Virudhaka- Buddhist GodDeity"Guardian of the South"
Also known as: Virūḍhaka, Virūḷhaka, विरूढक, Zōchōten, Zengzhang Tianwang, 'Phags skyes po, འཕགས་སྐྱེས་པོ, and 増長天
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Description
Blue-skinned and armored, Virudhaka guards the southern face of Mount Meru with a sword in his hand and an army of gourd-shaped spirits at his back. On holy days he watches the human world and reports to Sakka whether virtue is growing or shrinking.
Mythology & Lore
The Southern Slope
Virudhaka stands guard on the southern slopes of Mount Meru, the lowest of the desire heavens. His army is the kumbhandas: pot-bellied spirits with crooked limbs and distended bodies, grotesque enough that the Atanatiya Sutta lists them among the beings who may trouble meditators in the forest. Under Virudhaka they serve as protectors instead.
Every uposatha day, Virudhaka and the other three Heavenly Kings leave their stations and observe the human world. They count what they find. If more people are keeping the precepts, fasting, and caring for their parents, the kings return to Meru and announce the good news, and the gods rejoice. If vice is winning, the gods fall silent. The Digha Nikaya gives Virudhaka this duty alongside Dhritarashtra, Virupaksha, and Vaishravana, each watching from their own quarter of the sky.
The Vow
In the Golden Light Sutra, the four kings come before the Buddha and make a promise: any kingdom where the sutra is recited, they will protect. Virudhaka pledges his sword and his kumbhandas to the defense of that land. The king who recites the sutra will find his borders guarded, his crops growing, his enemies turning back. The vow bound Virudhaka not to a person but to a text. Wherever the words were spoken, he would come.
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