Who are the seven immortals of Hindu Mythology (Chiranjivi)?
Chiranjivi means immortals who are bound to remain alive on this earth until the end of this Kali Yug. As per Hindu mythology, there are seven chiranjivi’s.
Ashwatthama
Ashwatthama was the son of Guru Drona (the teacher of Pandavas and Kauravas) in the epic of the Mahabharata. He was Duryodhana’s (the eldest of the Kauravas) closest friend.
Childhood
Guru Drona performed severe penance to obtain a son as valiant as Lord Shiva. Ashwatthama was born with a gem on his forehead, which gave him power over all human beings. The gem protected him from diseases, hunger, thirst, old age, weapons, and deities, making him invincible and immortal.
Ashwatthama had a hard childhood due to his father’s condition. Guru Drona lived in poverty and was unable to provide his son even with milk. He went to the king of Paanchal, Drupada, to improve his condition. Drupada had promised his childhood friend Guru Drona to give his half kingdom to him. But when Guru Drona asked for help, he rebuked the friendship, saying that a beggar couldn’t be his friend.
Guru Drona then trained Pandavas and Kauravas in warfare and Ashwatthama trained with them.
Kingship
Guru Drona asked for Dakshina from the Kauravas and Pandavas. He asked them to capture Drupada and claim his half-kingdom. The Pandavas helped him achieve this. After that, they crowned Ashwatthama king.
Mahabharata
He played a major role in the Kurukshetra War and fought against Pandavas to support Kauravas. He stood against Arjuna several times. After the deceptive killing of Guru Drona in the war, Ashwatthama decided to take revenge. He used Narayanastra to destroy the Akshauhini Sena of Pandavas.
Duryodhana’s Revenge
After Bhima struck Duryodhana and he faced death, Ashwatthama swore to bring revenge upon him. Ashwatthama planned to kill the Pandavas at night. He killed Dhrishtadyumna, Shikhandi, and others. At that time, he was possessed by Lord Shiva. He also killed the five Pandava sons considering them to be Pandavas.
When Pandavas came to know about these events, they rushed to kill Drona’s son.
for Duryodhana’s revenge
At that time, Ashwatthama invoked Brahmastra to kill them. Lord Krishna asked Arjuna to invoke Brahmastra too as an anti-weapon. Vyasa intervened and prevented the clash of weapons as that could destroy the whole universe. He asked both of them to take their Brahmastra back.
Arjuna was able to do that but Ashwatthama was not. He redirected the weapon to the womb of Uttara (Abhimanyu who was Arjun’s son, his pregnant wife ) in order to end the lineage of Pandavas. Lord Krishna saved Arjuna’s son by redirecting the weapon.
Lord Krishna’s Curse
Ashwatthama surrendered the gem on his forehead. Lord Krishna cursed Ashwatthama that he would roam around the forests till the end of Kali Yuga. The wound on his forehead will bleed forever. There will be injuries over his body and no one will take care of him. No one will talk to him. This made him Chiranjivi.
Mahabali
Mahabali, also known as Bali is a daitya king in Hinduism. He is the grandson of Prahalad. He was a generous king and people under his rule were living a prosperous life. Bali possessed amrit (nectar of eternal life) which made him immortal, even after various wars between Asuras and Devas.
After conquering heaven and earth, the Devas approached Lord Vishnu to help them regain the rule of heaven. Lord Vishnu refused to help them, as Bali was a noble king and his devotee.
Vamana Avatar
Lord Vishnu took Vamana’s avatar to help Devas. Lord Vamana attended Bali’s sacrifices and rituals. King Bali asked Vamana what he wanted. Vamana requested three steps of land from Bali, to which he agreed.
Vamana grew in size and in two strides, he covered the sky and the earth. In the third stride, when there was no place to keep his foot, Bali offered his head.
Lord Vishnu appeared in his true form and sent Bali to Patalok. He asked Bali for a boon. To which, Bali asked Lord Vishnu to stay with him in Patalok. Goddess Laxmi didn’t approve of this and she herself went to Patalok and made Bali her brother. She asked him to send Lord Vishnu back to Vaikuntha.
Chaturmasa
In this situation, Lord Vishnu intervened and asked Bali that he would visit Patalok for four months every year to rest and sleep. In his absence, Lord Vishnu assigned Lord Shiva to take care of the running of the world. Thus, this marked the beginning of Chaturmasa, where Lord Vishnu rests and other gods and goddesses take care of the running of the world.
This period generally marks the beginning of the monsoon (June-July) and ends in October-November.
Bali’s boon and Onam
Lord Vishnu granted Bali a boon by which he could return to his homeland once every year. Every year, Balipratipada or Onam marks his homecoming in Kerala and other regions.
Vyasa
Vyasa or Ved Vyasa ‘the one who classified vedas’ is a respected and well-known rishi in the Hindu religion. He is the author of various Hindu scriptures, including the Mahabharata. Vyasa means compiler or arranger. Thus, he divided the vedas.
Birth
Satyavati, the daughter of a fisherman, once helped Parashara (a maharishi and author of many texts) cross the Yamuna River. The rishi demanded an heir from her, which she refused. Parashara created a secret space for that. She conceived and gave birth to a son. The son named Krishna Dvaipayana, after becoming an adult, promised his mother to be present whenever she needed him. Parashara restored Satyavati’s virginity post that. Satyavati later married Shantanu.
Vichitravirya’s son
Chitrāngada and Vichitravirya were Shantanu and Satyavati’s two sons who died at an early age. Due to this, they had no heir. Vichitravirya had two wives Ambika and Ambalika. Satyavati firstly asked Bhishma (his stepson) to marry them to which he refused due to his vow of celibacy. Satyavati then asked, Vyasa to perform Niyoga to Ambika and Ambalika to which he agreed.
Ambika shut her eyes during the process due to which her son Dhritrashtra was born blind. Ambalika went pale, due to which her son Pandu was born pale. Satyavati asked Ambika again to perform the process to which Ambika sent her maid for that. The maid delivered a healthy baby named Vidura.
Hence, Dhritrashtra, Pandu, and Vidura were born.
Kaurava’s birth
Gandhari was dhritrashtra’s wife. She had the boon of giving birth to a hundred sons and a daughter. After conceiving, she remained pregnant for two years, post which she aborted. She gave birth to an iron mass. Vyasa intervened and with his powers asked to divide the mass into 101 pieces and keep them in pots. After a year, babies were born out of them.
After, Pandu’s death due to a curse, Vyasa asked Satyavati to come with him and live in the forest.
It is believed that Vyasa lives in Uttarakhand in the current age, Kali Yug.
Hanuman
Also known as Bajrangbali, Anjaneya, Maruti, Lord Hanuman is a revered Vanara (monkey) deity of Hinduism. He is a devoted companion to Sri Rama. Some believe that he is an incarnation of Lord Shiva.
Hanuman embodies a fusion of love, devotion, strength, excellence, and heroic initiative.
Birth
Hanuman is the son of Anjana and Kesari. Vayu played a major role in his birth hence, also known as Vayu’s son.
As per some legends, Anjana was once offering prayers to Vayu and King Dashratha was performing a Yagya to obtain sons. King Dashratha obtained a payasama or pudding which was shared by his wives and hence, his sons, Rama, Laxman, Bharata, and Shatrughan were born.
A kite snatched some part of the pudding and dropped it over the forest where Anjana was worshiping. Vayu then delivered the pudding to Anjana and hence, Hanuman was born.
Childhood
A hungry Hanuman one day mistook the sun as a ripe fruit and ate that. Lord Indra hit Hanuman with a thunderbolt which disfigured his jaw and he fell on earth. Vayu took all the air from earth and every creature collapsed. Lord Shiva resuscitated Hanuman and Vayu returned air. Indra along with Agni, Vayu, and Varuna granted him boons. Brahma also granted him the boon that he could move to any place.
Hanuman used his powers on innocent bystanders as simple pranks. One day he pranked a meditating rishi in turn, he cursed him that he would forget his powers at times.
Adulthood
Ramayana
Hanuman played an important role in the Ramayana. He helped Sri Rama in finding Mata Sita. Sugriva met Sri Rama through Hanuman whose vanarsena helped Sri Rama in war against Ravana.
Hanuman grew himself to the size of a mountain and crossed the ocean. After reaching Lanka, he shrinks to the size of an ant to find Mata Sita. He burnt Lanka with his tail which was burnt by the Ravanas army.
During the war, when Laxman was severely injured, Hanuman went to the Himalayas and brought sanjeevani booti to save his life. He lifted the entire mountain to get the herb for Sri Rama.
After killing Ravana, when Sri Rama returned to Ayodhya with Laxman and Mata Sita, Sri Rama gifted Hanuman which Hanuman threw away. Court officials got angry about this act. Hanuman then asked that Sri Rama will always remain in his heart along with Mata Sita. He tore his heart which revealed the image of Sri Rama and Mata Sita. On this, Sri Rama gave him the boon of immortality. Hanuman refused that too but asked for a place in his feet. Sri Ram accepted that and still granted him the boon of immortality.
Mahabharata
Bhima, the spiritual brother of Hanuman was once searching for flowers for his wife. As Bhima was boastful about his strength, Hanuman decided him to teach a lesson. Hanuman took the form of a monkey and blocked Bhima’s way. Bhima asked the monkey to unblock his way but he did not move. Hanuman asked Bhima to lift his tail and make a way. Bhima accepted and tried to lift the monkey’s tail but was unable to do so.
He realized that the monkey was a deity. Bhima was humbled. Hanuman took his original form and embraced him. Hanuman told Bhima that a war was on its way. He also promised that he would reside on Arjuna’s chariot and shout a battle cry for Bhima post which Hanuman left.
Attributes
Hanuman is immortal, brahmachari (self-controlled), kama-rupin (shape shifter), kurup and sundar (ugly and beautiful), strong, brave, learned yogi, obstacle remover, slayer of demons, protector, and savior.
Vibhishana
Vibhishana is the younger brother of Ravana, the king of Lanka as per Ramayana. He is the son of Kaikesi and sage Vishrava. He prayed to Brahma for a boon to keep him on the righteous path.
Vibhishana was against Sita’s kidnapping and had differences with Ravana. He joined Sri Rama in his fight to rescue Mata Sita. His secrets of Lanka and Ravana became useful to Sri Rama in defeating Ravana. He told Sri Rama that Ravana holds the nectar of mortality in his belly, removing which will kill him. This helped Sri Rama in killing Ravana. Vibhishana was crowned as the king of Lanka after Ravana by Lord Rama.
When Sri Rama was about to leave for Ayodhya, he assumed his true form and ordered Vibhishana to stay on earth and serve people with his dharma. Thus, being immortal of Chiranjivi.
Kripa
Kripacharya was a council member of the Kuru Kingdom and a teacher of Pandavas and Kauravas.
Birth
Sharadvan was born to Sage Gautam and his wife Ahalya. He is a great archer as he grows. Sharadvan did penance to become indomitable but Devas got threatened due to this. Indra sent a beautiful apsara to distract him. On this, Sharadvan ejaculated and went to the forest full of shame. The semen fell on weeds dividing it into two parts. A boy and a girl were born from this.
King Shantanu of Kuru Kingdom came across the girl and boy and adopted them. He named them Kripa and Kripi. When Sharadvan came to know about his children went to the palace of Kuru. He revealed his identity and taught Kripa archery.
Mahabharata
He taught the Pandavas and Kauravas the art of archery. He fought the Kurukshetra war against Pandavas with Kauravas.
Kripa defeated Shikhandi and killed Abhimanyu’s guards. After the war, Kripa went to Dhritarashtra and Gandhari and communicated about the events of the war. He asked them to accompany them in the forest to which they refused. Yudhishthira made him the council member on the advice of Dhritarashtra. When Pandavas retired to the forest, he became the teacher of Parikshit (the grandson of Arjuna).
Kripa is immortal due to his discipline, loyalty, and impartial nature. He will live till the end of Kali Yug. He is destined to serve as one of the seven revered sages to the next avatar of Vishnu in Kali Yug.
Parashurama
The sixth avatar of Lord Vishnu is Parashurama (Rama with axe). He is one of the seven chiranjivis, or seven immortals. He is a great warrior, sage as well as a teacher.
Lord Parashurama was born as a Brahmin and has traits like a warrior. He is also called Brahmin-Kshatriya. He is the son of Jamadagni (one of the saptarishi or seven sages) and Goddess Renuka. As mentioned in Mahabharata, Parashurama was the guru of Karna, Drona, Bhishma, and Rukmi.
Fight With Kshatriyas
Kartavirya Arjuna, the son of King Swaminarayan and King Kartwarya, received 10,000 blessings from Dattatreya after his penance. Due to this, he installed himself with pride and started committing atrocities to people.
With his army, he once crossed the ashram of Jamdagni. Sage Jamdagni had a wonderful cow named Kamadhenu. The cow helped Jamdagni in managing the ashram and life. Seeing that, Arjuna asked the cow from the sage. The sage refused to give him the cow. Enraged, Kartavirya Arjuna attacked the ashram and tried to take the cow forcefully. But the cow returned to heaven. When Parashurama learned about the event, he went to destroy the army of Kartavirya Arjuna.
One day, Kartavirya Arjuna’s son attacked Jamadagni again and killed him. Furious with this, Parashurama killed Arjuna’s all sons and aides.
He pledged to destroy the Haihaya Kshatriya clan and attacked them 21 times, thereby destroying them completely and filling 5 ponds with their blood.
Immortality
Lord Shiva gave the immortality of Lord Parashuram. Because of this, he will stay alive till the end of time.
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If you are interested in knowing more about Hindu mythology, you can read about the dash avatars of Lord Vishnu: