Maṇibhadra
{{use dmy dates|date=October 2016}}
{{use Indian English|date=October 2016}}
{{short description|One of the prominent Yakshas}}
{{Infobox deity
| image = File:Yaksha_Manibhadra_-_Parkham_Mathura_circa_150_BCE.jpg
| caption = The "Parkam Yaksha" Manibhadra.
| god_of = God of Property
| affiliation = Manigriva, Kuberaputra, Yakshyuvraj, Yakshupati
| type = hindu
| mantra = Om Yashpati Kubera putra Manibhadra Namaha
| symbol = power
| abode = Alka puri
| mount = Mongoose
| weapon = Spear
| father = Kubera
| mother = Bhadra
| siblings = Nalakuvara
| consort = Gandhravkumari and Punyajani
}}
Maṇibhadra (Sanskrit: {{gloss|as excellent as a jewel}}) is one of the major yakshas. He was a popular deity in ancient India.
Iconography
Several well known images of yaksha Manibhadra have been found.Yaksha cult and iconography, Ram Nath Misra,
Munshiram Manoharlal, 1981 The two oldest known image are:
=Yaksha Manibhadra from Parkham=
{{main|Parkham Yaksha}}
Yaksha Manibhadra coming from Parkham near Mathura, datable to period 200 BCE – 50 BCCostumes & Ornaments As Depicted in the Early Sculpture of Gwalior Museum By Sulochana Ayyar, Mittal Publications, Dec 1, 1987, p. 29 The statue is 2.59 meters high. On stylistic grounds and paleographical analysis of the inscription, the statue is datable to the middle of the 2nd century BCE.{{cite book |last1=Luders |first1=Heinrich |title=Mathura Inscriptions |date=1961 |page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.201093/page/n179 179] |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.201093}} The inscription says "Made by Gomitaka, a pupil of Kunika. Set up by eight brothers, members of the Manibhadra congregation ("puga")." This inscription thus indicates that the statue represents the Yaksa Manibhadra.[https://books.google.com/books?id=H3lUIIYxWkEC&pg=PA365 "A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12 the century" by Upinder Singh p.365] According to John Boardman, the hem of the dress is derived from Greek art. Describing a similar statue, John Boardman writes: "It has no local antecedents and looks most like a Greek Late Archaic mannerism". Similar folds can be seen in the Bharhut Yavana.[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bharhut_Yavana.jpg Bharut Yavana] (John Boardman, "The Diffusion of Classical Art in Antiquity", Princeton University Press, 1993, p.112.)
File:Parkham Yaksha inscription.jpg|Parkham Yaksha inscription, paleographically dated to mid-2nd century BCE.{{cite book|last1=Luders|first1=Heinrich|title=Mathura Inscriptions|date=1961|page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.201093/page/n179 179]|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.201093}}
File:Parkham Yaksha (rear view).jpg|Parkham Yaksha (rear view)
File:Yaksha Parkham Mathura with detail.jpg|Parkham Yaksha, and detail of the wavy fold pattern of the dress.{{cite book|last1=Boardman|first1=John|title=The Diffusion of Classical Art in Antiquity|date=1993|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=0691036802|page=112|language=en}} 150 BCEDated 150 BCE in Fig. 15-17, general comments p.26-27 in {{cite book|last1=Quintanilla|first1=Sonya Rhie|title=History of Early Stone Sculpture at Mathura: Ca. 150 BCE - 100 CE|date=2007|publisher=BRILL|isbn=9789004155374|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X7Cb8IkZVSMC&pg=PA26|language=en}}
=Yaksha Manibhadra from Padmavati Pawaya=
File:Manibhadra image at Pawaya.jpg
File:Inscription on the base of the image of Manibhadra at Pawaya.jpg
- Yaksha Manibhadra from Padmavati Pawaya. The inscription under the image mentions a group of Manibhadra worshippers.
Both of them are monumental larger than life sculptures, often dated to Maurya or Shunga period. The Parkham Yaksha was used an inspiration by Ram Kinker Baij to carve the Yaksha image that now stands in front of the Reserve Bank of India in Delhi.Of Art, Central Banks, and Philistines, RBI History Project, http://www.rbi.org.in/History/Mis_Ane_OfArtCentralBankers.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116205704/http://www.rbi.org.in/History/Mis_Ane_OfArtCentralBankers.html |date=16 January 2009 }}
Manibhadra was often shown with a bag of money in his hand.{{citation needed|date=April 2016}}
Hinduism
Manibhadra is stated to be a son of Kubera and his wife, Bhadra. He is described to have a brother named Nalakuvara. In the Ramayana, Manibhadra fought with Ravana to defend Lanka, but failed.Ramayana: King Rama's Way, William Buck, Barend A. Van Nooten, Shirley Triest, University of California Press, Nov 1, 2000, p. 32–33 In the Mahabharata, Manibhadra is mentioned along with Kubera as a chief of the yakshas. Arjuna is stated to have worshipped him.Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide, Roshen Dalal, Penguin Books India, Oct 5, 2011, p. 240 The Bhagavata Purana narrates a story about the brothers. Once, Manibhadra and Nalakuvara were playing with their respective wives or apsaras in the river Ganges. They were drunk and nude. When the divine sage, Narada, passed by to visit Vishnu, the women covered themselves, but the nude brothers were too intoxicated to see the sage and started to boast about themselves. Narada wanted to teach the brothers a lesson and cursed them to be turned into trees and only to be liberated by Vishnu's avatar. During the Dvapara Yuga, an infant Krishna was tied to a mortar by his mother, Yashoda, as a punishment for eating dirt.{{Cite book|last1=Prabhupada|first1=His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oohOCgAAQBAJ&q=nalakuvara&pg=PT656|title=Srimad-Bhagavatam, Tenth Canto: The Summum Bonum|last2=Prabhupada|first2=Disciples of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami|date=1977-12-31|publisher=The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust|isbn=978-91-7149-643-0|language=en}} Krishna crawled with the mortar, which became stuck between two trees. Krishna, using his divine powers, uprooted the trees, liberating Nalakuvara and Manigriva from their curse.
=Other legends=
Another figure with the same name is mentioned to be an avatar of Shiva which he called when he was angry and summoned for warfare. Manibhadra decimated the army of Jalandhara along with Virabhadra, another avatar of Shiva.{{Cite web|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/hmvp/hmvp43.htm|title = Hindu Mythology, Vedic and Puranic: Part III. The Inferior Deities: Chapter VI. The Asuras}} It is possible that the avatar of Shiva and the chief of the yakshas may be the same Manibhadra but there is no confirmation. Manibhadra is also a god of sea-farers especially merchants venturing out in the sea for business in faraway lands.
Buddhism
In Samyukta Nikaya, Manibhadra is said to reside in the Manimala chaitya in Magadha. Yaksha Manibhadra is invoked in The Exalted Manibhadra’s Dhārani.[http://sugatagarbhatranslations.com/2009/12/21/manibhadras-exalted-dharani/ THE DHĀRANI OF THE EXALTED MANIBHADRA] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120702022706/http://sugatagarbhatranslations.com/2009/12/21/manibhadras-exalted-dharani/ |date=2 July 2012 }}, Translated from Tibetan by Erick Tsiknopoulos
Jainism
File:Manibhadra Veer Jain Temple Magarwada Gujarat India 7.jpg
File:Aglod Jain Temple of Manibhadra Vasupujya Adinath in Gujarat In 2dia.jpg
In Sūryaprajñapti, a Manibhadra chairya in Mithila is mentioned. Yakshas are referred to in the Harivamsa Purana (783 A.D.) of Jinasena made the beginning of this concept."Symbols, Ceremonies and Practices" by Pramodaben Chitrabhanu Among them, Manibhadra and Purnabadra yakshas and Bahuputrika yakshini have been the most popular. Manibhadra and Purnabadra yakshas are mentioned a chief of yakshas, Manibhadra of Northern ones and Purnabadra of Southern ones.
Manibhadra still a yaksha worshipped by the Jains, specially those affiliated with the Tapa Gachchha. Three temples are famous for association with Mandibhadra: Ujjain, Aglod (Mehsana) and Magarwada (Banaskantha). Manibhadra Yaksha (or Vira) is a popular demigod among the Jains in Gujarat.Yakshraj Shree Manibhadradev, Nandlal B Devluk, Arihant Prakashan, 1997 His image can take many forms, including unshaped rocks, however in the most common representation, he is shown with a multi-tusked elephant Airavata.{{cite book|author=Kristi L. Wiley|title=The A to Z of Jainism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cIhCCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA138|date=17 June 2009|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-6337-8|page=138}}{{cite journal|last=Shah|first=U. P.|date=September–December 1982|title=Minor Jaina deities|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YeINAAAAYAAJ|journal=Journal of the Oriental Institute|location=Baroda|publisher=Oriental Institute, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda|volume=XXXII|issue=1–2|pages=97–98}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
;Sources
- {{cite book|last=Mathew
|first=Ammu|title=ManoramaTell me why No.32|year=2008|publisher=Monorama Press|isbn=978-0-9750-4300-4}}
- {{cite book|last=Hopkins |first=Edward Washburn|author-link=Edward Washburn Hopkins|title=Epic mythology |url=https://archive.org/stream/epicmythology00hopkuoft#page/n147/mode/2up/search/Kubera|year=1915|publisher=Strassburg K.J. Trübner|isbn=0-8426-0560-6}}
- {{cite book|last=Sutherland|first=Gail Hinich|title=The disguises of the demon: the development of the Yakṣa in Hinduism and Buddhism|year=1991|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=0-7914-0622-9}}
{{Mathura Museum}}
{{HinduMythology}}
{{Jainism Topics}}
{{Buddhism topics}}