Vamana Purana — Portents at Bali's Sacrifice, Shloka 94

Portents at Bali’s Sacrifice and the Kośakāra’s Son: The Power of Past Karma

Devanagari script

गतो ऽस्मि नरकं भूयस्तस्मान्मुक्तो ऽभवं शुकः महारण्ये तथा बद्धः शबरेण दुरात्मना

Transliteration

gato 'smi narakaṃ bhūyastasmānmukto 'bhavaṃ śukaḥ mahāraṇye tathā baddhaḥ śabareṇa durātmanā

Translation

“I went again to hell; from that I was released, O Śuka. Yet in the great forest I was again bound by a wicked Śabara (forest-dweller/hunter).”

Word by Word

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Speakers

• Unnamed narrator (a suffering being recounting past bondage) to Śuka (listener/interlocutor) within the Saromāhātmya frame

Key Themes

• Bondage and release (bandha–mokṣa)
• Karmic consequence (naraka experience)
• Didactic exemplum within tīrtha discourse

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

{ "primaryRasa": "karuna", "secondaryRasa": "bhayanaka", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }

FAQs

Why is Śuka addressed here—does it indicate a larger dialogue frame?

Yes. Addressing Śuka typically signals a didactic narration embedded in a dialogue (often a sage-to-sage transmission). Here it functions as an exemplum: a personal testimony of repeated downfall and temporary release, used to sharpen the moral force of the surrounding tīrtha-mahima teaching.

What does ‘Śabara’ imply in Purāṇic narrative usage?

Śabara commonly denotes a forest-dwelling hunter/fowler community. In narrative rhetoric it can mark the peril of wilderness life—capture, trade, and exploitation—rather than serving as an ethnographic claim. The epithet durātmanā (‘wicked-minded’) individualizes blame to the captor.

Is any specific sacred place named in this verse?

No named tīrtha, river, or lake appears here; only the generic ‘mahāraṇya’ (great forest). The verse is primarily narrative setup, likely leading into a contrast with the liberating power of a specific tīrtha described nearby in the chapter.