Vamana Purana — Sukeshi's Inquiry into Dharma, Shloka 11
Sukeshi’s Inquiry into Dharma: The Seven Dvipas and the Twenty-One Hells
आजघान तलेनेभं कुम्भमध्ये पदा करे जानुना च समाहत्य विषाणं प्रबभञ्ज च / 10.10 वाममुष्ट्या तथा पार्श्वं समाहत्यान्धकस्त्वरन् गजेन्द्रं पातयामास प्रहारैर्जर्जरीकृतम्
ājaghāna talenebhaṃ kumbhamadhye padā kare jānunā ca samāhatya viṣāṇaṃ prababhañja ca / 10.10 vāmamuṣṭyā tathā pārśvaṃ samāhatyāndhakastvaran gajendraṃ pātayāmāsa prahārairjarjarīkṛtam
Er schlug den Elefantenkönig an die Stirn, mitten auf die Schläfenwülste, mit der Handfläche, mit Fuß und Hand; auch traf er ihn mit dem Knie und brach ihm den Stoßzahn. Dann schlug Andhaka, eilends, die Flanke mit der linken Faust und, nachdem er ihn mit Hieben zermürbt hatte, stürzte er den König der Elefanten, völlig zerschmettert, zu Boden.
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FAQs
Purāṇic battle scenes often stress that adharma can display terrifying effectiveness (even against symbols of royal/divine power like the elephant-king), but such force is narratively framed as ultimately self-defeating when set against cosmic order.
Vamśānucarita / narrative episode (deva–daitya struggle) rather than cosmogenesis; it contributes to the Purāṇic historical-mythic account of conflicts among exalted beings.
The elephant-king functions as a sign of sovereignty and stable rule (aiśvarya). Its battering and fall dramatize a temporary eclipse of orderly kingship by chaotic power—an image that typically prepares the way for restoration through divine alignment (often via a higher deity’s intervention later in the arc).