Vamana Purana — Manifestation of Katyayani, Shloka 22
The Manifestation of Katyayani (Durga) and the Humbling of the Vindhya by Agastya
नारद उवाच किर्मथमद्रिं भगवानगस्त्यस्तं निम्नशृङ्गं कृतवान् महर्षिः कस्मै कृते केन च कारणेन एतद् वदस्वामलसत्त्ववृत्ते
nārada uvāca kirmathamadriṃ bhagavānagastyastaṃ nimnaśṛṅgaṃ kṛtavān maharṣiḥ kasmai kṛte kena ca kāraṇena etad vadasvāmalasattvavṛtte
Nārada sprach: „Wie hat der erhabene Weise Agastya, der Mahārṣi, den Berg Kirmatha (d. h. den Vindhya) mit niedriger Kammhöhe gemacht? Um wessen willen und aus welchem Grund tat er dies? Sage es mir, o du, dessen Wandel von makelloser Güte ist.“
{ "primaryRasa": "adbhuta", "secondaryRasa": "shanta", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }
FAQs
The verse frames a classic Purāṇic ethic: when pride (here, a mountain’s hubris) disrupts ṛta (cosmic order), a realized sage acts selflessly to restore balance. Inquiry into ‘for whose sake’ highlights that true power is exercised for loka-saṅgraha (the welfare of the world), not for personal display.
Primarily within Vamśānucarita/Carita-type narration (accounts of sages and cosmic events) and indirectly Sarga-related cosmological maintenance: the sun’s ordained course is part of cosmic functioning, and the story explains its preservation.
Vindhya/Kirmatha symbolizes inflated ego that ‘rises’ beyond measure; Agastya symbolizes tapas and discernment that ‘lowers the peak’—bringing excess back into proportion so the divine order (e.g., the sun’s movement) proceeds unobstructed.