Explain the following concept.
(1) Satrap
(2) Sudarshan
Answers
Answer:
Satrap :
Satraps were the governors of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as in the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic empires.[2] The satrap served as viceroy to the king, though with considerable autonomy. The word came to suggest tyranny or ostentatious splendour.
The Western Satraps or Kshatrapas (35–405 CE) of the Indian subcontinent were Saka rulers in the western and central part of the Sindh region of Pakistan, and the Saurashtra and Malwa regions of western India. They were contemporaneous with the Kushans who ruled the northern part of the subcontinent from the area of Peshawar and were possibly their overlords, and with the Satavahana (Andhra) who ruled in central India to their south and east and the Kushan state to their immediate west.
Sudarshan :
The Chakra finds mention in the Rigveda as a symbol of Vishnu, and as the wheel of time,[6] and in the Itihasas and Puranas. In the Mahabharatha, Krishna, identified with Vishnu, uses it as a weapon. For example, he beheads Shishupala with the Sudarshana Chakra at the Rajasuya yagna of Emperor Yudhishthira. He also uses it during the 14th day of Mahabharata War to perplex Duryodhana by summoning Jayadratha in front of Arjuna by hiding the Sun with his chakra. In the end the Kauravas get fooled and thus Arjuna avenges the death of his son.
According to the Valmiki Ramayana, Purushottama (Vishnu) killed a Danava named Hayagriva on top of mountain named Chakravana constructed by Vishvakarma and took away a Chakra i.e. the Sudarshana Chakra from him.
In the Puranas, the Sudarshana Chakra was made by the architect of gods, Vishvakarma. Vishvakarma's daughter Sanjana was married to Surya. Due to the Sun's blazing light and heat, she could not go near the Sun. She complained to her father about this. Vishvakarma made the sun shine less so that his daughter could hug the Sun. The leftover stardust was collected by Vishvakarma and made into three divine objects, (1) the aerial vehicle Pushpaka Vimana, (2) Trishula of Shiva, (3) Sudarshana Chakra of Vishnu. The Chakra is described to have 10 million spikes in two rows moving in opposite directions to give it a serrated edge.
Sudarshana Chakra was used to cut the corpse of Sati, the consort of Shiva into 51 pieces after she gave up her life by throwing herself in a yagna (fire sacrifice) of her father Daksha. Shiva, in grief, carried around her lifeless body and was inconsolable. The 51 parts of the goddess' body were then tossed about in different parts of the Indian subcontinent and became "Shakti Peethas".