Vamana Purana — Harihara Revelation, Shloka 45
Harihara Revelation and the Kurukshetra Tirtha Cycle: Sthanu in Vishnu and the Sanctification of Saptasarasvata
दुर्भिक्षे व्यसने चापि येनात्मा विनिवेदितः स स्वयन्दत्त इत्युस्तथान्यः कारणान्तरैः
durbhikṣe vyasane cāpi yenātmā viniveditaḥ sa svayandatta ityustathānyaḥ kāraṇāntaraiḥ
Even in a famine or in times of calamity, one who has offered (or surrendered) his own person is called ‘self-given’ (svayaṃdatta); likewise, another may be termed so due to other causal circumstances.
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FAQs
It is a dharma-technical label for a person who has ‘given himself’—i.e., surrendered his person/agency under extreme conditions (such as famine) or other specified circumstances. The verse is definitional rather than devotional.
The wording functions as classification: it identifies who is called ‘self-given’ under famine/calamity and other causes. Purāṇic dharma sections often record such categories without presenting them as universally desirable.
Famine is a classic ‘exceptional circumstance’ in dharma literature where normal social-economic rules are discussed with special nuance; this verse anchors the definition of svayaṃdatta in such crisis conditions.