Vamana Purana — Portents at Bali's Sacrifice, Shloka 9

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

Devanagari script

तदङ्घ्रिविक्षेपमपारयन्ती मही सशैला चलिता दितीश तस्यां चलत्यां मकरालयामी उद्वृत्तवेला दितिजाद्य जाताः

Transliteration

tadaṅghrivikṣepamapārayantī mahī saśailā calitā ditīśa tasyāṃ calatyāṃ makarālayāmī udvṛttavelā ditijādya jātāḥ

Translation

{"avatara_relevance": true, "avatara_stage": "approach", "dwarf_form_active": true, "trivikrama_form_active": false, "bali_interaction": "Bali, hearing the praise and recognizing the guest’s stature, approaches with honor-vessels to receive Vamana.", "divine_purpose": "To engage Bali within the strict dharmic protocol of yajña and atithi-satkara before making the request.", "aditi_kashyapa_context": null}

Speakers

• Narratorial voice (Pulastya’s narration) describing the portent to/for Bali

Primary Deities

• Vishnu (Vāmana/Trivikrama)
• Bhū-devī (Earth personified)

Key Themes

• Trivikrama’s cosmic stride
• Earth’s trembling as divine sign
• Oceanic upheaval as portent
• Asura fear and destabilization

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

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

FAQs

Whose ‘foot’ is implied by ‘unable to bear that foot-placement’?

The imagery belongs to Viṣṇu’s Trivikrama act: after appearing as Vāmana, he expands and covers the worlds with strides. Even before the full three steps, the mere ‘placing of the foot’ is portrayed as cosmically weighty.

Why mention the ocean as ‘makarālaya’ (abode of makaras)?

It is a conventional Purāṇic epithet for the sea, highlighting its mythic fauna and its role as a cosmic boundary. The upheaval of its waves signals that the disturbance is not local but world-encompassing.

Is this verse part of the Vāmana Purāṇa’s geographical cataloguing?

Only indirectly. It uses broad cosmographic markers (Earth with mountains; the ocean) rather than named tīrthas. The Purāṇa’s detailed sacred geography appears elsewhere; here geography serves as a scale-marker for divine power.