Visnu’s Cakra as Narrative Weapon in the Skandapurana

Abstract

The Skandapurana is one of the earliest Puranas, with a strong Saiva message throughout the entire text. It promotes devotion to Siva and narrates stories about Siva, his relatives and followers. It does not, however, deny other gods. At least six narratives concern Visnu and his deeds. Three of these are manifestation myths, narrating Visnu’s conquest of the Asuras. For its retellings, such as Visnu’s manifestation myths, the Skandapurana combines known narrative elements with new characterizations, features and scenes. This is not only observable in the stories as a whole, but also on the level of narrative details. In this article, I will show this by studying one of Visnu’s primary weapons, the cakra, ‘discus’. The description of the cakra sometimes agrees with those in other texts, such as its fiery appearance and its quality of returning to its owner. At the same time, there are various new characterizations, for example the fact that it originally belongs to or comes from Siva. With the help of a theory referred to as narrative consistency, I will explore the reasons behind the inclusion of known elements and the introduction of new elements, as well as the reasons behind a combination of the two.