SUDARSANA CAKRA

Later, the Pancaratra and Vaikhanasa Agama started giving the significance of the Ayudhas adorning the hands of Vishnu. As Vishnu has four hands, they are shown with three ayudhas like sankha, cakra, gada and the fourth is shown with padma, the lotus.

Perhaps the primary significance of the conch in the epic is based on the idea that it is its sound that begins the battle. On another level, the conch as primordial sound may be related to creation, while the discus as protection may be related to preservation and the destruction. Taken together the three represent the functions of creation, preservation and destruction.

Parama Samhita, ch. 3st. 17 says: "The lotus conveys the seeds of creation, the discus for maintenance of order, the club for the work of destruction and the conch for providing salvation (mukti)".

Just as the first position in any list has significance so has the final position. In the Agamic context, the Lord as Saviour has come into prominence because of the bhakti context, the addition of the Lotus, with its customary suggestion of creation, has freed the Sankha for new meanings. It is conceivable that it now represents the heralding sound of the final triumphant event: the individual’s entrance into mukti, the consummate act related to the grace of Bhagavan.