Vamana Purana — Prahlada's Victory through Bhakti, Shloka 39
Prahlada’s Defeat in Battle and Victory through Bhakti (Nara-Narayana Episode)
प्रह्लाद उवाच मया जितं देवदेव त्रैलोक्यमपि सुव्रत जितो ऽयं त्वत्प्रसादेन शक्रः किमुत धर्मजः
prahlāda uvāca mayā jitaṃ devadeva trailokyamapi suvrata jito 'yaṃ tvatprasādena śakraḥ kimuta dharmajaḥ
Prahlada said: “O God of gods, O you of excellent vow—by me even the three worlds were conquered. Yet this Indra has conquered by your favor; what then of the son of Dharma?”
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FAQs
Prahlada acknowledges that worldly dominance (even ‘three-world conquest’) is secondary to divine sanction. The verse teaches that success—whether of devas or asuras—ultimately depends on īśvara-prasāda, not egoic strength.
Vamśānucarita/Carita: exempla through the speech of a paradigmatic devotee (Prahlada). It functions as didactic theology within narrative history rather than creation/renewal cycles.
Prahlada, the archetypal asura-bhakta, becomes the voice that relativizes asuric conquest and deva victory alike. ‘Indra victorious by your grace’ symbolizes that cosmic order (dharma) is restored through the divine, not through factional might.