Vyūha means - 'to arrange troops in a battle array ', 'to arrange, put or place in order, to dispose, separate, divide, alter, transpose, disarrange, resolve '. Its root is व्यः which means - a 'cover' or 'veil'. This word also refers to emanation and to the manifest power of Lord Vishnu. It has different meanings depending on the doctrine of the treatise and the context, such as revealing of the knowledge of Vedas, manifestation of Vishnu or Buddha, and the war formations of Mahabharata.
Vyūha in Hinduism
Vyūha in the Upanishads: unraveling of the knowledge
In the Upanishadsthe wordvyuha occurs once, it appears in śloka 16 of the Isha Upanishad :- In this passage vyūha means – 'remove'. The sage declares that the Truth is concealed in the Vedas, covered by a golden lid or vessel Badarayana, by declaring – utpattyasambhavāt - Brahma Sutras refutes the Bhagavata view that the Chatur-vyūha forms originate successively from Vasudeva, for any origin for the soul is impossible, an implement cannot originate from its agent who wields it. Whereas in a vyūha an army re-sets its different able warriors and weaponry into a specific arrangement as per battle demands, the Supreme Being re-sets the contents of consciousness through yogamaya with each formation concealing yet another formation. The five layers of matter that constitute the human body are the five sheaths, one moves inwards from the visible layers through more refined invisible layers in search of own true self.
Vyūha in the Pāñcarātra Āgama: the Vaiśnava doctrine of manifestation
The Pāñcarātra Āgama, which are based on Ekāyana recension of the Śukla Yajurveda, is later than the Vedas but earlier than the Mahabharata. The main āgamas are the Vaiśnava, the Śaiva and the Śāktaāgamas; all āgamas are elaborate systems of Vedic knowledge. According to Vedanta Desika, the Pāñcarātra āgama teaches the five-fold daily religious duty consisting of – abhigamana, upādāna, ijyā, svādhyāya and yoga, the name of this āgama is derived on account of its description of the five-fold manifestation of the Supreme Being viz, para, vyūha, vibhava, arcā and antaryāmi. Lakshmi accompanies Vishnu in His Chatur-vyūha as Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha. This is the Vaiśnava doctrine of Vyūha or the doctrine of formation. The Chatur-vyūha forms of Vishnu are related to four of the six causes of creation which six are God Himself as the final cause of creation and His five aspects – Narāyana, Vāsudeva, Samkarśana, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha successively. Each divinity controls its specific creative energy. The six gunas – jnana , aishvarya , shakti , bala , virya and tejas, acting in pairs and in totality, are the instruments and the subtle material of pure creation. Vyūhas are the first beings created, and they represent the effective parts of a coherent whole. Here, vyūha means – projection; the projection of the svarūpa as bahurūpa.
Vyūha in the Mahabharata: battle formations
The Mahabharata and the Manu Samhita list by name and formation many vyūhas, some were small in size and others, gigantic, such as:
Ardha-chandra-vyūha,
Chakra-vyūha a large formation was devised by the Kauravas in which Abhimanyu, son of Arjuna, was trapped never to emerge alive.
Shyena-vyuha . At the commencement of the Kurukshetra War which lasted for eighteen days, the Pandavas, being aware that Bhishma stood protected by the "makara vyuha" and was ready for battle, they had adopted the invincible "sheyna vyuha" with Bhima leading stationed at the mouth and Arjuna stationed at the neck of the bird-shaped vyuha, and Yudhishthira patrolling the rear.
Vajra-vyūha was large a three-fold formation of warriors.
