Vamana Purana — Kali's Complaint to Brahma (Part 2), Shloka 40

Kali’s Complaint to Brahma and the Arrival of Śrī (Jayaśrī) in Bali’s Reign

Devanagari script

इत्येवं कथितस्तुभ्यं तेषां दानव निर्णयः

Transliteration

ityevaṃ kathitastubhyaṃ teṣāṃ dānava nirṇayaḥ

Translation

“Thus, in this manner, their determination/assessment—O Dānava—has been explained to you.”

Speakers

• Narrator/teacher concluding a description to Bali (addressed as ‘dānava’)

Primary Deities

• Vishnu

Key Themes

• Didactic closure (concluding formula)
• Moral/typological ‘nirṇaya’ (classification)
• Bali as representative Dānava-king

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

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

FAQs

What does ‘nirṇayaḥ’ imply here—judgment or taxonomy?

Both senses are available: ‘nirṇaya’ can mean a settled judgment, and in Purāṇic didactic passages it often functions as a taxonomy—an authoritative ‘this is how they are to be understood’ classification of a group’s traits.

Why is Bali addressed as ‘dānava’?

It is a vocative of identity and status: Bali is the paradigmatic Dānava ruler in the Vāmana cycle. Addressing him as ‘dānava’ reinforces the narrative frame and the audience of the instruction.

Is this verse content-bearing or structural?

Primarily structural: it signals the end of a descriptive unit and prepares for the next narrative move (often a new speaker, vow, or episode).