan’s Revenge

Devnarayan spent his childhood without any knowledge of past events. After eleven years, one day Chochu Bhat, who was the  bard and genealogist of the 24 Bagaravat brothers came to Malwa in search of Devnarayan. Devnarayan’ss mother Sadu Mata knew his intentions and tried to kill by poisoning, but Devnarayan revived him.

Chochu Bhat then informed him of the battle between the Bagaravats and the Rana. Devnarayan then decided against his mother’s will to return to his father’s ancestral land and take revenge on the Rana.

Devnarayan Shrine and Phad

After the battle, Devnarayan left for heaven. Before leaving, he gave a boy Bila and a girl, Bili to his wife. The boy Billa became the first priest of his father.

Shri Devnarayan is worshipped by priest-singers by means of a scroll known as phad that depicts various episodes of the narrative of life of Devnaryan. Bhopas (hindu saints), usually erects the phad where they are invited to sing different episodes from the epical narrative of Devnarayan during the jagarans.