Vamana Purana — Portents at Bali's Sacrifice, Shloka 33

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

Devanagari script

स चापि राक्षससुतो निसृष्टो गृहबाह्यतः रुरोद सुस्वरं ब्रह्मन् प्रक्षिप्याङ्गुष्ठमानने

Transliteration

sa cāpi rākṣasasuto nisṛṣṭo gṛhabāhyataḥ ruroda susvaraṃ brahman prakṣipyāṅguṣṭhamānane

Translation

And the rākṣasa’s son as well, having been let out from outside the house, cried loudly, O brāhmaṇa, putting his thumb into his mouth.

Speakers

• Narrator addressing a brāhmaṇa interlocutor (likely a sage within the frame-story)
• describing the child’s reaction.

Key Themes

• Domestic detail in Purāṇic narrative
• Childhood gesture (thumb-sucking) as realism marker
• Pathos and urgency in demon-episode

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

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

FAQs

Why does the narrator address “brahman” here?

Purāṇas frequently embed a frame-dialogue (sage-to-sage or sage-to-disciple). “Brahman” marks the listener as a brāhmaṇa/sage and maintains the oral-storytelling register.

What is the significance of the thumb-in-mouth detail?

It is a conventional realism cue indicating infancy/childhood and helplessness, intensifying the emotional tone and underscoring the vulnerability central to abduction or threat narratives.

Is any sacred geography encoded in “gṛhabāhyataḥ”?

No. It denotes a domestic spatial relation (outside the house) and does not function as a tīrtha or named locale.