Vamana Purana — Shukra's Curse on King Danda, Shloka 138

Shukra’s Curse on King Danda and Andhaka’s Challenge to Shiva

Devanagari script

तत्र स्नात्वा विधानेन संप्राप्तो हाटकेश्वरम् ददृशे नन्दयन्ती च स्थितां देववतीमपि

Transliteration

tatra snātvā vidhānena saṃprāpto hāṭakeśvaram dadṛśe nandayantī ca sthitāṃ devavatīmapi

Translation

هناك، بعدما اغتسل وفق الشعائر المقرَّرة، بلغ هاطكيشڤارا (Hāṭakeśvara)؛ فأبصر نندايَنتي (Nandayantī)، وأبصر أيضًا ديفافتي (Devavatī) قائمةً في ذلك الموضع.

Speakers

• Narrative voice describing the traveler’s ritual bath and subsequent darśana; explicit interlocutors not stated in the verse.

Primary Deities

• Shiva

Key Themes

• Ritual bathing (snāna-vidhi) as prerequisite to darśana
• Śaiva tīrtha focus within broader Purāṇic geography
• Personified sacred waters (feminine river/tīrtha names)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

{ "primaryRasa": "shanta", "secondaryRasa": "adbhuta", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }

FAQs

Is Hāṭakeśvara a deity-name or a place-name in this verse?

It functions as both: grammatically it is the object of ‘reached’ (saṃprāptaḥ), indicating a destination (a shrine/tīrtha), while semantically it names Śiva in a specific local manifestation. Purāṇas commonly fuse shrine and deity under one toponymic theonym.

Who/what are Nandayantī and Devavatī—women, goddesses, or rivers?

In tīrtha-geography contexts, such feminine names frequently denote rivers/streams, ponds, or localized sacred presences personified as goddesses. The wording ‘sthitām’ (“situated/standing there”) suits geographic features as well as personified deities; absent further context, they are best tagged as named sacred features (likely water-bodies/tīrthas).

Why does the verse emphasize “snātvā vidhānena” (bathing according to rule)?

Purāṇic tīrtha passages often encode ritual protocol: merit arises not merely from visiting but from correct observance (vidhi)—bath, purity, and then darśana. This line signals that the site’s efficacy is tied to prescribed practice, not only geography.