Vamana Purana — Shukra's Samjivani, Shloka 109

Shukra’s Saṃjīvanī, Shiva’s Containment of the Asuras, and Indra’s Recovery of Power

Devanagari script

तमापतन्तं त्रिदशेश्वरस्तु दोष्णां सहस्रेण यताबलेन वज्रं परिभ्राम्य बलस्य मूर्ध्नि चिक्षेप हे मूढ हतो ऽस्युदीर्य // वम्प्_43.108 स तस्य मूर्ध्नि प्रवरो ऽपि वज्रो जगाम तूर्णं हि सहस्रधा मुने बलो ऽद्रवद् देवपतिश्च भीतः पराङ्मुखो ऽभृत् समरान्महर्षे

Transliteration

tamāpatantaṃ tridaśeśvarastu doṣṇāṃ sahasreṇa yatābalena vajraṃ paribhrāmya balasya mūrdhni cikṣepa he mūḍha hato 'syudīrya // VamP_43.108 sa tasya mūrdhni pravaro 'pi vajro jagāma tūrṇaṃ hi sahasradhā mune balo 'dravad devapatiśca bhītaḥ parāṅmukho 'bhṛt samarānmaharṣe

Translation

As Bali rushed upon him, the lord of the Thirty (Indra), exerting his strength with a thousand arms, whirled his thunderbolt and hurled it upon Bali’s head, crying, “O fool, you are slain!” Yet that excellent thunderbolt, striking his head, quickly shattered into a thousand pieces, O sage. Bali pressed on, while the lord of the gods, terrified, turned away and withdrew from the battle, O great seer.

Speakers

• Narrator to a sage (vocatives ‘mune’
• ‘maharṣe’ indicate the listener is a ṛṣi; within the same discourse stream addressed earlier to Nārada)

Primary Deities

• Indra (Tridaśeśvara/Devapati)
• Bali

Key Themes

• Epic hyperbole and martial rhetoric
• Limits of divine weaponry against destined power
• Reversal of expected hierarchy (Indra’s retreat)
• Karma/daiva (implicit: weapon fails despite being ‘pravara’)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

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

FAQs

Why does Indra have “a thousand arms” here?

This is a conventional epic/purāṇic intensification (atiśayokti) to convey extraordinary exertion and divine potency, not a fixed iconographic form. It underscores that even maximal effort fails against Bali at this moment.

What is the significance of the vajra shattering into a thousand pieces?

Narratively it signals Bali’s exceptional invulnerability and foreshadows that Indra cannot resolve the crisis by force alone—preparing the ground for Viṣṇu’s strategic intervention in the broader Vāmana–Bali cycle.

Does Indra’s retreat violate dharma?

The text presents it as fear-driven withdrawal (‘bhītaḥ… parāṅmukhaḥ’). The next verse (Index 2) explicitly critiques retreat as contrary to rāja-dharma, showing the Purāṇa’s ethical framing of battlefield conduct.