Story of Nandaka Sword and Vishnu

Nandaka is a sword associated with Bhagavan Mahavishnu and how Srihari Vishnu came into possession of the sword is found in the Agni Purana. Legend has it that Bhagvan Brahma performed a Yajna on the banks of Ganga on a peak of Mount Meru. A demon named Lohasura decided to disturb the yajna and was heading towards the spot of the sacrifice.

To face the demon, from meditating Brahma appeared a man. The man paid homage to Brahma. He was then greeted by the Devas and changed into a sword named Nandaka.

Devas asked Bhagavan Vishnu to lift up the sword Nandaka for defending Dharma which was threatened by Lohasura.

Lohasura reached the yajna spot. The fierce demon had thousand hands and his body was dark blue in color. The demon’s body was hard like the diamond. Using a club he drove away the Devas.

Vishnu using the sword Nandaka took on the demon Lohasura. Those body parts of the demon that received a cut by the sword became metal on earth. Finally, the demon was killed by Vishnu.

After the fight, Nandaka received the human body back and became the deity of weapons on earth.

Brahma then completed the yajna for the welfare of all living beings.

Vishnu is rarely depicted with a sword. Only his forthcoming avtar, Kalki, is depicted with a sword.

The Vishnu Purana says that Nandaka, "the pure sword" represents jnana (knowledge), which is created from vidya (translated variously as wisdom, knowledge, science, learning, scholarship, philosophy), its sheath is avidya (ignorance or illusion).^[1] The Varaha Purana describes it as the destroyer of ignorance.

The Krishna Upanishad as well as Swami Karpatri (1907–1982) in his Shri Vishnu Tattva equate the sword to the god Shiva. The former says that the Great God (Maheshvara, an epithet of Shiva) takes form of a flaming sword of knowledge, that destroys ignorance. Karpatri also associates Vishnu's sword with Akasha (ether). He says that Nandaka's sheath is darkness, who is also an aspect of God.

Vishnu is usually depicted as four-armed with the four attributes in his hands: the shankha (conch), the Sudarshana chakra, the padma(lotus) and the Kaumodaki gada (mace). In eight or sixteen armed depictions of the sword, he may be shown holding a sword. The sword appears very rarely in the depictions of Vishnu. It appears in Vishnu iconography as late as the Gupta era (320–550 CE).

While Hindu scriptures narrate elaborate tales about how Vishnu gained his other weapons, none are told about the sword, apart from an allusion to the sword of Vishnu's avatar Rama in the Hindu epic Ramayana. The Harivamsa as well as the Brihatbrahma Samhita prescribe the sword to be shown in Vishnu's four-armed images. The Sattvata Samhita recommends it to be shown in a right hand of a six-armed Vishnu and in a left-hand in a ten-armed Vishnu.^[3] Vishnu' avatar Vamana is described to hold the Nandaka in his right hand in the Kalika Purana, but no such sculpture is found. An 11th-century image shows the sword tied to his belt.

The Vishnu sahasranama, which enlists 1000 epithets of Vishnu, mentions Nandaka twice. In a mantra, Vishnu is praised as the holder of the shankha, Nandaka and chakra. The 994th name of Vishnu is "Nandaki", one who wields the Nandaka.

In a rare depiction in the Sheshashayi Vishnu panel of the Gupta Deogarh temple, Nandaka is depicted anthropomorphically as a young man holding a sword (See Ayudhapurusha). He is depicted leading the other personified weapons of Vishnu against the demons Madhu and Kaitabha.^[6][7] Nandaka is also depicted as an ayudhapurusha in the scene of Madhu and Kaitabha in the Mahishasuramardini mandapa, Mahabalipuram.

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