Aparajita

The Creeper in the Kunja

The aparajita is an unassuming creeper: it clings to bushes, hangs from fences, and weaves its blue into the overall green of the kunja. In the Govinda-lilamrita, describing the grove where the Divine Couple rests, Srila Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami lists its creepers one by one, and the aparajita – under the name vishnukranta – stands there alongside gunja and bimba:

The Service of the Blue Flower

A verse earlier it is said that all these creepers are kalpa-valli, desire-fulfilling creepers. The aparajita has a service of its own as well. When Srila Jiva Gosvami in the Gopala-champu portrays Govardhan Hill as a gracious host receiving the Lord with every rite of hospitality, the water for washing His feet, padya, flows down the hill in waterfalls, and in these streams – among shyamaka grass, durva, and lotuses – float vishnukranta flowers¹. The blue flower thus becomes part of what Govardhan himself offers at Krishna’s feet.

Blue and White: Two Colors, Two Brothers

The aparajita blooms in two ways: some creepers bear a deep blue flower, others a pure white one. Srila Jiva Gosvami drew on this for the scene of the name-giving ceremony. The sage Garga comes secretly to Gokula to name the two boys; and when Rohini with Balarama and Yashoda with Krishna sit down before him, the poet sees them thus:

Unconquerable: The Origin of the Name

Aparajita means “unconquerable, undefeated.” Tradition applies the same word both to the Lord and to His energy: in the Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu Krishna is called aparājita-mānī, “proud of being unconquerable,” while the Hari-bhakti-vilasa advises keeping the name of Lord Aparajita in mind when going into battle. There is also a Rudra named Aparajita among the eleven Rudras (forms of Shiva). Yet no dictionary explains why the vine came to bear this name: in what way it is unconquerable, we do not know.

The second name is clearer. Kranta comes from the root kram, “to step, to stride”; the same root gives us vikrama, “a stride,” and Trivikrama, “he who took three strides” — the name of Vamana, who measured out all the worlds in three steps. Thus vishnukranta means “she over whom Vishnu strode.” What linked this image to a vine creeping along the ground, the dictionaries likewise do not say, yet tradition holds the herb itself to be auspicious: in the same Hari-bhakti-vilasa, vishnukranta appears in a list of herbs, like durva, that a Vaishnava does well to keep at hand.

Ayurveda

In the medical tradition, aparajita is known by many names — vishnukranta, asphota, girikarni, shveta. It is also called shankhapushpi, but that name is shared by several different herbs, and in Ayurvedic compendia it more often refers to another plant. Its rasa (taste) is pungent, bitter, and astringent; its guna (qualities) are light and dry; its virya (potency) is cooling; its vipaka (post-digestive effect) is pungent. The plant is considered to balance all three doshas. Its chief renown is as a medhya, a remedy for the mind and memory: aparajita is counted among the intellect-strengthening herbs and is used for memory disorders and for the eyes, throat, and skin. The Charaka Samhita places it in the shiro-virechanopaga gana — herbs that aid cleansing of the head through the nose — while the Bhavaprakasha Nighantu assigns it to the guduchyadi gana. The parts used are the root bark, roots, and seeds.

Botany

Aparajita is Clitoria ternatea of the family Fabaceae (pea family, relatives of peas and beans), a slender twining climber: its woody base overwinters, while the shoots grow back each year and climb about three meters up a support. The leaf is pinnate; the flower is large, four centimeters by three, and set upside down: in peas and beans the largest petal, the standard, stands at the top while the narrow keel is tucked below — in aparajita it is the other way around. The flower’s shape earned the plant its English name, Butterfly Pea; after flowering, the vine bears flat legume pods with seeds. Aparajita is native to Africa and Southeast Asia, but throughout India it is grown by houses and fences — both for the blue of its flowers and for the equally blue infusion brewed from them.