Manyu sukta
 | This article uses texts from within a religion or faith system without referring to secondary sources that critically analyze them. (December 2010) |
Manyu sukta is hymn 10.83 and 10.84 from the Rig veda. It contains 14 verses and is dedicated to Manyu. Manyu in Vedic sanskrit stands for temper, anger or passion.
Identification of Manyu with Narasimha
Sri Manyu Sukta is one of the more important suktams occurring the Rig Veda. The rishi is known as tApasa manyu, the devatA is srI Lakshmi narasimha (Manyu) and the meter is trishtup/jagatI.
There is a common misconception that some particular devas like Indra are mentioned several times in the veda, whereas Vishnu is mentioned relatively less number of times. To dispel this illusion, a reading of this suktam will help. The truth is that, ALL the suktams are talking about srI hari only. When the veda says, “Bhagavan Indra, the Slayer of Vrtra”, it does not refer to the deva known as Indra who killed the asura vrtra. Rather, it refers to parabrahman sriman nArAyaNa, who is known as Indra, which has the meaning of “foremost/excellent/best) and who is the slayer of the covering (vrtra) called prakrti/ajnana/andhakAra”
Similarly, Agni Suktam talks about nArAyaNa who is known as Agni which means “one who leads” (Agra nEtha), Rudra suktam talks about nArAyaNa known as Rudra (explained already in this site), Brahmanaspati Suktam talks about nArAyaNa, the Lord of Brahma (Brahmanaspati – Pati or Lord of Brahma) and so on. Vishnu Suktam talks about nArAyaNa, the all-pervading one (Vishnu).
So, the manyu suktA refers to nArAyaNa in his angered form as Narasimha. And this is the Vishishtadvaita commentary that explains the meanings of this suktam.
