Varaha Purana 21.23: Adhyaya 21, Shloka 23
The Disruption of Dakṣa’s Sacrifice, the Hari-Hara Conflict, and the Establishment of Rudra’s Sacrificial Share
दशवर्षसहस्राणि तपश्चीर्त्वा महज्जले । प्रतिबुद्धो यदा रुद्रस्तदा चोर्वीं सकाननाम् । दृष्ट्वा सस्यवतीं रम्यां मनुष्यपशुसंकुलाम् ॥ २१.२४ ॥
daśavarṣasahasrāṇi tapaś cīrtvā mahajjale | pratibuddho yadā rudras tadā corvīṁ sakānanām | dṛṣṭvā sasyavatīṁ ramyāṁ manuṣyapaśusaṅkulām || 21.24 ||
بعد أن مارس رُدرا التَّبَس في المياه العظمى عشرةَ آلافِ سنة، فلما استيقظ أبصر الأرضَ بما فيها من غابات، غنّاءَ بالزرع، بهيّةً، مكتظّةً بالبشر والدواب.
Varāha (default speaker per dialogue framework; explicit speaker not stated in excerpt)
What did Rudra perceive upon awakening from long tapas, and what was the condition of the Earth then?
observant; the Earth is described as fertile and inhabited (implicitly ‘seen’ as a living sacred field)
Long tapas in the undifferentiated waters precedes awakened perception of a differentiated, life-filled world.
Sustained discipline (tapas) clarifies vision: one ‘awakens’ to the world’s interdependence—humans, animals, forests, and food systems.
Varāha Purāṇa 21.21.25–26 (hearing yajña-sounds; anger response)
FAQs
It reflects a Purāṇic narrative style that links cosmic time (long austerities in primordial waters) with the reappearance of an inhabited, cultivated earth, offering a literary witness to early South Asian ideas of world-renewal and environmental abundance.
No specific toponym is named; the verse describes the earth (urvī) in general, characterized by forests and cultivation rather than a single identifiable site.
Implicitly, the verse values a world where forests, agriculture, humans, and animals coexist—supporting an ecological reading that emphasizes stewardship of a fertile, inhabited landscape.
Ask anything about this verse
Answers come straight from the texts, with the shlokas they draw on. Ask in your own words.
A free sign-in with Google or Apple keeps your chat saved across web and the app.
Read Varaha Purana in the Vedapath app
Scan the QR code to open this directly in the app, with word-by-word meanings, Sanskrit recitation where available, and more.
