Chakravarti (Sanskrit term)

According to the traditions "Vishnu, in the form of Chakra, was held as the ideal of worship for Kings desirous of obtaining Universal Sovereignty",^[6]: 48 a concept associated with the Bhagavata Puranas, a religious sanction traceable to the Gupta period,^[7] which also led to the chakravartin concept.^[6]: 65 There are relatively few examples of chakravartins in both northern and southern India.

Bharata, the son of Dushyanta and Shakuntala, was conferred the title of cakravartin samrāj, according to some legends. Another emperor of the same name, who was the son of Rishabha, was also given the title cakravartin.

In Southern India, the Pallava period beginning with Simhavishnu (575–900 CE) was a transitional stage in southern Indian society with monument building, establishment of Bhakti sects of Alvars and Nayanars, flowering of rural Brahmanical institutions of Sanskrit learning, and the establishment of Chakravartin model of emperorship over a territory of diverse people; which ended the pre-Pallavan era of territorially segmented people, each with their culture, under a tribal chieftain.^[8] The Pallava period extolled ranked relationships based on ritual purity as enjoined by the shastras.^[9] Burton distinguishes between the Chakravatin model and the Kshatriya model, and likens kshatriyas to locally based warriors with ritual status sufficiently high enough to share with Brahmins; and states that in south India the kshatriya model did not emerge.^[9] As per Burton, South India was aware of the Indo-Aryan Varna organized society in which decisive secular authority was vested in the Kshatriyas; but apart from the Pallava, Chola and Vijayanagar line of warriors which claimed Chakravartin status, only few locality warrior families achieved the prestigious kin-linked organization of northern warrior groups.^[9]

During the each motion of the half-cycle of the wheel of time, 63 Salakapurusa or 63 illustrious men, consisting of the 12 Chakravartin regularly appear ^[10].^[11] The Jain cosmology or legendary history is basically a compilation of the deeds of these illustrious men. As per Jain cosmology, Chakravartins are Universal Monarchs or World Conquerors. Golden in complexion, they all belonged to the Ikshvaku Vamsha and Kasyapa gotra. The mother of a Chakravartin sees some dreams at the time of conception. A chakravartin is considered an ideal human being endowed with thirty-two major signs of excellence and many minor signs of excellence.

The list of 12 chakravartin of Avasarpini as per Jainism is as follows^[12]

1. Bharata, son of Tirthankara Rishabhanatha
2. Sagara, ancestor of Bhagiratha as in the Puranas
3. Maghava^[13]: 306
4. Sanata Kumara^[13]: 306
6. Tirthankara Shantinatha
7. Tirthankara Kunthunatha^[13]: 308
8. Tirthankara Aranatha^[13]: 308
9. Subhauma^[13]: 308
10. Padmanabha ^[10]
11. Harishena ^[10]
12. Jayasena ^[10]
13. Brahmadatta ^[10]

Some of these Cakravartins are also Tirthankaras: Śāntinātha, Kunthunātha and Aranātha. Jain universal-history texts describe the Cakravartin as a universal emperor who rules the six divisions of Bhārata-varṣa, possesses fourteen ratnas and nine nidhis, and may have different spiritual destinies at the end of life.^[14]

In Buddhist chronicles, Buddha supposedly told the boy Jaya that he would indeed become an Chakravarti emperor in next life as a result of his act of generosity in offering sand and the boy in next life born as Ashoka.^[19]

It was believed that once a chakravarti emerged the "Future Buddha" Maitreya would appear on earth.^[3]: 175

In early Buddhist art there are more than 30 depictions, all from the Deccan. In most the Chakravarti Emperor uses the "Imperial Gesture" in which the emperor "clenches his left hand at his chest and reaches up with his right hand". He is surrounded by his seven attributes: the Chakraratna wheel, his state elephant, charger horse, "the octagonal gem which is so luminous it can light the path of his army by night", his empress, defense minister and finance minister.^{[3]: 175–176}

The early Buddhist Mahāvastu (1.259f) and the Divyāvadāna, as well as the Theravadin Milindapañha, describe the marks of the chakravarti as ruler: uṣṇīṣa, chhatra "parasol", "horn jewel" or vajra, whisk and sandals. These were the marks of the kshatriya. Plastic art of early Mahayana Buddhism illustrates bodhisattvas in a form called uṣṇīṣin "wearing a turban/hair binding", wielding the mudras for "nonviolent cakravarti rule".^[20]