In Hinduism

Kavya (poetry)

Source: Wisdom Library: Kathāsaritsāgara

1) Vajraprabha (वज्रप्रभ) is the son of the Vidyādhara king Hemaprabha and queen Alaṅkāraprabhā according to the Kathāsaritsāgara, chapter 35. Accordingly, “... as soon as he was born the lying-in chamber was illuminated by his might, and so was made red as vermilion. And his father gave to that infant, that brought terror to the families of his enemies, the name of Vajraprabha, that had been appointed for him by a divine voice. Then the boy grew by degrees, being filled with accomplishments, and causing the exultation of his family, as the new moon fills out with digits and causes the sea to rise”.

2) Vajraprabha (वज्रप्रभ) is the name of a Vidyādhara king from Vajrakūṭa, according to the Kathāsaritsāgara, chapter 44. Accordingly, as Vajraprabha said to Naravāhanadatta: “there is a city in this earth on the ridge of Himavat, called Vajrakūṭa, and rightly so called, as being all made of diamond. There I dwelt, as a king of the Vidyādharas named Vajraprabha, and my name too was rightly given me, because my body is framed of diamond”.

The Kathāsaritsāgara (‘ocean of streams of story’), mentioning Vajraprabha, is a famous Sanskrit epic story revolving around prince Naravāhanadatta and his quest to become the emperor of the vidyādharas (celestial beings). The work is said to have been an adaptation of Guṇāḍhya’s Bṛhatkathā consisting of 100,000 verses, which in turn is part of a larger work containing 700,000 verses.

context information

Kavya (काव्य, kavya) refers to Sanskrit poetry, a popular ancient Indian tradition of literature. There have been many Sanskrit poets over the ages, hailing from ancient India and beyond. This topic includes mahakavya, or ‘epic poetry’ and natya, or ‘dramatic poetry’.

In Buddhism

Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana or tantric Buddhism)

Source: academia.edu: A Critical Study of the Vajraḍākamahātantrarāja (II)

Vajraprabha (वज्रप्रभ) is the husband of Laṅkeśvarī: the name of a Ḍākinī (‘sacred girl’) presiding over Devīkoṭa: one of the four Upapīthas (‘sacred spot’) present within the Cittacakra (‘circle of mid’), according to the 9th-centruy Vajraḍākatantra. The Cittacakra is one of three Cakras within the Tricakra system which embodies twenty-four sacred spots or districts resided over by twenty-four Ḍākinīs whose husbands (viz., Vajraprabha) abide in one’s body in the form of twenty-four ingredients (dhātu) of one’s body.

Laṅkeśvarī has for her husband the hero (vīra) named Vajraprabha. She is the presiding deity of Devīkoṭa and the associated internal location are the ‘eyes’ and the bodily ingredients (dhātu) is the ‘liver’.

Source: academia.edu: The Structure and Meanings of the Heruka Maṇḍala

Vajraprabha (वज्रप्रभ) is the name of a Vīra (hero) who, together with the Ḍākinī named Laṅkeśvarī forms one of the 36 pairs situated in the Vajracakra, according to the 10th century Ḍākārṇava chapter 15. Accordingly, the vajracakra refers to one of the four divisions of the sahaja-puṭa (‘innate layer’), situated within the padma (lotus) in the middle of the Herukamaṇḍala. The 36 pairs of Ḍākinīs and Vīras [viz., Vajraprabha] each have one face and four arms; they hold a skull bowl, a skull staff, a small drum and a knife; they are dark-bluish-black in color.

Source: OSU Press: Cakrasamvara Samadhi

Vajraprabha (वज्रप्रभ) is the name of a Ḍāka (male consort) and one of the deities of the Cakrasaṃvara-maṇḍala or Saṃvaramaṇḍala of Abhayākaragupta’s Niṣpannayogāvalī, p. 45 and n. 145; (Cf. Cakrasaṃvaratantra, Gray, David B., 2007).—The Cakrasaṃvara mandala has a total of sixty-two deities. [...] Three concentric circles going outward, the body, speech and mind wheels (kāya-vāka-citta), in the order: mind (blue), speech (red), and body (white), with eight Ḍākinīs each in non-dual union with their Ḍākas, "male consorts".

Associated elements of Laṅkeśvarī and Vajraprabha:

Circle: kāyacakra (mind-wheel) (blue);
Ḍākinī (female consort): Laṅkeśvarī;
Ḍāka (male consort): Vajraprabha;
Bīja: deṃ;
Body-part: eyes;
Pīṭha: Devīkoṭa;
Bodily constituent: bukka (kidneys);
Bodhipakṣa (wings of enlightenment): smṛtīndriya (faculty of mindfulness).

context information

Tibetan Buddhism includes schools such as Nyingma, Kadampa, Kagyu and Gelug. Their primary canon of literature is divided in two broad categories: The Kangyur, which consists of Buddha’s words, and the Tengyur, which includes commentaries from various sources. Esotericism and tantra techniques (vajrayāna) are collected indepently.

Languages of India and abroad

Sanskrit dictionary

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary

Vajraprabha (वज्रप्रभ):—[=vajra-prabha] [from vajra > vaj] m. Name of a Vidyā-dhara, [Kathāsaritsāgara]

[Sanskrit to German]

Vajraprabha in German

context information

Sanskrit, also spelled संस्कृतम् (saṃskṛtam), is an ancient language of India commonly seen as the grandmother of the Indo-European language family (even English!). Closely allied with Prakrit and Pali, Sanskrit is more exhaustive in both grammar and terms and has the most extensive collection of literature in the world, greatly surpassing its sister-languages Greek and Latin.

See also (Relevant definitions)

Partial matches: Vajra, Prabha.

Starts with: Vajraprabhava.

Full-text (+239): Lankeshvari, Devikota, Bukka, Smritindriya, Dem, Vajrakuta, Sukhavati, Shubhankara, Vilasini, Prahasta, Siddhartha, Gopaka, Tejahprabha, Dushtadamana, Angaraprabha, Vitabhiti, Yajnavalkya, Mahotpata, Vijrimbhaka, Virupashakti.

Relevant text

Search found 1 books and stories containing Vajraprabha, Vajra-prabha; (plurals include: Vajraprabhas, prabhas). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:

Kathasaritsagara (the Ocean of Story) (by Somadeva)

Chapter XXXV < [Book VII - Ratnaprabhā]

Chapter XLIV < [Book VIII - Sūryaprabha]

Chapter CVII < [Book XIV - Pañca]

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