page_title: Vidyadhara
section_title: In Puranas and other texts
hierarchical_section_title: Vidyadhara / In Puranas and other texts
caption_attribution_description: English: This piece is carved in flat relief.
context_page_description: Vidyadhara are a group of supernatural beings in Indian religions who possess magical powers. In Hinduism, they also attend Shiva, who lives in the Himalayas. They are considered Upadevas, or demi-gods. Vidyadharas appear in Buddhist sources as well.
context_section_description: In Agni Purana, they are described as wearing garlands in the sky and mentioned with other semi-divine beings like Yakshas and Gandharvas.
  In the Bhagavata Purana, Citraketu is described as the king of Vidyadharas. It also tells about a cursed Vidyadhara called Sudarshana. In various references in the Purana, they are coupled with other semi-divine beings, who pray to the god Vishnu for help or enumerated among the many creations of God. The Vidyadhras with siddhas are said to have milked Mother Earth (Prithvi), who had assumed the form of cow by using the sage Kapila as the calf and collected different yogic mystic powers (siddhis) and the art of flying as milk in the pot of the sky.
  Gunadhya is said to have composed seven massive stories about Vidyadharas, then to have destroyed the first six stories when the king rejected them, retaining only the seventh story — of Naravahanadatta — which became the Brihatkatha written in Paishachi language. This work is not extant, but three adaptations exist in Sanskrit: Brhatkathamanjari by Kshemendra, Kathasaritsagara by Somadeva, and Bṛhatkathāślokasaṃgraha by Budhasvamin. The Kathasaritsagara presents some stories about Vidyadharas like Devadatta (a Brahmin boy who acquired Vidyadhara-hood), Jimutavahana, Muktaphalaketu  and  Naravahanadatta (who became an emperor of the Vidyadharas).
caption: A flying Vidyadhara.
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