Viraj (Sanskrit:विराज,romanized: Virāja) is a word in theSanskrit language, which indicates sovereignty, excellence, or splendour. Viraja is the mythical primeval being associated with creation who is often personified as the secondary creator.[1]
Viraja is born fromPurusha and Purusha in turn is born from Viraja. In theAtharvaveda, Viraja is a cow or withPrana, the life-breath. In theMahabharata Viraja is the name of the primeval being,Purusha, identified withVishnu andShiva(Lord Ayyappa).Manu Smriti 1.32 states thatBrahman divided his body into two, one male and the other female, from the female was born Viraja who producedSvayambhuva Manu who created the tenPrajapatis. According to theBhavishya Purana – the male wasManu and the female wasShatarupa, creation commenced with the union of Manu and Shatrupa. In theVedanta, Viraja is identified with supreme intellect. Viraja is also the name of a metre.[2]
Viraja is identified byAtharvaveda – 4.11.7 withIndra,Agni,Prajapati and Parameshtin (A.V.iv.11.7); withDevata,Vishnu,Savitr,Rudra,Brahmachari,Water and theworld (A.V.viii.5.10), with controlling Indra (A.V.xi.5.16), with the immortal wide spreading ruling power (A.V.vii.84.1), with first and creative principle (A.V.viii.9.7), with the universe (A.V.viii.10.11), as father of Brahman (A.V.viii.9.7), with speech, the earth, the atmosphere, death (A.V.ix.10.24), with the udder of the frame of creation,Brahman being its mouth (A.V.x.7.19) and withDhruva, the point of the heavens directly under the feet (A.V.xii.3.11).[3]
The following four verses of Taittiriyopanishad-bhasyavartikam methodically describe Viraja:
Viraja, asDeva, as the first-born Fire, the first embodied being (Shiva Purana V.i.8.22), is reminiscence of thePurusha (Rig Veda X.90), in elderUpanishads this name appears thrice – once in theBrihadaranyaka Upanishad passage IV.ii.3 as "the human form that is in the left eye", and twice in theChandogya Upanishad in passages I.xiii.2 as thestobha calledVak (Vairaj Sama) and IV.iii.8 as the food and as the eater of food, Viraja is food -virad annam bhogyatvad eva (BUBh 4.2.3). Viraja is originated fromSutram (159,BUBhV p. 431,st18/9) also calledSutratman inVedantasara, basically of feminine gender, its masculine gender is also found in Brahma Purana I.53, its coming forth is due to delusion. Viraja is said to be food, the essence of food, identical to the pinda, food and the eater of food, to be the eldest of beings as food, to pervade all products as their material cause, to be Prajapati. Viraja is said to be released by virtue of her own nature, originated from Brahman from Viraja, Purusa or Manu. InVedantasara it isVaisvanara and is said to beCaitanyam (intelligence) identified bySthulasariram,Annamayakosha andJagrad on one hand and on the other it isHiranyagarbha orPrana, the intelligence conditioned bySuksamasariram consisting ofVijnanamayakosha,Manomayakosha andPranomayakosha, orSvapna; it is explained this way to systematize these notions. Sutram is the three sheaths viz., breath, manas and understanding; food is its sheath and bliss is the sheath of cause which is an adjunct ofHiranyagarbha, the highest cosmic soul, and the origin of Viraja.[4]
The gods obtainedvirajam (brilliance) fromAgni by means of consecration, Viraja is the year consisting of twelve months, the fire to be piled is the year, the bricks that are piled are the days and the nights, and Viraja consists of six seasons, and has thirty syllables(Yajur Veda v.6.7).[5] In the brahmanas, Sri and Viraja, are identified with food (S.B.11.4.3.18), in theAtharva Veda it is extolled as the first and creative principle (A.V.8.9-10), and with Prana (A.V.xi.4.12) and it is identified with earth (S.B.12.6.1.40) (MBh.12.262.41)[6]In theAitareya Upanishad Viraja is the intermediary between theAtman and the world, the creation of the world by the primeval Atman was through the intermediary Viraja. It is the waking state of the Cosmic Self; the Cosmic Self as it passes through its four statesVaisvanara,Taijasa,Prajya andAtman, comes to be called theViraja,Hiranyagarbha,Isa andBrahman respectively.[7]
Viraja or Virat of theBhagavad Gita is the Cosmic Body within which body is concentrated the entire creation consisting of both animate and inanimate beings, and whatever else one desires to see, and whichArjuna beheld with all its manifold divisions.[8]Adi Shankara in his Bhasya on Brihadaranyaka Upanishad I.ii.3 explains thatViraja who was born, himself differentiated or divided himself, his body and organs, in three ways...So this Prana (Viraja), although the self, as it were, of all beings, is specially divided by himself as Death in three ways as fire, air and the sun, without, however, destroying his own form of Viraja.[9]
