Vamana Purana — Nakshatra-Purusha Vrata, Shloka 15

The Nakshatra-Purusha Vrata: Worship of Vishnu’s Body as the Constellations

Devanagari script

गच्छतः पथि तस्याथ मरुभूमौ कलिप्रिय अभवद् दस्युतो रात्रौ अवस्कन्दो ऽतिदुःसहः

Transliteration

gacchataḥ pathi tasyātha marubhūmau kalipriya abhavad dasyuto rātrau avaskando 'tiduḥsahaḥ

Translation

Then, as he was traveling along the road, in the desert—dear to Kali—there occurred at night a raid by bandits, exceedingly hard to withstand.

Speakers

• Narratorial voice within the Saromāhātmya section (speaker-to-listener not specified in the provided excerpt)

Primary Deities

• Kali (as personification of the age)

Key Themes

• Kali-yuga disorder and insecurity
• Banditry as moral-geographical marker of liminal spaces
• Night raid (avaskanda) as narrative turning point

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

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

FAQs

What does ‘kali-priya’ convey in this context?

It signals that the desert-route is a space where Kali-yuga traits—lawlessness, predation, breakdown of protection—manifest strongly. The phrase is less about devotion to Kali and more a moral diagnosis of the time and place.

Why emphasize ‘at night’ (rātrau) in Purāṇic narrative?

Night commonly marks vulnerability and dharma’s eclipse; it heightens the sense of helplessness and prepares for a later restoration through divine aid or tīrtha power.

Is ‘marubhūmi’ a specific named desert?

In many Purāṇic passages it can be both generic (‘desert’) and regionally suggestive (arid tracts of western/northwestern routes). Here, with Surāṣṭra as destination, it plausibly evokes the difficult arid corridors leading toward western India.